Public Employee Press

Members ratify contract

Vote is 53,733 yes - 1,740 no;
raises in October

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

By a stunning 97 percent vote, members approved a new 32-month contract that will give them an overall 10 percent increase in wages and benefits without any givebacks.

Members ratified the economic agreement by a vote of 53,733 to 1,740. The independent American Arbitration Association, which handled the mail-ballot vote, announced the count at its Manhattan office Aug. 25.

“We listened to our members’ priorities and clearly we delivered,” DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts said. “This contract provides for decent raises, protects our benefits and addresses housing and transportation needs.”

Associate Director Oliver Gray called the high rate of participation in the vote very encouraging and said the 97 percent ‘yes’ vote was among the highest in the union’s history. Over 57 percent returned their ballots (55,543 out of 96,875 mailed).

The 32-month, two-day contract runs from July 1, 2005, to March 2, 2008. It includes a 3.5 percent pay increase retroactive to July 1, 2005, 2 percent retroactive to Aug. 1, 2006, and 4 percent on Feb. 1, 2007. The contract also includes 0.34 percent in additional compensation available March 2, 2008, for individual bargaining units to use for further raises or such items as recurring increments, longevity, annuities, uniform allowances or differentials.

For most DC 37 members, the first two raises and retroactive payments will come in October. Roberts noted that many members would get back pay of as much as $2,000.

Funds to protect union benefits
The agreement also calls for an infusion of $40 million from the city for the union’s welfare fund, including an increase of $100 per year per employee and retiree and a one-time payment estimated at over $20 million.

The pact includes major non-salary gains for the 100,000 covered members. The city agreed to the union proposal to jointly support legislation to ease residency restrictions to let employees live in Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Orange, Rockland and Putnam countries. Already, Roberts is urging the Bloomberg administration to allow non-residents to participate in the Municipal Employees Housing Program.

The city will now extend its TransitChek program to cover the Long Island Railroad, Long Island MTA buses and Metro-North Rail Road, and it will discuss further expansion with the union.

The new agreement came after more than six months of talks between the city and the DC 37 Negotiating Committee, which is led by Roberts and includes the presidents of the 56 locals.

The negotiators rejected concessions on pension and health-care benefits. Any future discussion about health costs will be between the city and the Municipal Labor Committee, the umbrella organization of municipal unions. City pension proposals will be discussed by the joint labor-management committee on pension issues.

Dennis Sullivan, director of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept., said management is targeting the following dates for payment of the raises:

Pay dates

• Employees at mayoral agencies and administrative employees at the Dept. of Education will receive the 3.15 percent raise and retroactive pay Oct. 6 and the 2 percent with back pay Oct. 20. Increases in “additions to gross” (such as assignment differentials, longevities and recurring increment payments) will come in November.
• In the Housing Authority, the 3.15 percent will come Oct. 2, the 2 percent Oct. 26, both with back pay, and the increases in additions to gross will be in November.
• The Health and Hospitals Corp. will pay both raises and the back pay Oct. 6 and the additions to gross Oct. 20.
• Local 372 members at DOE will get the 3.15 percent, the 2 percent and back pay Oct. 5.
• The Off-Track Betting Corp. will pay the 3.15 percent and additions to gross Oct. 3, the 2 percent and additions to gross Oct. 27, and the retroactive pay for both in November.

As PEP went to press, DC 37 was pressing for dates in Transit, libraries and cultural institutions.