By GREGORY N. HEIRES

DC 37 won the right to represent participants in a government-subsidized job-training program that currently employs about 2,000 workers in the Dept. of Parks and Recreation.

The city says it will appeal the July 29 decision by the Board of Certification of the Office of Collective Bargaining. The impartial board ruled that Job Training Participants are eligible for collective bargaining and that DC 37 should represent them.

JTPs are former welfare recipients who have reached or nearly reached their five-year limit for receiving federally funded welfare benefits.

Typically, the Parks Dept. has from 1,600 to 2,700 JTPs in the government-subsidized program. Participants work for six months alongside DC 37 Parks workers. The Human Resources Administration assigns the workers, but they receive paychecks, not welfare checks.

Roberts to fight appeal
“We are very happy with the ruling. DC 37 will fight any city appeal aggressively. I look forward to negotiating to improve their wages and benefits as soon as possible,” DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts said.

City representatives called off informal discussions of the JTPs’ pay last year when Ms. Roberts refused to accept substandard wage levels. In the long-run, the union aims to push for the JTP program to serve as a springboard to permanent city jobs.

The certification board concluded that the JTPs were entitled to union representation because they are doing the same work as City Park Workers in Local 1505 and City Seasonal Aides in Local 983. In its ruling, the board also rejected the city’s position that the workers were not legally entitled to union representation. The board backed DC 37’s argument that workers in government-subsidized employment programs are guaranteed union representation under the New York City Collective Bargaining Law and the state’s Social Services Law.

By contrast, participants in workfare programs are not legally regarded as workers entitled to unions — an injustice that DC 37 has sought for years to correct through the courts and the Legislature.

“These workers are paid to do essentially the same work as our members, but they are not afforded the same rights and benefits, since the city does not recognize their right to join a union,” said DC 37 Sr. Assistant General Counsel Mary J. O’Connell, who handled the case. “This ruling corrects that fundamental injustice,” she said. Ms. O’Connell praised the “wonderful collaborative effort by the three DC 37 locals in the Parks Department that supported the petition.”

President Mark Rosenthal of Motor Vehicle Operators Local 983, President Michael Hood of Attendants, Park Service Workers, City Park Workers and Debris Removers Local 1505, and President Gary Cutler of Uniformed Parks Supervisors Local 1508 testified in the case, provided background information and recruited JTPs to testify.

“The job of a union is to organize and fight for the rights of all workers,” Mr. Hood said. “This victory fulfills our obligation to do that.” “As long as they are doing the same work as DC 37 members, these workers deserve to have the same rights and benefits,” Mr. Cutler said.

“We have worked hard to represent these workers,” said Mr. Rosenthal. Local 983 has picketed with JTPs over pay and union representation. “We are going to continue to work hard so they can move into permanent union jobs,” he added. DC 37’s parent union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, will determine which local or locals represent the JTPs.