Zimmitti Takes Over

Zimmitti Takes Over
Wagner Ousted As Local 1183 Leader

An election held by Communication Workers of America Local 1183 Dec. 15 yielded a surprise defeat for Richard T. Wagner, who has been president of the union representing Board of Elections staff for 33 years.

RICHARD WAGNER: Long run ends. Union members voted 187 to 121 in favor of his rival, Nicholas Zimmitti, an Administrative Associate who was hired by the Elections Board in 2001.

Discontent With Pacts

Mr. Zimmitti said his dissatisfaction with previous contracts motivated him to run for president, despite the fact that he had no prior political experience.

"I just thought that if I was going to complain about something, and I was complaining a lot, that I should do something pro-active to make change, not just talk about it," he said. "My running had nothing to do with trying to beat Mr. Wagner, I just didn't want to be a complainer who sat around criticizing what other people did." Mr. Zimmitti said his first order of business was a visit to each borough office to talk with staff and identify their main issues. He said the backlog of grievances seemed to be the biggest complaint.

"My plan to solve that is to set up a committee to resolve grievance disputes so that if I'm not available personally, things don't have to wait on me," he stated.

Mr. Wagner said he was surprised by the results, but would continue to be a resource to the local and the membership even after his term ended in January.

"I want to thank the local and members for the 33 years of challenges, responsibility and honor they have given me and my officers," he said. "Things change, they come to an end, but anyone who needs information from me regarding the local shall have it."

'Stop Concessions'

Mr. Wagner agreed with his successor's assessment of the local's contracts, although he also added that he'd always negotiated to the best of his ability.

"With such a small union, we don't have a lot of collective bargaining power with the city," he noted. "But citywide, this idea of bargaining by giving something back should end right now - we can't have people working their way into poverty. Every raise we get is taken back by the Rent Guidelines Board. Why don't we just send our raises straight to the landlords?"

The starting pay for a BOE Clerk, according to Mr. Zimmitti, is $23,000, a wage he declared unconscionable. He said a study commissioned by Local 1183 showed that BOE employees in the city earned on average 38 percent less than those in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties, and earned 45 percent less than clerks at other city agencies, such as the Campaign Finance Board.

"People complain about Wal-Mart, but if they only knew how the city underpaid its employees," said Mr. Zimmitti. "$23,000 a year - how do they get away with it? These are my frustrations and I was verbal with them, so now I'm going to try and do something about them."

Other Contests

Two other officers were elected Dec. 15. Mary E. Madden secured the recording secretary spot with 207 votes, defeating challenger Khorshed A. Chowdury, who had 81 votes. Miriam Colden won the secretary position by defeating Evadne George, 167 to 118.

Incumbent Executive Vice President Matthew Smith ran unopposed, and Sheldon L. Fosburg, formerly the recording secretary, was elected treasurer. Ethel M. Graham, who was the secretary, is now the vice president.