Local 237’s Negotiating Committee met with New York City Housing Authority negotiators Feb. 26 at union headquarters to start talks the agency had stalled for months. At press time, a second round of talks was scheduled for early April.

In preliminary comments to 237 negotiators, President Gregory Floyd said, “We don’t want to accept anything less than pattern,” referring to the 4 percent raises over two years that Citywide members gained last September.

Acknowledging that bad times have grown worse, especially at NYCHA, which recently let go more than 200 community center workers, Floyd presented HA with demands designed to benefit 237 members, who haven’t been cut back, but are carrying heavier workloads. He also proposed a way for the cash-strapped employer to save money.

“With 4,000 fewer workers, NYCHA is extremely shortstaffed, effectively doubling our member’s workloads,” said Floyd. “This must be compensated in the next contract. Put a dollar value on the additional work that each 237 member performs and saves the authority.”

Newly appointed NYCHA Chairman Richard Morales opened the session on a positive note, saying, “We all work for NYCHA’s betterment and preservation.”

Through rallies, voter registration drives, and lobbying efforts, Local 237 has been instrumental in securing additional funding for NYCHA. In 2008, we helped to win more state and federal funding. Last month, we succeeded in getting NYCHA an additional $400 million in capital funds through the federal stimulus package.

On the other hand,Morales noted that ongoing efforts to raise funds in Washington, Albany and the City Council, have not closed a “structural imbalance,” resulting in not enough income to cover expenses. A Power- Point presentation highlighted NYCHA’s claim that public housing has lost $3 billion in federal funding since 2001.

Despite thousands of layoffs, rent increases, and the closing of community centers, NYCHA has a $195 million deficit. This deficit is structural because essential services, upkeep and maintenance still need to be paid for although government funding has declined. NYCHA also claims that employee benefit expenses grew 73 percent since 2002 and are expected to increase further as declining tax revenues drain government coffers.

“The rest of the country is giving up on public housing, but we haven’t lost any units,” Morales said, adding,“As new chairman I want to look at We Demand ‘4+4 Pattern’ Contract From NYCHA Continued from page 1 all the numbers and find where we can close the gaps without losing our labor force and the things you guys fought for.”

A close look at the PowerPoint presentation revealed to Local 237 negotiators that NYCHA received an additional 7 cents on the dollar in federal funding shortly after Local 237’s May Day housing rally. “They are down twelve cents, not nineteen cents on the dollar, and it came from Bush,” Floyd noted in his closing statements to NYCHA. He restated the union’s demands to cost-out the OATH system for disciplinary hearings and to give raises to those workers who are working harder with less support than ever.

Reviewing the first session, Alan Brawer, of Policy Research Group, addressed Local 237 negotiating committee members, saying, “You didn’t cause this problem; you can’t be the victim. These are going to be very hard negotiations. They are looking to fill a deficit and we want a raise.”