The union’s 400 heating plant technicians (HPTs) titles are bracing for major changes in the way they do their work beginning around Nov. 1, when the New York City Housing Authority plans to centralize its heating system and create mobile “clusters” of HPTs, advanced HPTs and burner mechanics who will travel from site to site within each borough to maintain the boilers.

Under the Housing Authority’s new Computer Heating Automated System (CHAS) program, boilers in each housing development will be wired so they can be monitored and controlled from a central location at the borough office. HPTs, advanced HPTs and burner mechanics who are currently assigned to housing developments will be reassigned to the borough and placed in clusters of 28 or 29 others in that title. Each cluster will consist of eight or more developments within an area in the borough as a mobile unit.

Leon Richards, a Local 237 member for 12 years and a newly certified HPT at Glenmore Plaza in Brooklyn, is convinced the CHAS program will not work as smoothly as NYCHA is expecting. “The plan right now sounds good on paper,” Richards said. “There are a lot of positives and negatives to it. Some things will improve, but I don’t think they [NYCHA] sat down and planned it out properly. They didn’t even tell us about it until now, a month before the heating season will begin.”

“The Housing Authority wants to take advantage of new technology that allows them to control the heating system from a central location and have workers shuttle to the development as necessary,” said Local 237 President Carl Haynes. “It’s an ambitious program, but the union cannot tell the Housing Authority how to assign its staff. We would argue, however, that heating plant technicians should be permanently situated around the clock in each development. Someone needs to be there when the computers fail.”

Coresa Fields-Collins, an HPT and shop steward since 2001, agrees, although she also admits that the new procedure takes a lot of pressure off of HPTs who currently turn the boiler system on and off manually every day and adjust the heating level as needed. “I don’t think that it’s going to work because computers don’t work 100 percent.” Fields-Collins said. “Sometimes the boilers go out on flame failure. If something goes wrong, nobody will be there. A lot of us in the developments feel the same way. You still need a body to keep an eye on each boiler.”

Richards said that his main concern is that under CHAS, “the plants [boiler rooms] are going to go down for sure, especially since people are not going to take care of them as well anymore.” He added that most HPTs take pride in their plant and maintain the area “because when we’re working there its our home away from home, so you want to keep it clean and looking nice. With CHAS that’s not going to happen anymore because it’s not your plant and you will not be spending any time there.”

“They threw this new procedure at us so fast,” said Local 237 Housing Director Ed Kane. “Members were fearful at first, which is understandable. Some are concerned that they will be moved around to a location that will make it difficult for them to pick up their kids after school or from the babysitter.” Kane added that the union insisted that the Housing Authority conduct borough-wide meetings to explain the new procedure to members “to ensure that members are treated fairly and so that members fully understand what is going on and what their options are.”

Kane explained that when the plan is implemented HPT titles will become borough workers and will have the opportunity to select their location and transfer from one cluster to another based on seniority. HPTs will also be given an opportunity to improve their skills and upgrade their title and pay scale with an advanced certificate.

The Housing Authority is optimistic that if everything goes as planned, heating plant technicians will become technical experts as a result of working with a variety of boilers and equipment, including such brand names as Preferred, Gordon Piatts, Clever Brooks and Websters.