Public Employee Press

Extra 1% raise paid in summer, September

Tens of thousands of DC 37 members received a 1 percent pay increase over the summer. Thousands of others will get the increase in September and October. The raise affects the nearly 100,000 members covered by the 2002-2005 economic agreement between the city and the union. Besides a $1,000 signing bonus and two annual pay increases, the contract provided an additional 1 percent if a labor-management committee could come up with sufficient productivity savings.

At a Delegates Council meeting June 28, DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts announced that the union and the Bloomberg administration had reached an agreement for the extra 1 percent pay increase, which is retroactive to July 1, 2004.

The savings identified by the committee and agreed to by Mayor Bloomberg included civilianization at the Police Dept., replacing consultants with clerical and computer workers, and efforts to reduce paid sick leave.

Generally, the 1 percent increase and the retroactive payment are showing up in the same paycheck. The 1 percent increase also affects “additions to gross,” which include such non-salary items as uniform allowances and many pay differentials.

The 1 percent increase was implemented at mayoral agencies on July 29 and Aug. 12, and Housing Authority workers got it Aug. 5. Seasonal workers at the Dept. of Parks and Recreation were also paid in August.

The Brooklyn Public Library expects to implement the salary and additions to gross hikes Sept. 2 and the retroactive pay Sept. 30. As PEP went to press, the union was pressing cultural institutions and the other two public library systems to adopt the new pay rate.

Other pay dates for the 1 percent increase include Sept. 9 at the Health and Hospitals Corp.; Sept. 23 for School Crossing Guards and Oct. 6 for hourly school employees in Local 372.

CUNY workers receiving raises
Also over the summer, the City University of New York began implementing pay increases under its new 2002-2006 economic agreement after the state Legislature passed the required bills.

On Aug. 18, workers at the senior colleges received the $800 due upon ratification of the contract. By fall, CUNY expects to pay their 2.5 percent wage hike due Oct. 1, 2003, and a 2.75 percent increase due Oct. 2, 2004. The community colleges paid the $800 signing bonus Aug. 26 and expect to implement the 2003 and 2004 pay increases with retroactivity on Sept. 9.