|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
     Current Issue Highlights Highlights Archive             Get to know your Business Agent today!  Find out how the union makes a difference on the job. |
Newsline: September 2001 Haynes Urges ‘Round-the-Clock’ Bargaining to Reach Contract Angered by the painfully-slow pace of negotiations for a new contract for members of the union, Local 237 President Carl Haynes urged officials of the Housing Authority last month to prepare for 24-hour daily bargaining sessions until a new agreement is hammered out. Haynes made this suggestion when both sides met Aug. 22 at the HA headquarters at 90 Church St., Manhattan. He pointed out that the HA had already negotiated new contracts with other unions that represent housing employees based on the agreement the city reached with District Council 37. These contracts have been ratified by the union members and they are receiving the higher salaries agreed to, Haynes noted. The Local official added that all of the agreements reached with the city assured job security and none required any sort of givebacks. Douglas Apple, the new general manager of the HA, told the Local 237 bargaining team that his agency was equally interested in obtaining a contract with the Teamsters, but that there were important issues which had to be agreed upon. He mentioned changes in the disciplinary process, a Workers’ Compensation package that he asserted was not in the best interest of the HA, and the necessity of giving management the flexibility of scheduling five consecutive days of work in any seven-day week. Haynes, a former Housing Manager for the Authority and HA tenant, said the union recognizes the need for an adequate workforce on Saturdays and Sundays to provide proper service to development residents. But he insisted he would never agree to a contract eliminating premium pay for weekends. Haynes also protested forced overtime which oftentimes ignores the needs of employees to be with their families. Secretary-Treasuer Nick Mancuso, a chief negotiator for the union, told HA officials that the disciplinary standards could readily be worked out, as could the changes in the Workers’ Compensation program, with a concerted effort at sincere negotiations. “We can settle a contract in only a few days, based on the contracts already negotiated with the city,” he contended. Mancuso said there was no magic to obtaining a new agreement, but it would require serious good-faith bargaining on the part of the HA. “It’s not fair to prolong the process,” he said. “We must get our members an increase in their salaries and the retroactive monies due them since April 1, 2000.” He noted that the DC 37 agreement called for no changes in the work schedule, and reiterated Haynes’ statement that the Local would never agree to the changes in the work week contemplated by the Authority. Mancuso, pointing out that the union had been sitting at the bargaining table over an 18-month period, said, “We are running out of days.” Although both sides conceded there were issues unique to maintaining the housing developments, the atmosphere at the bargaining sessions was congenial and optimistic. Apple asserted that he didn’t think “round-the-clock” negotiations were needed at this time, but agreed to meet more often with the union negotiators. He said more frequent meetings would be arranged with the union team for this month. |
|
 PUTTING THEIR HEADS TOGETHER — President Carl Haynes, right, conferring with Basil Patterson, attorney for Local 237, during the recent negotiating session with the Housing Authority.  Members of the negotiating committee listening to a report on progress. |
||
|
|
|
|||
 |
|||||
| |||||