By GREGORY N. HEIRES

The union and the city reached agreement April 20 on a tentative three-year contract that calls for a $1,000 signing bonus and 5 percent in wage increases — 3 percent retroactive to July 1, 2003, and 2 percent effective July 1, 2004.

“We have won an agreement that provides a fair wage increase for members and recognizes their hard work,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. The proposed economic contract is subject to membership approval.

The settlement came when two successive days of negotiations culminated in a meeting between
Ms. Roberts and Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who together broke through a stalemate and hammered out the final terms of the accord. The DC 37 Negotiating Committee overwhelmingly approved the pact at 7:30 p.m. April 20. Many of the local presidents later joined Ms. Roberts and the mayor at City Hall, where they announced the proposed pact.

“Today’s agreement is a good deal for DC 37 and a good deal for the city,” said Mr. Bloomberg. “It allows the city to provide fiscally responsible raises that recognize DC 37’s members’ tremendous efforts in improving the quality of city services.”

To conclude the deal, Mr. Bloomberg backed off his original insistence on no retroactive increases and only raises funded through productivity improvements. But the proposed pact does include a creative provision to establish a joint committee to explore possible productivity savings, which could hike the third-year pay raise from 2 percent to 3 percent.

During DC 37’s two-year fight for a new contract, rank-and-file members and the Negotiating Committee helped craft demands and shop stewards helped mobilize some 30,000 members for two rallies at City Hall. The negotiating team participated in more than 15 often tense bargaining sessions with the city.

The DC 37 Negotiating Committee — made up of the union’s 56 local presidents and led by Ms. Roberts and Research and Negotiations Director Dennis Sullivan — beat back some draconian demands by the city, which sought a 40-hour work week, a new pension tier with poorer benefits than current plans, and two unpaid days of training each year.

Before coming back to the committee with the city’s final contract proposal, Ms. Roberts met for an hour with Mr. Bloomberg. Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley, Mr. Sullivan and Lee Saunders, executive assistant to the president of AFSCME, DC 37’s parent union, accompanied them.

The proposed agreement runs from July 1, 2002, through June 30, 2005. It affects over 100,000 municipal employees. Members must ratify the contract before it can be implemented. In early May, the union will mail out ballots to affected members (see box on 'Vote YES on a fair contract').

The first raise, 3 percent, is due on the first day of the second year of the contract (July 1, 2003 for most members). The second raise, 2 percent compounded, is effective on the first day of the third year (July 1, 2004). The union has already begun pressing management to pay the lump sum and raises quickly after ratification, said Mr. Sullivan.

The two across-the-board raises would boost the salary of a full-time worker earning $29,000 — the average pay in DC 37 — by 5.06 percent to $30,467. Including the $1,000 bonus, the worker would receive a total of $3,337, or 11.5 percent, over the contract’s three-year term.

The one-time $1,000 bonus would be pro-rated for part-time workers. For a part-time employee earning $10.45 per hour, the two raises would result in a 5.06 percent pay hike to $10.98 per hour. Over the three years of the agreement, this worker would realize a total of $1,379 in cash, or 12.6 percent, when the pro-rated bonus is included.

Mr. Bloomberg said the cash bonus would cost the city $73 million and the 3 percent wage increase would total $98 million. Half of the 2 percent raise would come from city funds and the other half will be funded through a series of contract modifications that would affect only employees hired after July 1.

One change involves paying new hires 15 percent less than incumbent employees for their first two years, instead of the current 7 percent “subminimum.”

Others include a reduction in vacation days, the elimination of a floating holiday, fewer sick days than incumbent employees during the first five years of employment, a night pay differential for work from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. (replacing the current 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. differential) that sunsets after three years, and the modification of terminal leave credit for workers leaving city service from one day for each two days of accumulated leave to one day for every three days of accumulated leave.

Bargaining committee members expressed enthusiasm about the new labor-management productivity committee, which could find savings to provide members with an additional 1 percent pay raise in the fall. Ms. Roberts and Deputy Mayor Marc V. Shaw will head the committee, which will explore possible savings from contracting in, streamlining Workers’ Compensation, examining sick leave usage and other productivity improvements.

Roberts: best deal possible
Ms. Roberts said she hopes the new committee will provide a forum for the union and the city to consider the findings of DC 37’s white paper research. The union’s four white papers produced since 2002 have shown how the city loses millions of dollars through wasteful spending and contracting out work to overpaid consultants.

“We will continue to work with the city to do everything possible to make sure that our members get the respect they deserve and that the important work they do is acknowledged,” Ms. Roberts said.

“In negotiations, there is give and take,” Ms. Roberts said. “We had to give. The city had to give. But in the end, we believe that we have achieved the best deal we could possibly get for our members.”