Public Employee Press

Court upholds Laborers wage hike

The state court system's Appellate Division on March 27 rejected the mayor's appeal against Comptroller John C. Liu's ruling that calls for Laborers to receive a substantial wage increase.

The city had contested the Comptroller's "final determination" to grant the raise, which was made through a lengthy wage survey process.

The study by the Comptroller's Office compared the compensation of the Laborers with their counterparts in the private sector. Under the state Labor Law, about 10,000 municipal employees in prevailing-rate blue-collar jobs are permitted to have their wages set by the Comptroller rather than through negotiations between the union and the city Office of Labor Relations.

With the court decision, the city has exhausted the appeals process for denying the wage increase. The Comptroller's determination covers the period from July 1, 2002, to June 30, 2010.

The last raise Local 924 members received occurred in 2001, when they voted to pursue the survey process. Members have endured severe hardships, including lost homes and broken marriages, while their pay has remained frozen. Running up credit card debt became a survival tactic, and members also borrowed from their pensions and took second jobs to meet their family expenses.

"We knew there was a big risk when we chose to take the survey route," said Local 924 President Kyle Simmons. "But we stuck together because we were confident of the justice of our cause. Needless to say, we are ecstatic about the court decision."

During the survey process, the Local 924 negotiating committee received support from DC 37 General Counsel Mary O'Connell, Sr. Assistant General Counsel Steven Sykes, Associate Director David Paskin of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept. and Dan Bright, the local's attorney.