By LILLIAN ROBERTS
Executive Director
District Council 37, AFSCME

We wrapped up negotiations for our new contract July 12 after nearly 11 hours of intense discussions that left us physically drained but emotionally exhilarated. That night, when we initialed the economic agreement, I was very excited about what the local presidents on our DC37 Negotiating Committee had accomplished for members.

The American Arbitration Association is mailing you an official summary of the pact and a ballot. After reading that material and this special issue of the PEP, I hope you will enthusiastically vote “Yes” to ratify the contract. By an overwhelming majority on July 25, the Delegates Council voted to urge all members to approve the new agreement. The decision is yours, so be sure to vote, because this is a great deal!

The contract provides for raises of 3.15 percent, 2 percent and 4 percent over a period of 32 months. Assuming you approve the contract in the mail-ballot vote, you and your co-workers will quickly receive a pay increase totaling more than 5 percent and retroactive pay as well. Six months later, the 4 percent raise will be due.

We also secured more than $40 million for the DC 37 Health and Security Plan.
This money will go a long way toward stabilizing our prescription drug benefit, which as you know has been squeezed in recent years by double-digit price increases imposed on us by the profit-hungry pharmaceutical industry. While the additional funding is a substantial increase for the plan, it is not a permanent fix, which is why I also urge you to join our drive for drug price controls as part of the union’s campaign for a national health care system.

While we achieved our goal of obtaining a fair and reasonable wage increase and protecting our welfare fund benefits, I am just as proud of some of the other achievements in the contract. They are gains that will mean a lot for your quality of life.

Our mission is about much more than wages
Under the contract, the city has agreed to ease the residency requirement for municipal employees and to expand the TransitChek program to allow municipal workers to reduce their transportation costs by hundreds of dollars a year for mass transit systems outside the city.

These two breakthroughs show the results of my continuing search for benefits to help ­improve your standard of living.

My philosophy of unionism is that DC 37’s mission goes far beyond merely providing you with good wage increases. That philosophy explains why we are pushing for child care, and it is why we established our affordable housing program last year.

Easing the residency requirement dovetails with our housing program, which has already enabled many members to purchase homes in the city. Now we will seek to extend benefits and assistance to members who are priced out of the New York City housing market or want to stretch their homeownership dollars by making purchases in nearby counties. And when they do that, they will be able to cut their transportation costs by signing up for TransitChek.

So when you are thinking about how to vote on the contract, I ask that you consider that it means not only a substantial pay increase, but also much more.

Your union contract is really an evolving document designed to help you enjoy life more as your career progresses and to ensure that you will enjoy your retirement once your decide to leave the city workforce.

Once again, I urge you vote in favor of the contract when you receive your ballot.

A vote of “Yes” means more than increasing the dollars in your paycheck. It also means supporting a union that’s fighting to improve your quality of life.