Public Employee Press

Contract talks are underway

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

DC 37 and city negotiators met Dec. 5 for the opening session of bargaining for a new economic agreement.

The union presented the city with its demands, which call for a two-year agreement with a fair, reasonable and livable wage increase and the preservation of health and other benefits (see below).

“This is a very important round of negotiations for the union,” DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts told city negotiators. “More than anything else, we are interested in catching up and being made whole.”

During the meeting at union headquarters in Lower Manhattan, DC 37 Research and Negotiations Director Dennis Sullivan presented the union’s 39 demands to the city’s team led by Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley.

Record surplus
Sullivan noted that the political and economic climate has improved since the last round of bargaining, not long after the 9/11 attacks. The region’s economy was battered, the tax base had shriveled, the budget was in crisis and the workforce was reeling from layoffs. Today, in contrast, the city is projecting a record surplus based on hefty revenues from Wall Street and the real estate market.

The previous agreement, with a $1,000 signing bonus and a total of 6 percent in wage increases over its 39-month duration, expired June 30. Its terms will stay in effect as city and union negotiators hammer out the new deal.

“Our members have told us that they expect the administration to do the right thing this time,” Sullivan said. “They had to sacrifice in the last round.”

Working with less
Sullivan noted that the non-uniformed workers headcount is down by 7,000 since the last economic bargaining, while the dedicated union members have continued to maintain the same level of services. “Inflation has escalated after being dormant for several years,” Sullivan said. “But the city’s condition is better and our members say they want to be rewarded.”

The union’s demands include several that were discussed during the last bargaining together with a number of new ones. The union wants to restore some benefits and end the reduced minimum salaries for newly hired employees.

Brief response by city
Key demands include an employer match for the 401(k) plan, new 20-year and 25-year longevity increments, a recurring annuity payment of $5 a day, eliminating the residency requirement for city employment and employer-provided TransitCheks with no administrative fee.

Following the customary practice in municipal bargaining, the opening session was short as Hanley commented briefly on the union’s demands.

Hanley took issue with what he called the “rosy” position of the union about the budget outlook. While today the city has a surplus, it will face a substantial deficit in its next budget and even higher ones in subsequent years, he said.

Hanley suggested that both parties should be able to grapple with the union’s call for a reopening of the Chapter 96 pension program, a DC 37 demand from the last round. “We will have a proposal for you at the next session,” he said.

“It looks daunting,” he said about this round of bargaining. “But to quote Isaiah, ‘Come let us reason together.’ ”

The city will present its proposals to the union at a bargaining session scheduled for Jan. 13.

DC 37 opened negotiations shortly after the city concluded new contracts that extend into 2007 with the teachers and some unions of uniformed workers. The Dec. 5 session occurred as the Transport Workers Union and Metropolitan Transportation Authority were at the table with the possibility of a strike looming over the city.

In a budget briefing for the union committee, Assistant Research and Negotiations Director Michael Musuraca pointed out that the Bloomberg administration — unlike other recent administrations — has included a labor reserve in its spending plan. The current fiscal year 2006 budget includes 3.15 percent for wage increases. The following three years include increases of 1.25 percent a year.

Protect welfare benefits
In a caucus, Juan Fernandez, president of Amalgamated Professional Employees Local 154, said the union must press the city to agree to a substantial contribution to its benefits fund. The fund covers the union’s prescription drug benefit, which for years has been battered by skyrocketing costs.

Maf Misbah Uddin, DC 37 treasurer and president of Accountants, Statisticians and Actuaries Local 1407, said that the labor reserves and the raises in the city’s recent settlements with other municipal unions establish a target for the DC 37 Negotiating Committee.