Public Employee Press

Contract talks intensify
Union and city negotiators trade comprehensive proposals

“Throughout talks, we have consistently insisted that our White Paper research has pointed to areas of waste and savings, which makes it difficult for the city to credibly plead poverty. Our members deserve a fair raise.”

—Lillian Roberts
DC 37 Executive Director

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Union and city negotiating teams met three times in three days as wage talks intensified in late March. One of the sessions lasted from 2:00 to 10:30 p.m. with a short break while the union committee attended a DC 37 Delegates Council meeting.

The negotiators exchanged comprehensive proposals in a renewed effort to hammer out the terms and funding of a new economic agreement for more than 100,000 municipal employees. Throughout the latest round of talks, union technicians met with their counterparts from the city Dept. of Labor Relations and the Office of Management and Budget to evaluate the costs of various proposals and possible compromise positions.

Give and take
“We are now back at the table in earnest,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. “I am confident that with give and take on both sides we will be able to reach an agreement that meets our members’ needs and addresses the city’s financial concerns,” Ms. Roberts said.

Ms. Roberts and Research and Negotiations Director Dennis Sullivan lead the DC 37 Negotiating Committee, which is composed of the union’s 56 local presidents. The latest series of bargaining sessions began amid a climate of tension caused by recent press disclosures about the negotiations.

But the talks got back on track as the city’s chief negotiator, Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley, made a comprehensive new offer, after first complaining about the press reports. Ms. Roberts stressed that DC 37 shared the city’s outrage over the leaks to the media and pushed for serious discussions to continue.

Under the union and city ground rules, both sides generally agree not to negotiate in the press because of a concern that the process could become politicized and that premature revelations could undermine progress toward a settlement During this round of negotiations, leaks have occurred that have affected the tenor of discussions and upset both sides.

Wage proposals
Besides dealing with specific wage proposals and the length of the contract, the recent discussions have also focused on possible contract modifications. The previous contract expired June 30, 2002, and the last across-the-board wage increase for all covered workers occurred the previous year. While negotiations go on, the terms of the contract remain in effect. Negotiations for a new economic agreement began in the fall of 2002. But discussions stalled early in 2003 as the city and municipal unions dealt with last year’s budget crisis and 10,000 potential layoffs.

Bargaining picked up again after the unions and the city crafted an agreement in December that preserved workers’ health-care package, specifically the free HIP medical plan, saved other coverage with some co-pay increases, and resulted in $100 million in health-care savings for the city.

The coverage of New York City employees is proving to be a gold standard as employers throughout the country succeed in shifting health care costs to their workers.

Fighting hard
“Throughout the contract talks, we have consistently insisted that our white paper research has pointed to areas of waste and savings, which makes it difficult for the city to credibly plead poverty in this round of bargaining,” Ms. Roberts said. “What’s more, with the downsizing that has occurred, our members are doing more with less,” Ms. Roberts said. “They deserve a fair raise, and we are fighting hard to achieve that at the bargaining table.”