Public Employee Press

Bargaining News
Local leaders sharpen their negotiating skills

The union held an orientation March 8 for new members of the DC 37 Negotiating Committee and others who felt they could use a refresher course on the collective bargaining process.

“We are going into a challenging new round of bargaining talks, so we wanted to bring everyone up to speed on the negotiations process,” said Dennis Sullivan, director of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept.

Twelve local union presidents and some staffers attended the intensive evening session at union headquarters.

The presidents of the 55 union locals make up the DC 37 Negotiating Committee, which puts together the union’s bargaining demands, helps craft the negotiating strategy and participates in talks with the city.

“As someone who is new to contract negotiations, I appreciated the opportunity to learn more about the process,” said Fred Ricci, president of the Dept. of Environmental Protection Supervisory Employees Local 1322. “We were presented with a lot of material, and the training should help me be a more productive member of the committee.”

Sullivan welcomed the participants to the orientation and provided an overview of the evening’s agenda before turning over the meeting to Research and Negotiations Dept. staffers, including Associate Director Evelyn Seinfeld, Sr. Assistant Director David Paskin and Assistant Directors Vilma A. Ebanks and Barbara Terrelonge.

The topics included bargaining structure (citywide bargaining, economic bargaining, unit bargaining and issue-specific bargaining), subjects of bargaining (mandatory, non-mandatory and prohibited matters), and the collective bargaining process (demands, negotiations, resolution and impasse procedures).

“It was good to hear what’s expected of us,” said Local 2627 President Robert D. Ajaye, who is participating in union-wide negotiations for the third time and has worked on three City University of New York unit contracts. “Now everyone is clear about the ground rules of bargaining and has realistic expectations about what we can push for and achieve.”