Public Employee Press

Out-of-title grievance wins back pay for 23

It took a stand-up woman to put her foot down and lead the fight that won a long-standing grievance for Local 1549 members at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.

Emergency Room Clerical Associate Cynthia Ladson pressed a group out-of-title work grievance, and five years later 23 members are reaping the benefit.

“It’s about standing up for what’s right,” said Ladson. “I believed it was important and I tried to get everybody else to believe in it too!”

Ladson and other Level II ClericalAssociates were routinely assigned work that went beyond their job descriptions, including more difficult tasks that required independent judgment. When earlier grievance steps yielded no progress, the union took the case to an arbitrator who ruled Oct. 6 that the members were doing Level III work.

Council Rep Eddie Douglass and Grievance Rep Efrain Perez dealt with the grievance steps and DC 37 attorney Steven Sykes handled the arbitration. “The members continued to bring us up-to-date ­information, and that helped win the arbitration,” said Perez.

Now the members are awaiting their checks. They will be paid the difference between the pay of the two titles for as long after they filed the grievance as they were in Level II doing Level III work. For some, this means the whole five years; others were upgraded to CA III during that time.

Local 1549 President Eddie Rodriguez applauded the members who stood strong together: “We’re proud of them for not giving up,” he said. “It took a lot of endurance,” said Renee Gainer, assistant director ofDC 37’s Clerical Division.

Bryan Griffin, chief shop steward at Jacobi, underscored the message: “Patience, persistence and the union will get you what you need,” he said.

“When we fight, we win!” said Division Director Ronnie Harris.