Public Employee Press

Arbiter chops tree work for Urban Park Rangers

An impartial arbitrator ruled in favor of Urban Park Rangers and Assistant UPRs who challenged their improper assignment to forestry duties in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. The arbiter ordered the Parks Dept. to pay the Local 983 members the difference between their salaries and the higher rates of Local 375's Foresters for the two months involved.

"Parks gave us about 10 minutes of training," said UPR Marlena Giga, a grievance rep and the local secretary. "What if one of us made the wrong determination and that tree later fell on someone and killed them? We didn't want that on our conscience."

Parks assigned 80 UPRs and AUPRs to inspect trees and determine the extent of damage the Oct. 2012 superstorm had inflicted. About 20 of the Local 983 members protested the out-of-title work in a group grievance handled by labor lawyer Stuart Lichten.

"Management called us in for mandatory training, and issued Toughbook tablet computers and navigation devices. We were assigned about 60 locations a day," Giga said. "We began inspecting trees to see if they were uprooted, leaning, had hanging limbs or wires entangled in their branches, if there was sidewalk damage or if the tree was dead. Some trees had fallen onto homes. We had to determine the condition of the trees and what equipment to use to remove them."

None of the Park Rangers was familiar with the forestry equipment - such as cherry pickers, loaders and bucket trucks - on the forms they were expected to complete, said Giga. "We had no idea what to look for."

Park Rangers can issue summonses to property and business owners who illegally cut down or damage trees, Giga explained, but judges require Foresters, not UPRs, to testify about the tree damage. "We base our work on the visual inspection of the tree by Foresters," Giga said.

"The arbitrator agreed that making determinations about tree conditions was beyond our job specifications," said Local 983 President Joe Puleo.