By JANE LaTOUR

Mayor John Lindsay inherited a city with serious fiscal problems. Logically, Lindsay realized the cost-effectiveness of having clerical-administrative support work done by the appropriate workers, not highly trained uniformed forces.

“In 1968 he created the title of Police Administrative Aide for the Housing and Transit Police, Corrections and the NYPD,” explained Lenora Gates, executive vice president of Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549.

Yet for almost 40 years since Lindsay’s logic was implemented, New York City has been reversing the practice of letting cops be cops and clericals be clericals.

The problem of cops doing out-of-title work involves many civilian positions. Then-city Comptroller Alan Hevesi issued an audit in 1999 proving that the city could save $36 million a year by having civilian workers perform the non-law enforcement duties that 1,257 uniformed officers were doing. The cops were working as Clerks and Switchboard Operators, Custodians, Auditors, Cashiers and Construction Project Managers.

For over a decade, Local 1549 has been challenging this practice through the grievance and arbitration procedures. “We are going all out on these cases to enforce our contract and our members’ right to these positions. A victory for us will also save millions for the city,” said Local 1549 President Eddie Rodriguez.

DC 37 Attorney Audrey Browne has been handling the seven “reverse-out-of-title” arbitrations that raise the same issues. “We are asking the arbitrator to rule on the meaning of Article 6, Section 14 of the Clerical Unit Contract,” she explained.

“The union has to prove two things in these cases: 1) the work of our titles is being assigned to other city workers, and 2) the work they are doing is substantially different from the duties in their job specs.”

On Feb. 25, the union won a clear-cut victory in the first of the seven cases decided by an arbitrator. The arbitrator ruled that the Dept. of Environmental Protection violated the contract by improperly assigning duties of the Clerical Associate title to the Community Liaison staff working in the DEP Call Center as Customer Service Reps.

Clerical Division Director Ronnie Harris, who testified at the arbitration hearing, said, “Through this victory, we have begun the process of reclaiming the jobs that rightfully belong to Local 1549.”

Currently the city is experiencing economic hard times. The mayor’s negotiators are seeking to eliminate reverse-out-of-title grievances, and his budget would cut civilian positions in the Police, Fire, Sanitation and Corrections Departments.

Over the past six years, overtime costs in the uniformed agencies (excluding the WTC attack) have nearly doubled. Yet, according to Michael Musuraca, assistant director of DC 37’s Research and Negotiations Dept., the NYPD now plans to eliminate 291 civilian positions.

Perhaps Mayor Bloomberg’s business logic has fallen victim to a mugging by political factors.