PEP, May 2008: Union moves forward with bargaining on unit contracts

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

DC 37 continues to push for contracts for several units and locals, and has recently reached agreement on some working-conditions pacts. Below is a wrap-up.

Marine workers approve pact
Marine workers approved a six-year economic agreement that calls for a total wage hike of 16.35 percent.

The pact includes a 1 percent wage increase on the last day of the contract for productivity improvements in fueling. The contract runs from Jan. 3, 2002, to Feb. 22 of this year.

Local 2906 represents the titles of Captain, Chief Marine Engineer (diesel), Chief Mate, 1st Assistant Marine Engineer (diesel), 2nd Mate, 3rd Assistant Marine Engineer (diesel), 3rd Mate, Marine and Marine Oiler.

The agreement would also increases the daily contribution to an annuity fund from $3.79 to 7.45 on the last day of the contract, which lasts 73 months and 22 days.

The pact follows the basic wage pattern of DC 37’s economic agreements for other city employees. It includes a $100 rate increase and a $166.67 lump-sum contribution to the welfare fund for each employee and retiree.

The total value of the contract amounts to a 17.48 percent increase.

In a mail-ballot vote in April, members of Local 2906 supported the contract by 31-4.

Former Local 2906 President Timothy Kelly led the local’s bargaining team, made up of the executive board, with the technical support of Sr. Assistant Director David Paskin of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept.

Tentative working-conditions pact at Queens Botanical Garden
A tentative new working-conditions contract for Local 374 workers at the Queens Botanical Garden creates a new promotional title.

The contract, which runs from July 1, 2007, through June 30, 2009, raises the workers’ uniform allowance by $100 to $400.

The contract adds a new promotional title, Supervising Botanical Garden Attendant Guard, to Local 374’s titles at Queens, which include Clerical Associate, Attendant Guard, Sr. Instructor, Gardener, Assistant Gardener, Custodian, Maintainer and Park Supervisor.

Local 374 President Cuthbert Dickerson and Shop Steward Maryanne Kristoff served on the bargaining team with Assistant Director Vilma Ebanks of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept.

The local’s 20 members will vote on the agreement after the union and management sign off on the memorandum of understanding.

Local 1359 grades 19-32 will receive additional wage increases
Employees in the upper tier of Local 1359’s salary schedule will enjoy long-sought wage enhancements achieved after the approval of their new contract earlier this year.

During negotiations for the 2007-2011 contract, New York State negotiators said they would adopt the salary enhancements if the Professional Employees Federation, which represents 53,000 state workers, won a similar change through negotiations.

With the improvements, the salary schedules of both Local 1359 and PEF match that of Civil Service Employees Association, bringing to fruition a demand that the two organizations pursued for years.

CSEA is Local 1000 of DC 37’s parent union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
After Local 1359 members ratified the contract, PEF reached agreement on the extra increases, and the state in March lived up to its understanding with Local 1359.

Under the enhancement to Local 1359’s salary schedule, workers in salary grades 19 through 25 will receive boosts of 3 percent of their pay on April 1, 2010, and grades 26 to 32 will receive hikes of $1,000.

DC 37’s EMS locals await mediator’s recommendation on impasse
Union and city negotiators held a mediation session April 14 to determine whether Emergency Medical Services contract talks could resume in earnest.

But Susan J. Panapento, deputy director of the impartial Office of Collective Bargaining, was unable to get the New York City Fire Dept., Uniformed Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics Local 2507 and Uniformed EMS Officers Local 3621 to agree to return to the bargaining table. Earlier this year the union filed a request for dispute resolution proceedings.

As PEP went to press, Panapento was scheduled to recommend on April 29 whether OCB should appoint an impasse panel.

B’klyn Botanic Garden members ratify working-conditions contract
Local 374 members at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden approved a new working-conditions contract on April 9.

The contract calls for upgrades for Custodial Assistants and Gardener Aides. Custodial Assistants will earn about $1,000 by promoting into the new title of Jr. Building Custodian. Gardener Aides will see their pay jump by a few thousand dollars as they move up to Assistant Gardener positions.

The pact makes Lincoln’s Birthday a floating holiday. Local 374 represents some 85 workers at the BBG.

Brooklyn Botanical Garden Chapter Chair Chris Roddick worked on the contract with Sr. Assistant Director David Paskin of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept.

Union pushes for surveys and settlements in prevailing-rate units
DC 37 is pressing the Office of the Comptroller to complete salary surveys for Laborers represented by Local 924 and Locksmiths in Local 1087. Instead of accepting the rates of DC37’s citywide agreement for nearly 100,000 members, the workers in the two locals aim to have their pay set by a Comptroller’s “determination” that would bring their compensation into line with their private-sector counterparts. State Labor Law Section 220 gives prevailing-rate workers in the public sector that option.

The Comptroller’s office completed its survey for Sewage Treatment Workers, and DC 37 and Local 1320 are meeting with the city to see if an agreement can be reached. Bargaining continues for Supervising Highway Repairers in Local 1157.

A tentative settlement was reached for High Pressure Plant Tenders in Local 983 as PEP went to press. The pact was approved by the Bargaining Committee and will go to the membership for ratification. The Comptroller also completed a survey for Radio Repair Mechanics in Local 1087, and the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings is considering the city’s appeal of the determination.

Protesters demand CUNY contract
The union expects to meet May 6 with the City University of New York to resume talks on a new contract for about 10,000 DC 37 members at the public university system.

DC 37 and the Professional Staff Congress, representing faculty, demonstrated twice in April to protest the slow pace of talks, which began in February 2007. Local 2054 President Coleen Carew-Rogers, Local 384 Vice President Lenore McShane, and Local 1597 President Eric Latson were among the protestors. The contract also covers members of locals 2627, 1407, 375, 1597, 1797 and 983.