Public Employee Press

DC 37 battles Dept. of Education over trucking privatization scheme

DC 37 and Local 372 are battling a Dept. of Education privatization scheme that has resulted in Local 372 members being redeployed to lower-paying jobs. The union has filed a grievance and an improper practice charge in the effort to halt contracting out to a private firm that produces paper and cleaning supplies and delivers them directly to city high schools.

Prior to this new contract, no private company delivered goods directly to public schools. The supplies were trucked to the DOE's Long Island City warehouse, where Loaders and Handlers in Local 372 and Motor Vehicle Operators in Local 983 unloaded the goods and delivered them to individual schools.

At a labor-management meeting on June 15, DOE officials denied that they were looking to outsource the work, but the union learned that the number of private trucks involved had increased. In a letter, the union demanded that the DOE cease using the contracted trucking. At a later labor-management meeting, in July, the DOE representatives admitted that the department had entered into a contract with a private company.

The contracting out has already resulted in nine Local 372 members being redeployed to lower-paid hourly titles. In July, they began working as School Lunch Aides, Senior School Lunch Helpers and School Lunch Assistants, suffering pay losses ranging from $8,700 a year to as much as $28,460. The demotions also impact their pension credits and leave accrual rates.

The union grievance, filed Aug. 3, argues that the DOE has violated Section 11 of the Memorandum of Economic Agreement by failing to give DC 37 adequate notice and failure to follow contractual processes for contracting of public services.

On Aug. 19, DC 37 Assistant General Counsel Meaghean Murphy filed an improper practice petition with the state Public Employees Relation Board. The union charged that the DOE had violated the state's collective bargaining law by failing to bargain in good faith and failing to provide the union with adequate information.