From left at I.S. 137 in Queens, Local 375's R. Murthi Vankadara, Anthony Stacom and Zygmunt Jagiello, employees of School Construction Authority.

Three groups of DC 37 members at the School Construction Authority have unanimously approved 27-month contracts that call for two 4 percent raises and 1 percent in additional compensation.

The new contracts that cover the 400 DC 37 members at SCA also provide for job security, a new 401(k) benefit and additional funding for welfare benefits.

Some 200 members in Unit A approved their contract Nov. 19 in a hand vote supervised by the American Arbitration Association. Unit A includes Architects, Engineers and other technical workers in Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375.

Unit B approved its contracts in mail-ballot votes tallied in January by the AAA. Also in January, Unit C approved its contract in a hand vote supervised by AAA.

Unit B is composed of members of Board of Education Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1251, Accountants, Actuaries and Statisticians Local 1407, Amalgamated Professional Employees Local 154 and Electronic Data Processing Personnel Local 2627.

Unit C comprises Project Officers and Assistant Project Officers, who are Local 375 members. In Unit C, one key gain is a provision that will provide 10 percent weekend and shift differentials for Project Officers (Level 1).

The contract ratifications trigger pension improvements contained in legislation that DC 37 won in 2000. Members in the Tier 3 and Tier 4 pension plans will stop making basic pension contributions after 10 years in the system. The change will boost their take-home pay by 3 percent.

Members in the Tier 1 and Tier 2 plans will receive up to two years of additional service credit toward their pensions.

The bargaining committees included Local 2627 President Ed Hysyk, Local 1407 President Maf Misbah Uddin, Local 1251 President Carolyn Harper, Local 154 President Barry Jamison, Local 375 1st Vice President Milton Lovett and Local 375 Chapter 5 President Sabiha Khan and Vice President Jagiello, as well as several local union activists. Frank Burns and Kate Pfordresher of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept. provided technical support.