Public Employee Press

Salary Review Panel hears proposals from more locals

Four DC 37 locals presented proposals in April to the Salary Review Panel, which is conducting hearings on requests for additional compensation.

Representatives of Municipal Hospital Employees Local 420, Motor Vehicle
Operators Local 983, Traffic Employees Local 1455 and Assessors, Appraisers and Housing Development Specialists Local 1757 appeared before the panel April 30 to discuss their proposals.

The panel, established under the current economic agreement, will continue to consider proposals during the coming months, and then it will recommend whether any job titles should be better compensated.

Local 420’s Beryl Major and Christopher Watson represented Local 420 President Carmen Charles at the hearing. Assistant Director Michele Trester of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept., who helped the local craft its proposal, accompanied them.

The Local 420 group pushed to boost the pay of Patient Care Associates, Mortuary Care Technicians, Operating Room Technicians and Dietary Aides. The proposal cited higher pay for comparable titles in private hospitals.

Local 983 President Mark Rosenthal and Executive Board member Marvin Roberts presented the local’s proposal, accompanied by Assistant Director Frank Burns of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept., who helped the local draft the proposal.

Union proposals
The plan argues that the city’s Traffic Enforcement Agent Level 3s and Level 4s, who bring in tens of millions of dollars in revenue each year through charges for towing and traffic enforcement violations, are under-compensated, compared with their counterparts in White Plains, N.Y. Local 983’s proposal also calls for extending the workweek of Urban Park Rangers from 35 to 40 hours to provide for additional compensation.
Local 1455 President Michael DeMarco testified about a proposal to increase the compensation of Traffic Device Maintainers, City Parking Meter Service Workers and Supervising PMSWs. He explained that the workers’ responsibilities have grown over the years and that their work brings in millions of dollars a year. Associate Director Evelyn Seinfeld and Assistant Director Frank Burns of the Research and Negotiations Dept. and Rep Wilson Fenty provided key assistance for the report, DeMarco told PEP.

Local 1757 President David Moog discussed a proposal for additional compensation for Appraisers and City Assessors. Moog prepared the local’s report with Seinfeld and Assistant Director Nola R. Brooker of the Research and Negotiations Dept. It showed that the workers are compensated about 20 percent less than similar state and county employees.

How the panel works
The Salary Review Panel includes representatives from the union and the city and a third member chosen by both parties. Dennis Sullivan, director of research and negotiations, represents the union; Pamela Silverblatt, 1st deputy labor commissioner, represents the city; and Marlene Gold, head of the impartial Office of Collective Bargaining, is the neutral party.

The contract does not provide funding for the additional compensation. Both sides must agree on funding sources before any of the panel’s recommendations are implemented. The union expects to build upon its “White Papers” — which documented millions of dollars in wasteful city spending on consultants and contracting — to argue for funding, according to Henry Garrido, assistant to the associate director.
The economic agreement calls for the panel to consider proposals for titles and occupational groups that meet any of four categories:

• workers in revenue-producing titles
• employees in titles or occupational groups that were previously contracted out but are now filled by union members
• workers whose duties have evolved to require significant improvements in their skills and responsibilities
• workers whose compensation falls significantly below their counterparts with similar positions in the private sector or comparable state, county or municipal jobs.