PEP, February 2010: NYC to Sewage Treatment Workers: Bah! Humbug!

In November, after an administrative law judge upheld new prevailing-rate wages set by the Comptroller, Sewage Treatment Workers and Sr. STWs looked forward to better pay in the New Year.

For the eight long years of their wage battle with the city, the workers had received no increases at all. They and their families were especially anxious to get the substantial raises okayed by the judge at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings.

But three days before Christmas, the city told Local 1320 that it would contest the wage ruling in court.

“This was a vicious slap in the face,” said Local President James Tucciarelli. “We have members who are going bankrupt, losing their homes or facing foreclosure, and struggling to stay afloat financially. We played by the rules in this process, and it’s time for this dispute to be resolved.”

As prevailing-rate employees, the blue-collar workers in Local 1320 chose to have the Comptroller set their pay scale to match comparable workers in the private sector. The process, under Section 220 of the state Labor Law, encourages negotiated settlements but lets the parties go to court — which the city now says it will do.

There was a glimmer of hope in Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley’s letter that informed Tucciarelli of the city’s plan to pursue a court case.

“It is the City’s intention to continue good faith discussions with the Union in the hope of reaching a negotiated settlement” before the September deadline for the court action, Hanley wrote.

Tucciarelli said he was “cautiously optimistic” that the matter can be settled at the bargaining table, because new Environmental Protection Commissioner Cass Holloway called a negotiated settlement a “priority.”

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg also hinted at flexibility Christmas Day as he presented a box of cookies to workers at the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant. When Local 1320 Shop Steward Vito Capeza asked if the box contained a new contract, Bloomberg signaled his hope to resolve the contract dispute.

“We are willing to take these overtures at face value,” Tucciarelli said. “But I’m skeptical because the mayor said the same thing a year ago.”

Laborers pump up the volume on pay fight

Laborers will distribute leaflets and buttonhole legislators at the annual Black and Puerto Rican legislative caucus in mid-February to call attention to the eight-year pay dispute they are trying to settle under Section 220.

In November, Laborers Local 924 President Kyle Simmons attended a nine-day marathon session at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings that dealt with the Comptroller’s preliminary recommendation to hike wages to $32.24 an hour from $22.

A team from DC 37, including Sr. Assistant Director David Paskin of the Research and Negotiations Dept., Sr. Assistant General Counsel Steven Sykes and Assistant General Counsel Aaron Amaral, supported Simmons at the hearings. The local’s attorney also attended. The OATH judge will make a recommendation before the Comptroller issues a “final determination” on the pay rate.

Hearings for Locksmiths, Radio Mechanics

The Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings held sessions in January on the pay of Locksmiths, who are in Prevailing Rate Employees Local 1087, and will continue the process this month. The Comptroller will issue a final determination after the OATH judge rules.

OATH held a hearing on the wages of Local 1087’s Radio Repair Mechanics late last year and will soon hold another hearing on their supplemental benefits. To come up with its final determination for the RRMs, the Comptroller’s Office will consider the monetary value of the benefits of comparable workers together with their pay.

— GNH