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Public
Employee Press Job
fair helps members as NYCHA cuts staff To
assuage the sting of layoffs at the New York City Housing Authority, DC 37 held
a job fair April 16 to help 83 provisional workers find jobs at other city agencies.
NYCHA is not calling it layoffs, these are staff reductions,
but we know what they are, explained job fair organizer Nola Brooker, an
assistant director in the unions Research and Negotiations Dept.
In
meetings between NYCHA officials and a group of local presidents, DC 37 Executive
Director Lillian Roberts convinced authority Chair Tino Hernandez to reduce the
layoff list of long-term provisionals some with up to 30 years of service
to 83 from 190.
Roberts said, One job loss by a member is
one job loss too many. We are doing everything we can to protect members, and
Ive instructed the unions staff to organize another job fair to help
members learn about openings at other city agencies. At the same time, I really
want to remind provisional employees that because of the changes in the law due
to the recent Long Beach decision, they should take civil service tests as soon
as possible.
The second job fair is scheduled for May 12 from noon
to 2 p.m. for those who did not find work April 16.
For more than a year
the union has rallied at City Hall and in Albany and lobbied lawmakers for more
federal and state aid to the Housing Authority. While some of these funds would
have averted layoffs and service cuts, provisionals remained vulnerable to layoffs
as the state implemented the Long Beach court decision, whichrequires municipalities
to reduce the number of provisional employees on their payrolls.
Housing
Clerical Employees Local 957 had nine members targeted for layoffs, but most were
removed from the list, said President Walthene Primus, after discussions with
management. I asked, How could they lay off a person with 26 years
of service? I felt it was heartless for them to do that, and they listened,
Primus said.
Mainly long-term provisional employees were hit by the
staff cuts. DC 37 locals 154, 371, 375, 768, 957, 983, 1407 and 2627 represent
NYCHA employees. The Local 957 workers let go had been provisionals for decades
without permanent civil service status. Last January NYCHA offered civil service
exams for the Secretary and Clerical Associate titles; results have not been released
yet.
NYCHA is still contracting out our work to consultants who are
paid three times more, said Local 375 Vice President Michelle Keller, while
longstanding provisionals with decades of service are cut.
DC 37
brought to the job fair representatives from the Dept. of Juvenile Justice, HHC,
Parks, and NYCHA, which has openings in other titles. Union staff explained health
benefits, education opportunities and pensions. | |