Public Employee Press

Age 50 pensions for 12 more titles

“Physically-taxing” list is expanded

The union reached agreement with the city March 14 to add 12 titles to the list of jobs requiring physically demanding work. The pact will allow the affected workers to retire earlier.

The agreement affects a few hundred current employees. Incumbent and new workers in the newly designated “physically-taxing” titles who are participants in the Chapter 96 enhanced pension plan will be able to retire at 50 with 25 years experience in physically-taxing status without a reduced pension benefit.

The regular retirement age in the Chapter 96 plan is 57 or 62, depending upon the specific program in which a worker is enrolled. So, the March agreement will let the affected workers retire anywhere from seven to 12 years earlier.

“This is going to help a lot of our members by addressing a long-standing inequity in our pension coverage,” said Local 1320 President James Tucciarelli, chair of the DC 37 Pension Committee.

“This addition of these titles to the physically-taxing list grew out of the negotiations for our current economic agreement,” said DC 37 Research and Negotiations Director Dennis Sullivan, “when local presidents raised the need to designate additional titles as physically-taxing.”

The city and the union first agreed in the 1960s to allow workers in certain jobs to retire earlier because their tasks were physically-taxing. The list of covered titles had not been updated for over 10 years.

During bargaining on the current economic agreement, which was led by DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, the city agreed to address the union’s demand to review and possibly expand the list of physically-taxing titles.

“We pushed very hard to add jobs to the physically-taxing category because retiring earlier after long years of hard labor was very important to our members,” said Local 983 President Mark Rosenthal.

The newly covered jobs to be included with the scores of titles already on the physically-taxing list are Apprentice Construction Laborer, which is represented by Local 376; City Pest Control Aide, represented by Local 768; Lead Abatement Worker, represented by Local 1087; Asbestos Handler, AH Supervisor, Traffic Enforcement Agent Level III and TEA Level IV, represented by Local 983; Area Supervisor (Highway Maintenance) I and II, represented by Local 1157; Assistant Gardener, represented by Local 1507; and Third Mate and Third Assistant Marine Engineer, represented by Local 2906.

To qualify, covered workers must be participants in the Chapter 96 pension plan, which allows retirement before age 62 without an actuarial reduction in benefits, in exchange for an extra employee contribution. A result of a union campaign, Chapter 96 also included an additional 1.98 percent contribution for those in physically-taxing titles, which workers in the newly designated titles must assume.

“The designation of Apprentice Construction Labor as physically-taxing is a big plus for many of our Construction Laborers. Now they can get credit for the two years they served in that title,” said Local 376 President Gene DeMartino. “It’s great,” said Local 2906 President John Monk, 43, who is a Third Mate. “By the time I am 50, I will have 26 years on the job, so I’ll qualify for early retirement then.” Tucciarelli thanked the Dept. of Research and Negotiations, including Sullivan and Sr. Assistant Director David Paskin, for providing key technical assistance.