Public Employee Press

Making Progress: Part 2 in a series on DC37's campaign to bring good government to New York City

New Local Law 35
Weapon against contracting out


DC 37 plans to use a newly amended law to fight outside contracts that threaten members' jobs and waste taxpayers' dollars.

The Outsourcing Accountability Act (Intro. 624-A), which takes effect this month, strengthens Local Law 35, originally passed in 1994, by improving coverage, cost control and protections for city workers.

The law requires agencies to conduct cost studies before approving, extending or renewing contacts over $25,000 and send the information to the Comptroller, City Council and unions. The City Council can hold a hearing and make a recommendation; the Comptroller can reject contracts.

"The city contracts out more than $10 billion a year," said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. "And the administration's disgraceful history of fraud and cost overruns clearly showed the need for greater accountability."

The new law will help the union prevent Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg from continuing to use contracting out to reduce the city workforce. He has cut 20,000 city jobs since becoming mayor in 2002 - including 10,000 DC 37 members in the last two years - while a growing shadow workforce of consultants and contractors has accompanied the downsizing.

"We are going to challenge every contract that threatens our members," said DC 37 Associate Director Henry Garrido, who heads the union's project on contracting out and revenue.

"We will be very vigilant, and it's not just going to be a fight by union headquarters. We intend to rely on the eyes and ears of our members on the front lines, who are best situated to gather intelligence," said Garrido. The union's Executive Office and the Research and Negotiations Dept. will track all proposed contracts and the approval process, he said.

Union notification

Under the law, the city must notify the union if a contract threatens to displace civil servants.

The old version of the law required the city to put a check mark on a form if displacement loomed. But a union study found that in 50,000 contractual transactions since 2005, the city never once checked that box.

The new law will prevent the city from evading the rule because it better details what displacement includes and requires the notification not only for immediate displacement but also when workers would be displaced over the duration of the contract. The law describes displacement as any reduction in city-funded positions resulting from attrition, transfer, layoff, demotion and bumping, as well as a reduction in wages, hours and benefits.

The law now covers contract renewals in addition to new contracts, and makes any contract worth more than $25,000 subject to review by unions, the Comptroller and the City Council. The new law specifies that the covered work includes technical consulting, emergency procurement and legal services.

The law requires agencies to conduct cost-benefit studies, allowing opponents of a contract to show that projected savings are miscalculated or misrepresented. Unions will be allowed to submit counterproposals. Agencies must provide 60 days' notice before issuing requests for proposals.

The amended law carefully specifies that it covers the Dept. of Education, where much of the city's contracting occurs, the Health and Hospitals Corp. and the Housing Authority. Libraries and cultural institutions - which rely partly on private funding - are excluded.

The mayor tried to block Intro 624-A, but the City Council unanimously overrode his veto on Dec. 8 by a 48-0 vote.