Public Employee Press: PEP Talk
After report, union leaders and members speak out on pay inequality in City’s workforce
By MIKE LEE
The same day the 2022 Pay Equity report found that inequities remain in New York City’s public sector, the City Council held a hearing with labor leaders, advocates, and activists to discuss legislative efforts to push harder toward equal pay for all city workers.
The latest Pay Equity report revealed significant pay disparities between Black, Latino, and Asian workers and white workers, and between male and female workers.
The report found that on average:
- Female workers make 73 cents for every dollar earned by male workers;
- Black workers make 71 cents to every dollar for white workers;
- Latino workers make 75 cents to every dollar for white workers; and
- Asian workers make 85 cents to every dollar for white workers.
The report states that inequity is significantly higher among non-white female employees. For example, Black and Latino women in the City’s public workforce make 69 cents for every dollar earned by their white male counterparts, while Asian female city workers make 82 cents for every dollar made by white males.
The report directly addressed occupational segregation. For example, while non-white and female employees predominantly occupy civil service titles with the lowest median salaries, the same groups represent a considerably smaller proportion of workers in civil service titles — jobs that pay the highest median salaries.
In a press release presenting the report’s findings, the City Council announced the introduction of legislation intended to rectify the lack of progress city agencies have made toward equalizing opportunities and pay for people of color and women.
Three bills, Int. 515, Int. 527 and Int. 541, include measures that require city agencies to analyze compensation data, address pay disparity and occupational segregation, and report on recruitment and retention efforts to expand diversity. The legislation also requires the City to expand the process of gathering information and provide the Council more oversight regarding collecting data on the City’s workforce.
At a Sept. 22 joint hearing of the Committees on Civil Service and Civil and Human Rights, DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido strongly backed the legislation package, telling Council members, “We want to increase consequences for non-compliance. We want better reporting mechanisms to identify where there are deficiencies.
“We believe the City Council needs to increase the accountability for the agencies that are not following the diversification plan or required action plans and oversee their hiring practices,” Garrido said.
Other DC 37 leaders and members spoke out about the pay disparities in the City’s agencies and institutions.
Celeste Carballo, an Exhibition Preparator at the American Museum of Natural History and a member of Local 1559, gave compelling testimony of her and her colleagues’ struggles as union members working at the cultural institutions.
Pointing out that workers in these institutions often are not included in the discussions about New York City’s public workers, she told the Council that their issues regarding pay inequality are similar to the struggles faced by the public workforce.
“I have a BFA and an MFA, and over $100,000 in student debt with interest that keeps adding up,” Carballo said. “I am always living paycheck to paycheck. Were it not for the support of my husband and family, I would not realistically be able to sustain myself on the Preparator’s salary, which for me currently is below $54,000. Low pay, in fact, prevents people from minority and disadvantaged communities from entering the workforce in New York City’s cultural institutions. Similar to civil service jobs, our union members at the Museum have jobs that require certain levels of education, training, and experience.”
Adding that City employers have justified low wages because of an expectation that there was a labor pool always willing to work for them, Carballo said, “The City needs to recognize that its workers make the city run. We are the heart and soul that may operate behind the scenes, but without us, the City cannot function.”
Concluding her testimony, Carballo told the Council members, “To be clear, we are not asking for a luxury. We are asking for respect in the form of living wages!”
Present at the hearing was Local 924 President Kyle Simmons, who filed a lawsuit against the City because of unequal pay among his union members. Local 2627 President Laura Morand and Local 2507 President Oren Barzilay also attended the hearing.
The City of New York’s Pay Equity Report is a result of DC 37’s efforts to fight against systemic pay disparities in City agencies. In 2019, the union successfully negotiated with the City to add more than $12 million to the 2018 collective bargaining agreement to address these salary inequalities.
As part of the 2019 agreement, the DC 37 Pay Equity Panel was established. The panel plays a vital role during negotiations with the City in achieving pay equity for specific titles. The panel addressed salary inequities for union public workers in 26 titles, including resolving similar issues with nurses and psychologists in the Bronx and elsewhere.
