Public Employee Press

Court upholds DC 37 lawsuit to protect trades workers

The state's second highest court has upheld a lower court ruling that rejected Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's attempt to cut the city's trades workers' wages by reclassifying their titles and ending a century-old pay-setting process as a violation of civil service law

The Appellate Division of the state courts issued its 5-0 decision May 28. The city has requested permission to file an appeal with the top court, the Court of Appeals.

"Public-sector and private-sector unions all believed in this," said James Tucciarelli, president of Sewage Treatment Workers and Sr. STWs Local 1320. "We all stuck together. Our attorneys developed a powerful case. And justice prevailed."

DC 37 and other unions filed the lawsuit after Bloomberg issued a personnel order in April 2012 scrapping the procedure that lets the city comptroller set the wages of city trades workers based on the a survey of the prevailing rate in the private sector. DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts called Bloomberg's action "a naked power grab aimed at suppressing the pay of hardworking men and women."

"This was an arrogant maneuver by a mayor who seems to want to destroy everything unions have built up over the years," said Tucciarelli, who pointed out that Bloomberg's order came after a number of DC 37 locals won raises for their members by going through the lengthy survey process at great personal sacrifice. Local 1320 members for example, lost homes, divorced, went into debt and took on second
and third jobs during the 12 years they went without raises before finally winning their case.

Just weeks before Bloomberg's order, City Laborers in Local 924 won substantial pay raises after a 10-year fight. Radio Repair Mechanics, Highway Repairers, Construction Laborers and Transportation Dept. supervisors also achieved solid pay increases through the survey process.

"We are very happy for the thousands of our members whose livelihoods we are protecting through this legal case," said Tucciarelli. "And for the DC 37 family, this was very special because Sr. Assistant General Counsel Steven Sykes, the lead attorney in the case, started out here as a legal intern and chose to devote his career to this union."