Public Employee Press

DC 37 aims for contract talks in October

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

DC 37 expects to open wage talks with the city in the fall, and the union aims to reach a settlement with the city before the current economic agreement expires next March. To prepare for bargaining, the DC 37 Negotiating Committee met Aug. 8 to begin drafting the union’s bargaining proposals.

At the meeting, DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts and Dennis Sullivan, director of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept., led a committee discussion of the bargaining climate, including settlements recently reached by other unions, in addition to considering possible demands.

The committee, which will continue drawing up the demands at meetings in late August and early September, is made up of the presidents of the DC 37’s 56 locals.

Provided that the union’s Delegates Council approves the demands at its September meeting, the union will schedule the opening of contract talks in October.

Mayor ready to talk
“I have been in touch with the mayor’s office, and Mayor Bloomberg is amenable to early negotiations,” Roberts told the Public Employee Press.

“The city is in very good shape fiscally, thanks partly to the hard work of our members, who do their best to deliver services efficiently,” Roberts said.

“I think the administration is interested in having the contracts of its employees in place through at least the remainder of the mayor’s term, which ends in 2009,” Roberts said.

Roberts told the committee she anticipates that the union will seek a multiyear contract and focus on winning substantial wage increases. The current contract runs from July 1, 2005, to March 2, 2008. With compounding, it provides for wage increases totaling more than 10 percent.

City in good fiscal health
“I don’t have to tell you that the city is in good fiscal health,” Sullivan said before informing the committee about the recent settlements of several other municipal unions, which have contract expiration dates ranging from 2008 to 2012.

It is in the interest of members to wrap up talks for a new economic agreement while the city’s fiscal position is strong, he said. Edward W. Hysyk, president of Electronic Data Processing Personnel Local 2627, applauded the plan to press quickly for a new contract. “It is good that we are starting early,” said Maf Misbah Uddin, DC 37 treasurer and president of Accountants, Statisticians and Actuaries Local 1407.

James Tucciarelli, president of Sewage Treatment Workers and Senior Sewage Treatment Workers Local 1320, appealed to committee members to avoid discussing negotiations in great detail with the press.

Tucciarelli noted that he’d already received a call from a newspaper — before the union had even begun its internal discussions about the new contract.