Public Employee Press

DC 37 has new association for JTPs

DC 37 has a new association to organize and represent thousands of participants in the city’s job-training program —the Job Training Participant Association.

The Delegates Council voted May 23 to establish an organization to represent Job Training Participants (JTPs) — welfare recipients who have hit their five-year lifetime limit on federal benefits and now are working in a program operating primarily at the Dept. of Parks and Recreation.

The six-month program trains participants for employment with the city or in the private sector. There are about 3,000 JTPs in the program at any given moment.

Less than a month after delegates voted to support the new organization, the Health and Hospitals Corp. announced that it would consider hundreds of current participants to fill about 200 positions.
DC 37 is working with HHC to encourage JTP workers to apply for the openings.

“We are very excited about having the new association to represent our newest members,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

In 2004, DC 37 won representation rights for the JTPs in a Board of Collective Bargaining ruling. Last year, the State Supreme Court rejected a city appeal and Roberts negotiated a 50-cent hourly wage hike (from $7.50 to $8) for them. In addition to the increased pay, the union negotiated two days of sick time and a grievance process for health and safety problems for the JTPs.

“We are committed to helping ensure that the city’s job-training program doesn’t become a dead end for these folks. We really want to help them to become productive members of the work force,” she said.

On May 23, the DC 37 Delegates Council — the union’s highest governing body — approved a “Job Training Participant Agreement,” which outlines union services and the structure of the new Job Training Participant Association.

The agreement was drafted by DC 37’s parent union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, whose president is responsible for determining how new titles are assigned at its affiliates.

Delegates voted 66 percent to 34 percent in favor of the agreement, which provides for DC 37 to assign a staff rep to help the JTPs with workplace problems and advise them about union services.

The agreement calls for elections every six months for leadership positions in the association, including a delegate to DC 37. The new members will pay dues of $10 per pay period, and the association will be in DC 37’s Blue Collar Division.

Under the agreement, the union will work with the city to have the DC 37 Education Fund provide training for the JTPs.

— Gregory N. Heires