Public Employee Press

White Collar Division holds grievance workshops

The DC 37 White Collar Division’s first grievance-training workshop, held Nov. 28 and 29 at DC 37, focused on winning grievances, protecting members’ rights and enforcing union contracts.

The agenda was crafted by Division Director Mike Riggio, Assistant Division Director Chris Wilgenkamp, Field Operations Director Barbara Edmonds, Senior Assistant General Counsel Robin Roach and Peggy Sipser, an arbitrator and New York Law School professor. The program covered the citywide and unit contracts, disciplinary and contractual grievances, pay orders, arbitrations, interviews and investigations.

About 40 local presidents, grievance reps and council reps participated in the sessions. The division developed a curriculum to address the special needs of its 14 locals.

“This division services workers in mayoral agencies as well as many governed by the National Labor Relations Board, the State Employment Relations Board and the state Public Employment Relations Board,” Riggio explained. “Not everyone has Section 75 or civil service protections.”

Understanding salary pay orders was a primary concern. “We addressed many misconceptions regarding payroll and trained participants in understanding and implementing pay orders,” said Wilgenkamp. The diivision plans additional training on these subjects in the future.

Through grievances and labor-management meetings, the division has recouped over $2 million owed to members in the cultural institutions, state offices and city agencies where employers misinterpreted pay orders, said Riggio.

“I learned more about the grievance investigation process and about arbitration. Being engaged throughout the entire process says we care about our members,” said Jonathan Perez, vice president of Wildlife Conservation Society Local 1501.

“The workshop stressed the importance of following the contract, keeping a paper trail and conducting a good investigation before the case begins,” said Quasi-Public Employees Local 374 President Cuthbert Dickerson. “The role-playing sessions with an arbitrator revealed our strengths and weaknesses.”

“The more training we can get, the better prepared we will be to handle our members’ concerns,” said Perez.

The division plans to offer local executive board members and shop stewards similar training sessions in the future.