PEP Sept. 2001: CUNY workers vote on 9 percent package

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

The union, the city and the City University of New York reached a tentative economic agreement that provides job security and a pay package totaling over 9 percent for more than 8,000 CUNY employees.

In mid-August, the independent American Arbitration Association mailed ballots to union members. The ballots were due Aug. 29, after PEP went to press.

The proposed pact provides for a 4 percent raise, retroactive to July 1, 2000, a second 4 percent hike as of July 1, 2001, and another 1 percent in an “additional compensation fund” on the last day of the agreement.

The fund may be used for such items as recurring increments, longevity, annuities or assignment differentials, as decided by the negotiating committee.

The 27-month agreement — July 1, 2000, through Sept. 30, 2002 — follows the economic pattern reached by the city and DC 37 earlier this year for more than 100,000 municipal workers.

Job security
“We are very happy with this contract,” said Joan Reed, president of Local 2054, which represents College Assistants, Sign Language Interpreters and Disability Accommodation Specialists. “Our benefits are protected and expanded, and it provides us with decent pay increases.”

In an improvement over past contracts, the new economic agreement gives job security to all the workers covered by the pact.

“This is the first time College Assistants have ever been able to gain job security, so this agreement is very significant,” Ms. Reed said. The local’s 4,500 part-time College Assistants are protected if they have been on the payroll for two years and worked 500 hours each year.

“Once negotiations began in earnest, we managed to wrap this up pretty quickly,” said Esther (Sandy) Tucker, president of Local 384, which represents about 2,000 full-time clerical workers.

“Historically, the CUNY contract has been tricky to negotiate because we deal with three parties — the city, the state and the college administration,” she said. “But this time, we built on the momentum of the agreement between DC 37 and the city and came up with a good deal.”

In addition to matching the wage hikes of the 2000-2002 economic agreement between DC 37 and the city, CUNY will provide the same pension and benefit gains municipal workers won over the past year. A $200 annual rate increase per employee and retiree to the union’s welfare fund will provide substantial financial relief to the union’s prescription drug benefit.

Pension improvements

Eliminate the basic 3 percent employee contributions in Tiers 3 and Tier 4 after 10 years of service, which means a 3 percent boost in take-home pay, retroactive to Oct. 12, 2000.
Provide up to two years of extra pension credit in Tiers 1 and Tier 2.
Establish greater equity among the different pension tiers.
Credit prior service in the public sector with a different employer, and
Improve the death benefit.

Health benefit gains

Free asthma and chemotherapy drugs in all health plans.
Reduced co-payments for injectable medications and certain psychotropic drugs.
Unlimited in-network coverage by the GHI mental health program.
An increase in outpatient HIP mental health visits to 60 days (with a $10 co-pay).
New, free 30-day HIP inpatient coverage for alcohol and substance abuse treatment.
A national panel of GHI doctors in targeted areas, and
An increase of the fee schedule for GHI physicians in certain areas.

Under the agreement, the union recognizes the employer’s right to pay additional compensation for outstanding performance, and CUNY must notify the union of any such plans.

The presidents of the locals that represent CUNY employees served on the negotiating team.

Besides Ms. Reed and Ms. Tucker, they included Claude Fort, Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375; Maf Misbah Uddin, Accountants, Actuaries and Statisticians Local 1407; Edna Williams, Custodial Employees Local 1597; Charles Farrison, Custodial Supervisors Local 1797; and Ed Hysyk, Electronic Data Processing Personnel Local 2627. Dave Paskin of the Research and Negotiations Dept. was the chief negotiator.

“This is one of the best contracts ever for our members who work at CUNY,” Mr. Uddin said. “The extra 1 percent at the end of the contract will allow our members there to have service increments and longevity differentials. Local 1407 members elsewhere in the city have those benefits already, so this contract will correct a long-standing inequity.”