Public Employee Press

Local 376 wins $100,000 grievance

An impartial arbitrator awarded a total of more than $100,000 to eight Local 376 Watershed Maintainers because for three years they did the work of Level 1B Surveyors for the Dept. of Environmental Protection.

“These members were doing work that was beyond their job descriptions, and we fought hard to make sure they were appropriately compensated for work they actually did,” said Local 376 President Gene DeMartino.

Several years ago, DEP eliminated its Inspector title and assigned upstate Watershed Maintainers additional duties that included inspecting land, drawing new maps of upstate areas, and logging the information they gathered into the agency’s computerized database, said grievant Raymond Frey in his testimony.

Noticing that the new responsibilities were not part of their job specs, Frey and several co-workers went to their local. With help from Council Rep David Catala of the DC 37 Blue Collar Division, Local 376 filed a group grievance in May 2006. DC 37 attorney Alan M. Brown took the grievance to arbitration and presented a well-prepared, fact-based case that convinced the arbitrator to rule for the members.

Though DEP continues to assign many WSMs Surveyors’ work, only the eight who filed this grievance received the additional pay, explained Catala. The local is following up with another out-of-title grievance that is scheduled for arbitration.

“They are a great group who stuck together, kept faith with the union, and prevailed because of their unity,” said Brown.

“No matter where members are located, this union will follow up grievances with tenacity and commitment,” he said.