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Public Employee Press
Members ratify
contract Vote
is 53,733 yes - 1,740 no; raises in October By GREGORY N.
HEIRES By a stunning 97 percent vote, members approved a new 32-month
contract that will give them an overall 10 percent increase in wages and benefits
without any givebacks. Members ratified the economic agreement by a vote
of 53,733 to 1,740. The independent American Arbitration Association, which handled
the mail-ballot vote, announced the count at its Manhattan office Aug. 25.
We listened to our members priorities and clearly we delivered,
DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts said. This contract provides for
decent raises, protects our benefits and addresses housing and transportation
needs. Associate Director Oliver Gray called the high rate of participation
in the vote very encouraging and said the 97 percent yes vote was
among the highest in the unions history. Over 57 percent returned their
ballots (55,543 out of 96,875 mailed). The 32-month, two-day contract
runs from July 1, 2005, to March 2, 2008. It includes a 3.5 percent pay increase
retroactive to July 1, 2005, 2 percent retroactive to Aug. 1, 2006, and 4 percent
on Feb. 1, 2007. The contract also includes 0.34 percent in additional compensation
available March 2, 2008, for individual bargaining units to use for further raises
or such items as recurring increments, longevity, annuities, uniform allowances
or differentials. For most DC 37 members, the first two raises and retroactive
payments will come in October. Roberts noted that many members would get back
pay of as much as $2,000. Funds
to protect union benefits The agreement also calls for an infusion
of $40 million from the city for the unions welfare fund, including an increase
of $100 per year per employee and retiree and a one-time payment estimated at
over $20 million. The pact includes major non-salary gains for the 100,000
covered members. The city agreed to the union proposal to jointly support legislation
to ease residency restrictions to let employees live in Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester,
Orange, Rockland and Putnam countries. Already, Roberts is urging the Bloomberg
administration to allow non-residents to participate in the Municipal Employees
Housing Program. The city will now extend its TransitChek program to
cover the Long Island Railroad, Long Island MTA buses and Metro-North Rail Road,
and it will discuss further expansion with the union. The new agreement
came after more than six months of talks between the city and the DC 37 Negotiating
Committee, which is led by Roberts and includes the presidents of the 56 locals.
The negotiators rejected concessions on pension and health-care benefits.
Any future discussion about health costs will be between the city and the Municipal
Labor Committee, the umbrella organization of municipal unions. City pension proposals
will be discussed by the joint labor-management committee on pension issues.
Dennis Sullivan, director of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept., said
management is targeting the following dates for payment of the raises:
Pay dates - Employees at mayoral
agencies and administrative employees at the Dept. of Education will receive the
3.15 percent raise and retroactive pay Oct. 6 and the 2 percent with back pay
Oct. 20. Increases in additions to gross (such as assignment differentials,
longevities and recurring increment payments) will come in November.
- In
the Housing Authority, the 3.15 percent will come Oct. 2, the 2 percent Oct. 26,
both with back pay, and the increases in additions to gross will be in November.
- The
Health and Hospitals Corp. will pay both raises and the back pay Oct. 6 and the
additions to gross Oct. 20.
- Local 372 members at DOE will
get the 3.15 percent, the 2 percent and back pay Oct. 5.
- The
Off-Track Betting Corp. will pay the 3.15 percent and additions to gross Oct.
3, the 2 percent and additions to gross Oct. 27, and the retroactive pay for both
in November.
As PEP went to press, DC 37 was pressing
for dates in Transit, libraries and cultural institutions. | |