CONTRACTS

State Court Workers Win With New Contract

July 14, 2017 // 0 Comments

By GREGORY N. HEIRES State court workers represented by Local 1070 overwhelmingly approved a new contract that provides for 2 percent annual pay increases over three years. Members voted 687-54 in favor of the contract in a mail ballot vote tabulated on May 31. “We worked very hard on this contract, and we’re glad members recognized that in approving our new economic agreement,” said Fausto Sabatino, president of Local 1070 Court, County and Dept. of Probation Employees. “We didn’t have any givebacks. At a time when unions are under attack across the country, we were able to improve our contract, protect our benefits and get fair salary increases.” The contract boosts location pay — the extra compensation members receive for the high living expenses of New York City — and the longevity bonus for years of service. The contract, which runs from April 1, 2016, to March 31, [More...]

Take the Survey on Upcoming Contract Negotiations

May 11, 2017 // 0 Comments

 Our 2010-17 economic agreement — which covers 98,000 members — expires in September. The union is gearing up for negotiations and wants to hear your top concerns and the steps you are willing to take to win a new contract. During May and early June, DC 37 will conduct an online survey on the contract. The results will help the union prepare its demands and learn best how best to represent you at the bargaining table. During May and early June, DC 37 will conduct an online survey on the contract. The results will help the union prepare its demands and learn best how best to represent you at the bargaining table. Week of May 15: DC 37 will send out an email with a link to the bargaining survey to those who have provided an email address to DC 37. Members who receive the email will have a two-week window, or until May 26, to take the survey. Please complete the survey as soon as soon [More...]

DC 37 Approves Tentative Contract Extension to Help Stabilize Financially-Squeezed Drug Benefit

January 27, 2017 // 0 Comments

  By GREGORY N. HEIRES DC 37 and the city agreed to a contract extension that allows the union to pour millions of dollars into its financially pinched prescription drug benefit. The agreement, reached Jan. 12, calls for extending the union’s 2010-17 contract by two months and 23 days. Savings achieved through the extension will significantly help the union address the budget gap at the DC 37 Health & Security Plan, which provides the drug and other benefits. The agreement will help reduce the shortfall by requiring the city to permanently increase its annual welfare fund contribution to the DC 37 Health & Security Plan by $200 for each full-time worker and retiree. That will generate $24 million in new funding for the plan. Under union rules, the agreement must be sent to DC 37’s 100,000 members covered by the current contract for a vote. Mail ballots will be sent out [More...]

Chaplains Win a Step-Pay Plan in New Deal

October 11, 2016 // 0 Comments

By GREGORY N. HEIRES Local 299 successfully negotiated with the city to use the additional compensation fund – established under the 2010-17 contract – to improve the step-pay plan of nearly 100 Chaplains. In parallel discussions, the union won a one-time 8 percent raise above the annual contractual hikes for supervising Chaplains, who will soon have a new civil service title. Until now, Chaplains who took on supervisory duties were promoted to an in-house title that reflected their additional responsibilities but without providing extra pay. “The lack of recognition of our Administrative Chaplains has been a long-standing sore point that the union and management were never able to fix,” Local 299 President Jackie Rowe-Adams said. “The positive tone of negotiations over the additional compensation created a climate that allowed us to finally resolve this [More...]

The CUNY Contract and the Fight for 15

July 7, 2016 // 0 Comments

By GREGORY N. HEIRES During the recent negotiations for the new contract with the City University of New York, DC 37 convinced the administration to extend the state’s new $15 an hour minimum wage to CUNY workers. The side agreement will benefit thousands of DC 37 members who currently earn less than $15 an hour. This tentative contract provides for retroactive pay increases worth more than 10 percent over its 87-month term. But with the combination of the contractual rate hikes and the minimum wage increases, many members will see their current pay increase by as much as 25 percent by the end of 2018. “This action will substantially boost the wages of thousands of CUNY workers and other DC 37 members, and reaffirms New York’s commitment to reducing inequality in the state and city,” said DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido, who led negotiations with David Paskin, director [More...]

DC 37, CUNY Reach a Tentative Contract Agreement (Updated)

June 10, 2016 // 4 Comments

City University of New York Chancellor James B. Milliken and Henry Garrido, the Executive Director of District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, and its affiliated locals, today announced that a tentative contract settlement has been reached on a collective bargaining agreement covering more than seven years. The proposed contract covers the period from November 1, 2009 through January 31, 2017 and provides 10.41% in compounded wage increases.  A $1,000 bonus upon ratification of the contract is also part of the terms of the agreement.  The agreement also includes an annual $200 increase to the welfare fund for all active and retired employees. The deal covers 12,000 members of Locals 2054, 384, 2627, 983, 1597, 1407, 375 and 1797 who work at the university’s 24 campuses citywide. The agreement, which is subject to approval by the CUNY Board of Trustees and ratification by the CUNY [More...]

Homeless

May 10, 2016 // 0 Comments

By GREGORY N. HEIRES Employed and homeless. This is not supposed to occur in the United States, the self-described richest country in the world. But put together a little bad luck, a low-wage job and years of frozen pay, and you have a recipe for falling down. Welcome to Deborah Mars’ world. She lives in a Bronx homeless shelter with her 15-year-old son, Kobie. They became homeless after a friend of Mars’ moved out of the apartment they shared to live on her own. A Custodian Assistant at City College of New York, Mars scratches by on her modest pay, which is less than $15 an hour. What’s more, she earns $150 less than she used to earn until 2011, when she started working during the day and lost her nighttime pay differential. Most of her pay is eaten up by transportation costs, daytime meals and the occasional dinner outside the shelter and school expenses, along with a storage [More...]

DC 37 Delivers Thousands of Signatures to Gov. Cuomo Calling for Full CUNY Funding

March 24, 2016 // 0 Comments

As state budget negotiations continue in Albany, District Council 37 leaders and activists today delivered to Gov. Cuomo’s New York City office the names of more than 5,000 City University supporters who have signed a petition urging state lawmakers to fully fund CUNY. The Governor’s January budget proposal called for shifting $485 million from the state to the city in funding obligations. “These signatures demonstrate the strong sentiment among New Yorkers to fully fund CUNY,” said DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido. “For thousands of New Yorkers, CUNY’s quality, affordable higher education provides a path to upward mobility. Union officials also applauded a New York City Council resolution passed Tuesday, March 22nd which “calls upon the Governor and the State Legislature to increase State funding to the City University of New York and to reach a fair labor [More...]

CUNY under attack

February 10, 2016 // 0 Comments

By HENRY GARRIDO Executive Director, District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO Gov. Andrew Cuomo has proposed a state budget that would essentially starve the City University of New York. He proposes to have the state slash nearly $500 million in state funding for CUNY. Even before the governor spelled out his proposal in early January, CUNY was struggling with reduced state funding and had been forced to drop courses, cut laboratory supplies, take money out of student services, raise tuition and slash spending on adjunct professors. The governor’s proposal comes on top of his December veto of a bill that would have provided millions of dollars from Albany to help CUNY recover from the deep cuts of the Great Recession that began in 2008. That bipartisan bill would have also covered retroactive pay for our 10,000 members at CUNY and the faculty. DC 37 members and members of the [More...]

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