“It’s good to know the union is there for us.”
— Christine Guarino

Members of Amalgamated Professional Employees Local 154 recently won a well-deserved grievance concerning out-of-title work. The 20 members first filed individual grievances. These were later consolidated by DC 37 Assistant General Counsel Leonard Polletta.

The employees work at the Dept. of Environmental Protection as Research Assistants in the upstate watershed area. They monitor the water quality in the city’s reservoirs to guarantee safe water for millions of New Yorkers. But in addition to their jobs as Research Assistants, DEP management had also assigned them the work of Assistant Chemists.

Their grievance was filed in March 2002, and DC 37 reached a settlement with the agency on Feb. 25. DEP agreed to pay the members the difference between what they received and the Assistant Chemist pay level, retroactive to when the grievance was filed.

“It’s good to know that the union is there for us and to support us,” said Christine Guarino, who works at the DEP’s office in Grahamsville, New York.

“It was a long process,” said Christopher Morgan, a Research Assistant in the Valhalla office. “But it was worth the fight.” “This kind of victory shows once again, that working and planning together with the members allows us to provide good union representation,” said Local 154 President Juan Fernández.

The grievance was filed after Mr. Fernandez visited with the local’s upstate members to help strengthen the union’s structure and inform them about their contractual rights.

“I want to thank DC 37 Attorney Leonard Polletta, Council Rep Marianella Santana and former Rep Rhonda Johnson for their great work on this case,” said Mr. Fernández.