By GREGORY N. HEIRES

DC 37 members voted overwhelmingly in favor of a new contract that will raise the pay of more than 100,000 municipal employees by over 9 percent.

A stunning 97 percent of the participants in the mailed secret-ballot vote supported the economic agreement. All told, more than 55 percent of the 105,000 eligible members took part in the vote.

“The members have spoken out loud and clear in favor of a contract that gives them more than a 9 percent wage increase and job protection,” said DC 37 Administrator Lee Saunders. “This contract gives our members a fair share of the city’s economic prosperity — prosperity they helped create.”

The target date for implementing the pact’s two 4 percent general wage hikes was June 8 in city agencies, the Health and Hospitals Corp. and the Board of Education (see “When you get it” at right).

This was the first time members voted on an economic agreement under a new constitutional requirement that union-wide contract votes occur under an independent monitor. The respected American Arbitration Association conducted the balloting.

“Every DC 37 member can be assured that his or her vote was counted properly,” Mr. Saunders said.

The DC 37 Negotiating Committee reached agreement on the contract April 11, the Delegates recommended it April 19, and AAA mailed out the ballots April 27. Ballots were due May 14, and AAA completed the count that afternoon in its Manhattan office.

The DC 37 Election Committee — chaired by Local 1321 President John Socha and including Local 2021 President Leonard Allen and Local 384 President Esther (Sandy) Tucker — observed and resolved questions during the counting.

Yes – 55,538, no – 1,569
Of the 104,997 members eligible to vote on the contract, 57,906 cast ballots. Almost 2,000 new members who joined DC 37 during the balloting were allowed to vote. AAA reported 55,538 votes in favor of the contract and 1,569 votes against. Seventy-six ballots were voided and 723 were not opened or counted for various reasons.

The tally sheet showed overwhelming yes votes in every local, with strong support for the contract cutting across job titles and income levels.

The members’ participation was “above average for mail-ballot ratification votes,” said Jeffrey T. Zaino, vice president for elections at AAA. A spokeswoman at another independent monitoring organization, the Honest Ballot Association, said voting rates when they conduct mail ballots on union contracts generally range from 20 percent to 40 percent.

Information for members
“We are very pleased with the turnout, because the union devoted a lot of time and energy to informing members about the contract,” said Director of Field Operations Barbara Ingram-Edmonds. She worked closely with local leaders, technical staff and division directors to coordinate an aggressive campaign to get the facts on the pact to union members.

The April 27 ballot mailing included a letter from Mr. Saunders and a summary of the proposed contract.

Local presidents and reps held scores of meetings at the union and job sites around the city, where they distributed information packets on the proposed economic agreement.

The material included tens of thousands of flyers in English and Spanish, as well as 40,000 extra copies of a special edition of Public Employee Press that was mailed to members less than a week after negotiators reached accord. Mr. Saunders and Deputy Administrators Zachary Ramsey and Dennis Sullivan attended many of the informational meetings with members.

“The educational campaign reflected our overall effort to keep people informed throughout the entire negotiations process,” said Mr. Sullivan, who is director of research and negotiations, looking back upon the two years of work that led to the contract.

He noted that for the first time, all 56 union local presidents sat at the negotiating table and a new 300-member Bargaining Caucus played an important role as a sounding board and link to rank-and-file members.

“By drawing more people into the process, I think we brought more clout to the table,” Mr. Sullivan said.

What you get
Under the new agreement, wages will increase by more than 9 percent. A 4 percent increase is retroactive to April 1, 2000, and a second 4 percent increase, compounded, is retroactive to April 1, 2001.

Another 1 percent will be available to individual bargaining units as of June 30, 2002, for additional compensation, such as step pay plans, assignment differentials, longevity increases or annuity payments.

In addition, under pension legislation the city unions won last year, contract ratification clears the way for an additional 3 percent increase in take-home pay for a majority of DC 37 members, pushing their total increase above 12 percent (see page 4).

Individual bargaining units may use the second 4 percent increase in other ways than across-the board increases; doing this would delay payment of that raise. The pact covers workers in mayoral agencies, the Health and Hospitals Corp., the Board of Education, the Transit Authority, the Housing Authority, the Off-Track Betting Corp., and the libraries and cultural institutions.

Significantly, at a time when the economy is teetering, the union also negotiated a comprehensive job security and redeployment provision.

When you get it
The union has been working closely with the city to make sure members get their pay increases as soon as possible, according to Associate Research and Negotiations Director Evelyn Seinfeld.

City agencies, the Health and Hospitals Corp. and the Board of Education tentatively plan to include the new pay rates and retroactive payments in June 8 paychecks.

The retroactive pay will include one 4 percent salary increase extending back to the first day of the contract, April 1, 2000, and another 4 percent, compounded, back to April 1, 2001.

The June 8 paychecks will include rate and retroactive adjustments for overtime and (except for HHC) “additions to gross,” such as assignment ?differentials, longevities and recurring increment payments. At HHC, retroactive payments for additions to gross will be in June 21 paychecks.

At the New York City Housing Authority, the tentative date for the new rate and retroactive payments is June 15. At the Transit Authority, rate increases and retroactive payments will occur in July. At the Off-Track Betting Corp., the first 4 percent increase will be paid June 1 and the second on June 29. Retroactive payments will be made June 15 and in July. Dates haven’t been set yet for cultural institutions and libraries.

Payments from pension systems
Now that the contract is ratified, tens of thousands of DC 37 members will also soon receive a pension-related hike in take-home pay and a refund from their pension system.

Thanks to a labor-backed reform, the basic 3 percent pension contribution was ended, retroactive to Oct. 1, 2000, for members of the Tier 3 and Tier 4 retirement plans who have 10 years of service or more. For others in those tiers, the 3 percent pay deduction will end when they reach 10 years.

Eliminating the contribution means an extra 3 percent in take-home pay for those affected.

The change was to be reflected in May 25 paychecks for members of the New York City Employees Retirement System in mayoral agencies and HHC. At OTB and the HA, the changes are tentatively set for June 1. The Board of Education ?Retirement System and the Teachers Retirement System hope to implement the change on June 21 and 22.

The pension systems have not determined the date for the refunds for contributions since Oct. 1, 2000. Those payments will be sent to members’ homes from the pension systems.