Public Employee Press

Pay hikes total $7,000 in Harlem Hospital grievances

The old saying, “good things come in threes,” proved true again at Harlem Hospital recently as three members of Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549 won out-of-title work grievances.

Wanda Byerson, Shirlene Buggs and Augustina Ehi Gharevba received back pay for the differences between their job titles and the appropriate title for the work they were actually performing, dating back to when the grievances were filed.

Management has upgraded the workers, who are sharing in $7,000 worth of salary increases. The union won Secretary Shirlene Buggs’s case in an arbitration hearing.

“I’ve been fighting for 10 years and I feel great about winning,” said Buggs, who started working at the hospital in 1969. “I’ve always loved my job and I love it even more now.”

Byerson was a Clerical Associate II doing a higher title’s work in the dental clinic. “It took two years, but I have been vindicated,” she said.

“The union listened to me and backed me all the way.” Hospital officials agreed to settle her case just before the scheduled arbitration.

Gharevba, a Clerical Associate III in the rehabilitation medicine clinic, has been awarded the difference between her title and the pay of a CA Level IV.

Shop Steward Betty Sweeney, vice chair of Local 1549’s HHC Chapter, views the three settlements as significant. “I feel this is due justice, because there are a lot of people doing out-of-title work,” she said.

“Management takes a long time to resolve these cases, but it’s worth every minute!” Sweeney said.

“These were three the hard way! We had to go the distance for each of these members. It wasn’t easy but we prevailed,” said Council Rep Dorothy Lorenzo, who handled the three cases with District Council 37 attorneys Joseph Barrett, Robin Roach and former attorney Leonard Polletta.

Clerical-Administrative Division Director Ronnie Harris sees the victories as a demonstration of the union’s strength.

“When we take on these cases, we win,” Harris said. “This was a job well done.”