PEP, Oct-Nov 2010: 26 fired members back to work

TWENTY-SIX of the 63 Local 768 members laid off in May went back to work temporarily in September as the Health Dept. used only half of the $1 million the City Council restored to its budget in hopes of saving the jobs of the rest of the Pest Control Aides.

"Considering the city's growing rat problem, the Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene needs to bring back all of the laid-off workers and then hire more Pest Control Aides immediately," Local 768 President Fitz Reid said Sept. 24 at a press conference in Jackson Heights, Queens.

The Health Dept. said it was addressing the city's budget gap when it decimated the rat control effort by firing 63 of its 78 Pest Control Aides. Although the City Council restored most of the funds, the agency pulled a switcheroo with the money and refused to rehire most of the workers. Instead, the department plans to sink half the money into a Web site and online training for landlords and tenants dealing with pest control.

Health Dept. management told the 26 recalled workers that their jobs are temporary and will end in March and assigned them to work with the Parks Dept., cleaning up debris left by the September tornadoes (see 'Union workers to the rescue').

City Council backs Local 768

The union and angry political leaders have blasted the city for misusing the restored funds, which the City Council clearly intended to go into the pest control effort.

In an Aug. 11 meeting with officials from the Office of Labor Relations and the DOHMH, union leaders sharply criticized the department's handling of the restored funds and pressed for all the laid-off workers to be rehired.

At the Sept. 24 press conference, City Council members Daniel Dromm, Jimmy Van Bramer and Julissa Ferreras and State Assembly member Jose Peralta demanded that the city move immediately to rehire the rest of the Pest Control Aides.

"The mayor is letting the rats take over. We can't take it any longer," said Dromm, who represents Jackson Heights.

"The Pest Control Aides are crucial if we are to win the war against rodents," said Van Bramer, who is from Sunnyside.

The city's claim that the layoffs would save $1.4 million in salaries was false, said Reid, because the Pest Control Aides generated $6.4 million in revenue for the city over the last year. The DOHMH bills the owners of the properties, such as abandoned lots and buildings, that the workers clean up. Their work also helps reduce infestations of mosquitos, which transmit West Nile disease.

Rosemarie Vazquez, a Senior Crew Chief PCA, and 13-year veteran, is glad to be returning to work. "I need the health insurance," said Vazquez, who lives in Brooklyn and takes care of her Alzheimer's-afflicted mother.

"These workers perform one the dirtiest and toughest jobs in the city," said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. "Control and reduction of rodents is a critical function of public health, because they carry disease. Instead of layoffs, we need more of these workers."