Public Employee Press

Substantial pay increases in agreement
DC 37 gets a big win for literacy program teachers

The union helped a group of English language and literature teachers at the New York Public Library win $6,000 to $11,000 in pay increases. The six workers also received nearly $2,000 each in retroactive pay.

Under an agreement negotiated with the union, the titles of Community Liaison Assistant were changed to Specialist to better reflect the workers' responsibilities, which have changed over the years.

A couple years ago, the workers discussed filing a group grievance with New York Public Library Local 1930 President Valentin Colon. The matter was referred to the DC 37 Dept. of Research and Negotiations, where Assistant Director Lisa Riccio took up the case.

The union didn't need to file a grievance because the library was sympathetic to the workers' argument that they deserved an upgrade. "We were happy to resolve this case without having to go through a long and contentious grievance process," Colon said.

The Local 1930 members work in the library's Adult Learning Centers. The workers had limited responsibilities as Community Liaisons before they began teaching in the library's literacy program. Originally, volunteer teachers ran the program, but the NYPL eventually decided staff should lead them.

"The job description changed," Specialist Yolanda Rodriguez said. "Whereas before we were assistants, we now are teachers. We were all in agreement that we had become teachers."

"It is fair and the right thing to do," said Specialist Charmaine Haynes, commenting on the title conversion.

The library's initial offer was to link the workers' new pay to their educational attainment. Two of the workers have bachelor's degrees, and four have master's degrees.

The union successfully argued that they should be compensated equally since they are all doing the same work, Riccio said. The workers' pay levels as Community Liaison Assistants differed, so their pay increases weren't the same.

— Gregory N. Heires