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Newsline: June/July/August 2005 Union Wins Extra Holidays for SSAs Arbitrated Award Over "Chancellor Days" Dispute
Local 237 Secretary-Treasurer Gregory Floyd noted that the arbitrator ruled that all school safety agents who were on the job during the time of the grievance will receive the additional annual leave time. “There appears to be a little confusion with the Police Department as to the members entitled to additional annual leave time. Local 237’s attorney is working to resolve the problem,” Floyd added. Chancellor Days refer to the extra holidays school safety agents received for the days that schools were closed because of the then Board of Education schedule. Those holidays included Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the day after Thanksgiving, Good Friday and Brooklyn Queens Day. When School Safety merged with the Police Department on December 20, 1998, the NYPD instituted a new holiday schedule that did not include those Chancellor Days. “This was a relatively clear-cut issue for us,” Haynes added. “Those Chancellor Days are contractual obligations. An agency cannot simply wipe out a benefit that is subject to collective bargaining.” When the union protested the change as a contract violation, the NYPD said it would allow the union to arbitrate the issue. However, when Local 237 prepared to go to arbitration, the city, under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, changed its mind and took the union to court to prevent it from arbitrating the Chancellor Days. Undeterred, the union pursued with its plans to seek arbitration on the matter, but, as Haynes explained, “the city put every obstacle in our way. They did everything and anything possible to prevent us from moving forward to arbitration.” In the end, the union’s determination paid off. While other school safety personnel agreed not to arbitrate the matter and settled with the city for less, Local 237’s school safety agents fought for and won what is one of the largest group grievances, involving over 4,000 members. “I cannot over-emphasize the importance of members having patience and faith in their union,” said President Haynes. “Grievances take a great deal of time to resolve. The city is not anxious to settle these matters quickly because they have to put out money when they lose. And, more often than not, Teamsters Local 237 wins its grievances. Arbitrations take even longer to complete. Scheduling an arbitration date can take a year or longer.” Haynes added that in both cases “Patience is key.” |
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The battle between Local 237 and the city over so-called “Chancellor Days” began in 1998, when the New York City Police Department took over management of the School Safety Division from the then Board of Education. Last month an arbitrator finally put an end to the matter with a ruling that granted school safety agents additional holidays and credited them for some of the days lost during that seven-year period.