Public Employee Press
DC 37 News
Ratified: 98 percent vote “Yes” on contract
DC 37 members voted overwhelmingly for a contract that provides for a total wage increase of 7.42 percent and preserves their premium-free health-care coverage with no givebacks.
Members voted 31,133 in favor and 743 against the contract, an approval rate of 97.6 percent.
The mail-ballot vote was tabulated on Aug. 14 at the American Arbitration Association’s office in downtown Manhattan.
“During a time in which public employees are under attack around the country, we are very pleased with the vote,” said DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido, who led the contract talks with Director of Research and Negotiations David Paskin.
“Our negotiating team is proud to have won a good contract for our tens of thousands of members. This shows what workers can achieve when they are united in a union,” Paskin said.
“Our members have spoken loudly and clearly in favor of the new 44-month economic agreement, which provides for a total pay hike of 7.42 percent, substantial funding for benefits, a new paid family leave plan, and a continuation of premium-free health insurance until at least 2021,” Garrido said. “The 98 percent yes vote was a powerful display of union solidarity.”
The contract includes a new paid family leave benefit, which a growing number of American workers want their employer to provide. In 2016, only 14 percent of U.S. workers had access to an employer-provided paid family leave.
The benefit will be linked to the state public employees’ family leave plan. It will be implemented in January.
The term of the contract runs from Sept. 26, 2017 to May 25, 2021.
The new 44-month contract includes three pay raises:
- a 2 percent raise on the first day of the contract, Sept. 26, 2017
- a 2.2 percent increase on Sept. 26, 2018 and
- a 3 percent hike on Oct. 26, 2019.
The raises should be around the rate of inflation, according to projections on past and future rates. When compounded, the total pay increase amounts to 7.42.
Preserving premium-free health care coverage was possible because municipal unions and the city reached a multi-million dollar health agreement as DC 37 negotiated the new contract.
In 2017, the typical premium contribution was $1,213 for individuals and $5,714 for families, according to Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Ninety-two percent of union workers have job-related health coverage compared to 68 percent of non-union workers.
The agreement between the city and the Municipal Labor Committee — which represents public employees on health-care matters — aims to save $1.1 billion while preserving premium-free health-care coverage. The deal calls for $200 million of savings in fiscal year 2019, $300 million in 2020, and $600 million in 2021.
“The health deal reflects how unions and their employers can work together to protect the coverage of employees while addressing costs concerns,” Garrido said.
An important win in the new contract is the city’s agreement to increase its annual contribution to the DC 37 Education Fund by $100 for each member. This will allow the union to significantly improve its education program, which until now hasn’t received an increase in the city’s contribution since the late 1970s. Under the new contract, the city will provide one-time cash payments of $100 per member for the union’s welfare fund in 2018 and 2019, as well as a $50 recurring contribution starting April 2021. The new funding will help the union’s prescription drug benefit continue to fight the relentless price hikes the DC 37 Health & Security Plan has faced for decades.
The contract calls for an Additional Compensation Fund worth 0.2 percent payroll to enable the union’s negotiating units to bargain with the city over their special concerns. The units represent workers with similar jobs.
The fund allows units to negotiate additional payments on top of the salary base of workers. Many locals have used the money for annuity funds.
The contract will establish a labor-management equity panel to deal the city’s recruitment and retention problems with certain titles. The extra 0.2 percent of payroll will be used to improve the compensation of these titles. The panel will be ready to go to work next summer.
The contract includes funding for “additions to gross,” which in the past have been used to allocate funds for longevities; uniform, equipment and transportation allowances, as well experience, certification, educational, licenses and night differentials. The city will fund these items by 3 percent, which matches the third raise in the contract.
The contract requires workers hired after ratification vote — except for seasonal workers and JTP workers — to be enrolled automatically into direct deposit accounts.
The new pact affects about 100,000 DC 37 members. It sets the framework for those members who are not directly covered by the economic agreement, which include Emergency Medical Services workers, Fire Protection Inspectors, Urban Park Rangers, Traffic Enforcement Agents Level III and Level IV, members of Local 1359 and Local 1931, as well as workers at the City University of New York, prevailing-rate titles, the School Construction Authority, the Unified Court System, New York Law School, Grand Central Partnership, The Children’s Village and Sodexo.
