Public Employee Press


Push to create permanent workers
Action on provisionals awaits governor's signature

The DC 37-backed legislation to help provisional workers become permanent city employees awaits Gov. Andrew Cuomo's signature.

The union plans to carry out a campaign to encourage the governor to sign the bill. To become law, this bill must be approved by the end of the year.

"This legislation will help the city meet its legal obligation to reduce the ranks of its provisional workforce while ensuring that thousands of workers don't lose their jobs," DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido said.

Under civil service law, municipalities may only keep provisional workers on the payroll for nine months. Afterward, the workers are supposed to be moved into permanent positions or let go.

Currently, the city has 23,000 provisional workers. More than 10,000 of them have worked for the city for more than two years.

After the city of Long Beach received a court order several years ago to come up with a plan to meet the nine-month rule, New York City adopted its own plan. But because of underfunding, the Dept. of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) has been unable to make a dent in its provisional workforce.

In recent years, DC 37 has worked with the city on its plans to reduce the provisional workforce. The latest plan expires this year, which theoretically could disrupt worksites and services - and even cause thousands of workers to lose their jobs.

The proposed legislation allows the city to extend its plan by two years and cut down its provisional workforce by 4,700 workers, including 1,100 employees in DC 37 titles. These 4,700 employees would be able to become permanent civil servants through a one-time certification process rather than the traditional exam route.

"Permanent civil service employees have better seniority, due process and leave rights than provisional workers," said Sr. Assistant Director Moira Dolan, who works in the union's Research and Negotiations Dept. "It's through no fault of their own that our members who are working provisionally have been unable to take an exam. They shouldn't be penalized because the city has not offered an exam."

In addition to working with the city on the certification process, DC 37 intends to step up its effort to push for DCAS to schedule exams more frequently, Dolan said.

— Gregory N. Heires