Public Employee Press

Court nixes mayor's pay-cut plan

Union leaders applauded State Supreme Court Judge Manuel Mendez's decision to throw out Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's plan to reduce the wages and benefits of city blue-collar workers.

Bloomberg sought to scrap a 118-year-old practice that allowed the city comptroller to set city skilled-trade workers' pay based on what similar workers in the private sector get. Recently, some DC 37 blue-collar locals have won substantial pay raises through this process.

Mendez issued a temporary order against Bloomberg's plan in May and ruled out the plan July 5, saying it "does not have a rational basis and is arbitrary and capricious." The city has appealed the ruling, but Mendez's decision will remain in effect during an appeal.

Mayor's "power grab"

"The judge affirmed our position that it was improper for the mayor to unilaterally eliminate protections our members have had for decades," said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. "The mayor's scheme was a power grab to eliminate the comptroller's role in determining the pay of the city's 10,000 prevailing-rate employees."

"The plan would have had a devastating effect on the livelihood of our members," said James Tucciarelli, president of Sewage Treatment Workers and Senior STWs Local 1320, "by establishing a two-tier pay system."

DC 37 worked on the lawsuit with the Municipal Labor Committee, an umbrella group of city workers' unions. DC 37 represented members of Local 1320, Laborers in Local 924, High Pressure Plant Tenders in 983, Prevailing Rate Employees in 1087, Transportation Dept. Supervisors in 1157 and Marine Workers in 2906.

Local 376 filed a separate suit on behalf of Construction Laborers and Highway Repairers. Local 376 President Gene DeMartino called Bloomberg's move "union-busting," and Local Treasurer Thomas Kattou said the plan was part of the mayor's agenda of undermining unions and the civil service system.

"The bottom line is that Judge Mendez agreed with the unions that the administration overstepped by trying to usurp the comptroller's power and ignoring Civil Service Law requirements, including public hearings," said DC 37 Senior Assistant General Counsel Steven Sykes, who argued the union's case. Assistant General Counsel Jesse Gribben also worked on the suit.