UFT Group Better Off

UFT Group Better Off
DC 37 Nurses Beef About Pay Disparity

\
A disgruntled group of school nurses represented by District Council 37's Local 436 is furious over their parent union's inability to put them on an equal economic footing with those represented by the United Federation of Teachers.

GLORIA ACEVEDO: Rebellion in ranks. While UFT nurses recently celebrated winning full-time status as part of their new contract, Local 436 members are stuck instead with annualization. The difference - the UFT members are paid for the 10 months that school is in session; Local 436 members must work the entire year to receive full pay - would be easier to swallow if Local 436 had received the UFT's 15-percent raise, rather than the paltry 6 percent agreed to in April 2004 by DC 37.

'Can't Afford to Stretch'

"We can't afford to stretch out our paychecks," said Veronica Kenavan, a nurse at P.S. 3 in Staten Island. "Annualization is not the same thing the UFT nurses got, no matter what our union says."

The UFT represents the school nurses who work for the Department of Education, while DC 37 handles the school nurses under the auspices of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

Ms. Kenavan started the Staten Island School Nurses Club in an attempt to organize the employees dissatisfied with DC 37's representation. The group sent a letter with its concerns to both DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts and Local 436 President Gloria Acevedo in October, but neither has responded, according to Ms. Kenavan.

Neither Ms. Roberts nor Ms. Acevedo returned calls seeking comment.

A Tale of Two Nurses

Local 436 members are also at a disadvantage with those rights and those nurses covered by the UFT because they can be pulled out of school to cover another nurse's absence at the DOE's discretion and can be made to work unpaid lunch hours and holidays.

The concern over the unpaid lunch hour, which sends the local's nurses off school grounds, is partly about safety. The Staten Island School Nurses Club has called for a reduction of the lunch hour to 30 minutes, in exchange for being paid for the time.

"We'll give back the time," Ms. Kenavan said. "When we're off school grounds during lunch hour, we're not able to respond to an emergency as quickly. It's a safety issue."

As for holidays, Local 436 members didn't find paid vacation under their trees on Christmas. And if they want to observe Labor Day? It's coming out of their own pockets. "We have to accrue vacation time to get paid holidays," Ms. Kenavan said. "Christmas Eve, Christmas Day - none of it is covered."

To be working side by side with the UFT nurses yet have such a disparity in treatment, is demoralizing, according to Ms. Kenavan.

"We want what the Board of Ed. Nurses are getting if we're doing the same job," she said. "How are we expected to feel comfortable with no parity?"

In informal communications with the Local 436 leadership, Ms. Kenavan said she was told not to expect miracles.

"They said we need to take baby steps before we can take big steps," she said. "It is poor ethics on their part going into negotiations wanting less."

The disgruntled nurses are weighing their options. A lawyer advised against breaking away from DC 37, given the cost and time involved, but they are considering a class-action suit against their union.

"We did tell the union we were thinking of that," Ms. Kenavan said. "All we want is for them to go into collective bargaining, and represent us fairly."