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Newsline: April 2005 Citywide Pact Gets OK Union Wins Contract that Retains All Benefits
For city employees hired after April 1, 2005, the agreement stipulates: Allen Brawer, a financial analyst from the firm Policy Research, calculated that “for the average Local 237 member earning $30,000 a year at the end of the last contrast, this agreement will provide an additional base pay of $1,440 annually, plus $1,000 bonus.” “The challenge was in reaching a compromise that allowed the city to meet its financial obligations without the union having to sell out the unborn and without us having to give away our hard-won holidays and other benefits,” Haynes said, adding: “It is ludicrous for anyone to suggest that we settle for a contract that sacrifices key benefits just because others have accepted it. The fact is, even if the city allowed you to buy back those benefits later, you couldn’t buy them back for the price you sold them. That’s just common sense.” At a news conference at City Hall, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg and President Haynes publicly announced the deal, the mayor said the “agreement allows the city to adequately compensate the members of Local 237 who work so hard improving the quality of city services... The city’s commitment to attain fiscally prudent settlements has been achieved while maintaining the union’s goal of fair treatment and compensation for its members.” Here’s what several members of the Negotiating Team had to say about the new contract: An ‘Awesome’ Contract “This contract is awesome,” said Reginald Dunbar, a senior cook at Goldwater Hospital. “Carl Haynes, Gregory Floyd and the team really worked hard to pull it off. This really proves that united we stand, divided we fall.” Cheryl Mauro, a school safety agent and grievance representative on Staten Island, said she believed “overall it is a great contract. We saved our members. We didn’t have to give up anything and that is a good contract in my book. We just wished the number was a little higher. But those were the numbers we had to work with.” “The members will be happy that they are finally getting something,” said Charles Cotto, a school safety sergeant at Bronx Regional High School. “The members were crying that they wanted something and felt that the city was playing hardball. Carl Haynes did a great job putting this contract together. It is certainly a lot better than the contract DC 37 ratified.” Richard Miranda, a school safety agent level 3. at Manhattan South Command, was equally relieved. “Carl pulled it off,” Miranda said. “Although it hurts a little bit, it hurts less than it hurt DC 37. It was worth waiting three years because if we had lost as much as DC 37, then we would have had to fight again to get everything back.” President Haynes said the union is still at work on a contract for the housing titles and roofers and expects to conclude those talks by the end of the month. “I am confident we structured the best contract possible under the circumstances we were faced with,” said Local 237 Citywide Director and Secretary-Treasurer Gregory Floyd. The union’s Citywide contract affects 11,000 workers in New York City agencies, the Health and Hospitals Corporation, and the Board of Education. They have been without a contract since April 1, 2002. The Citywide negotiating team included 50 rank-and-file members representing many different titles in city agencies, President Haynes, Citywide Director and Secretary- Treasurer Gregory Floyd, Attorneys Basil Paterson and Barry Peek of the law firm Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, PC, and Allen Brawer of the firm Policy Research. |
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After explaining that union negotiators “considered every possible angle and bargained hard” to secure an agreement that did not “kill the union’s unborn,” Local 237 President Carl Haynes asked the approximately 50 members of the Citywide Negotiating Committee to decide whether the latest contract offer was good enough to submit to a full membership vote. The response, April 7, was a unanimous show of hands — one member voted no — for a tentative new contract that avoids any givebacks and includes a $1,000 signing bonus and retroactive pay increases. A ratification date has been set for April 28.