In a unanimous vote, the City Council passed a bill April 12, granting uniformed status to Local 237’s nearly 5,000 school safety agents, special officers, taxi and limousine inspectors and parking control specialists. The bill also covers about 2,000 sanitation enforcement agents of the Communications Workers of America Local 1182.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who opposes the measure, is expected to veto it in the next few weeks, arguing that it violates the City Charter. Currently, the titles involved are classified as civilian employees. But the Council, which acknowledges that the employees are enforcing laws, much like the city’s uniformed forces, is expected to override the mayor’s veto.

The measure, Intro. 380-A, would grant uniformed status to the titles involved, allowing unions representing law enforcement workers to bargain outside of the civilian-union pattern for certain rights enjoyed by uniformed forces. Currently, civilian employees performing law enforcement duties who are injured on the job use their own sick and vacation days to recuperate.

“These workers were denied the opportunity in the Charter to get an equal shot at advocating for their benefits,” said Councilman Leroy Comrie, the bill’s main sponsor, who promised Local 237 school safety agents in 2003, when he spoke at their title meeting, that he would push for legislation allowing them to bargain separately. “This legislation corrects that. I’m pleased I was able to keep the promise I made.”

Local 237 officials testified in support of the bill at a hearing on March 29, by the Committee on Civil Service and Labor, chaired by Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. The bill, first introduced a year ago, resembles a local law passed in 2001, overriding then-Mayor Giuliani’s veto, granting uniformed status to Emergency Medical Technicians and Fire Alarm Dispatchers.

“It’s the right thing to do,” says Addabbo of the bill. “If you look at the work these people do, they are doing a job that puts them in danger all the time.”

If the mayor vetoes the legislation, the bill will come back to Addabbo’s committee, where, he said, “I will work for an override of the veto. Then the full Council will do the same. We have enough votes to do IT at this point.”

“We’re thrilled with the development of this legislation,” said Local 237 President Carl Haynes. “We are confident that the Council will override this veto and make this bill law for our members.”