PEP, September 2008: Contracts result in pay, workplace improvements

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

High Pressure Plant Tenders approve contract
Ending a six-year battle, High Pressure Plant Tenders and Plant Maintainers approved a new contract calling for pay increases totaling over 16 percent and back pay of nearly $24,000 for each worker.

In June, the Local 983 members voted 110-11 to ratify the agreement, which runs from July 1, 2002, to June 30, 2008.

The workers agreed to the new contract in talks with the city after first seeking a survey of private- sector pay by the Comptroller to determine their increases under Section 220 of the state labor law.

The pact they approved, which mirrors DC 37’s 2002-05 and 2005-08 economic agreements, calls for retroactive wage increases of 3 percent back to July 1, 2003; 2.14 percent as of July 1, 2004; 3.25 percent on July 1, 2005; 2.031 percent on Aug. 13, 2006, and 5.076 percent on Feb. 13, 2007.

Local 983 Executive Board member Kevin Sexton said members felt they had no choice but to accept the agreement, because the survey wasn’t favorable. But he called the contract’s recurring annuity fund payment of $1.29 a day to provide an extra nest egg for members a positive step.

“The survey did not come out as we wished, but the local did everything it could to come up with the best contract for members,” Local 983 President Mark Rosenthal said.

Rosenthal, Sexton, Vice President Tony George and member Kris Kilgour were on the bargaining committee along with Director Dennis Sullivan and the late Assistant Director Frank Burns of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept., DC 37 Rep Edwin Badillo and attorney Jesse Gribben.

Bronx Zoo and New York aquarium employees to vote on working conditions pact
The union recently wrapped up negotiations on a new working conditions contract for about 300 Local 1501 members at the Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium. The local will soon hold a vote on the pact, which runs from Jan. 1, 2008, to Dec. 31, 2010.

The pact extends the shoe allowance to Guest Services and Security Dept. workers and increases it to $70, raises the differential for employees who work with pesticides from $850 to $1,000, improves child care leave and establishes a new grievance policy on discharges.
The Negotiating Committee included President Robert Herkommer, Vice President Jon Perez, Secretary Marty Zybura, Trustee Bill Sheenan and Shop Steward Cache Rodriguez. Sullivan and the late Frank Burns of theResearch and Negotiations Dept.,White Collar Division Director Michael Riggio, Assistant Director Chris Wilgenkamp and Rep Wendell Reid assisted.

Pay increases due soon for CUNY and court workers covered by new agreements
Workers at the City University of New York’s community colleges received the first two pay raises of their new contract Aug. 22 and will get their retroactive pay Sept. 5.

This summer, Gov. David Paterson signed the legislation required to implement the raises for DC 37 members at CUNY’s state-funded senior colleges; they should get their raises in the early fall.

Paterson also signed a pay bill to implement Local 1070’s new contract covering state court workers in New York City.

Local 1070 members ratified their pact in May. Members of Locals 2504, 384, 1407, 375, 983, 1797 and 2627 at the CUNY voted for theirs by 2,649 to 30 in a mail ballot vote compiled in June.