Public Employee Press

Wage negotiations on the fast track

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

The union aims to win a good contract at a time when the city enjoys a record surplus.

The union and the city are tentatively scheduled to begin bargaining on a new economic agreement on Oct. 16.

As PEP went to press, the union’s demands were ready to go before the DC 37 Delegates Council for approval on Sept. 25. The Executive Board approved the bargaining proposals the previous week, and the Negotiating Committee agreed on them Sept. 6.

“Once the delegates give us the green light, we will do our best to put the negotiations with the city on the fast track so we can work out an agreement that meets our members’ needs as soon as possible,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

The union hopes to conclude negotiations before the current economic agreement expires on March 2, 2008.

“The city has been wrapping up agreements with other unions and its budget outlook is strong, so we are entering contract talks in a good climate,” Roberts said.

Over the past few months, the Negotiating Committee, which is made up of the union’s 56 local presidents, worked hard with the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept. to craft the union’s demands. Locals submitted demands based on input from their leadership and rank-and-file members.

The demands — which won’t be released until the opening day of bargaining — fall into three broad categories: general economic matters, health and welfare benefits, and citywide, civil service and personnel issues.

The union will seek a fair, reasonable and livable wage increase in each year of the contract. The Negotiating Committee also plans to press the city to restore certain benefit modifications affecting new hires that the union agreed to in an earlier contract.

“As a council of 56 locals with often differing needs, our contract negotiations can be very complex,” said Dennis Sullivan, director of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept. “As always, we will work hard to come up with an agreement that does the best possible job of meeting the needs of all of our members.”

“Our priority is to win decent raises so that our members aren’t falling behind or running in place like so many other workers in the country who are struggling with stagnating and falling wages,” Roberts said.

During meetings in August and September, Roberts informed the Negotiating Committee that she had reached out to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley to help set a positive and constructive tone for the upcoming negotiations. The union and the city appear to share the hope of concluding talks as soon as possible, according to Roberts. Union technicians have already started meeting with their city counterparts to do “number crunching” on the cost of future raises and benefit enhancements.

The economic agreement covers about 100,000 of the union’s more than 125,000 members.

The current contract runs from July 1, 2005, to March 2, 2008. With compounding, it provides for a total wage increase of more than 10 percent.