Wage talks for about 12,000 college and prevailing-rate workers picked up quickly after DC 37 and the city settled the economic agreement for more than 100,000 other members.

At a May 9 bargaining session with city and CUNY officials, DC 37 Administrator Lee Saunders and Deputy Administrator Dennis Sullivan underscored the union’s hope to reach an agreement soon on wages for workers in the public university system.

Saunders said that there shouldn’t be any serious obstacles to a new wage agreement, since funding for the colleges of the City University of New York comes from the city and the state and in recent months both have agreed to new contracts with various unions.

DC 37 represents 8,000 full-time and part-time workers at CUNY. The union and university agreed to hold separate unit bargaining sessions to deal with the working conditions of blue-collar and white-collar workers.

The presidents of the seven union locals representing CUNY workers serve on the negotiating team. They are Esther (Sandy) Tucker, CUNY Employees Local 384; Joan Reed, College Assistants Local 2054; Claude Fort, Technical Guild Local 375; Maf Misbah Uddin, Accountants, Actuaries and Statisticians Local 1407; Edna Williams, Custodial Employees Local 1597; Charles Farrison, Custodial Supervisors Local 1797; and Ed Hysyk, Electronic Data Processing Personnel Local 2627.

At negotiations held May 10, the city made a wage offer to the locals representing 4,000 prevailing-rate employees covered by Section 220 of the state labor law.

Their contracts, known as “determinations,” have typically followed the pattern of DC 37’s principal economic agreement, and the city’s new proposal is comparable to the pact that most DC 37 members recently ratified.

The prevailing-rate bargaining team includes these local presidents: Ed Bennett, Construction Laborers and Highway Repairers Local 376; James Welsh, Laborers Local 924; Mark Rosenthal, Local 983; Victor Emanuelson, Prevailing Rate Employees Local 1087; Thomas Siano, Supervisory Employees Local 1157; James Tucciarelli, Sewage Treatment Workers Local 1320; and Richard Thaxter, Marine Employees Local 2906.