SCOA Members Ratify Contract By Big Margin

SCOA Members Ratify Contract By Big Margin

By REUVEN BLAU

Members of the Supreme Court Officers' Association voted overwhelmingly March 24 to ratify a four-year contract agreement with the Office of Court Administration that provides 8.25 percent in raises and $1,600 in additional payments, half of which will be rolled into base salary.

JOHN McKILLOP: Gratified by strong vote. The final tally, counted by the American Arbitration Association, was 1,009 for and 317 opposed.

$8G in Back Pay

"I'm happy with those numbers," said SCOA President John McKillop, noting that it was a record turnout. "The members have made their decision and we will now move as quickly as possible to get a pay bill passed in order to facilitate the monies due."

On average, SCOA members will receive approximately $8,000 in back pay in the next few months, Mr. McKillop added. The contract is retroactive to April 1, 2003. SCOA members had been working under an expired agreement for three years, and they have seen their counterparts represented by the Court Officers' Association twice be placed higher on the pay scale as part of OCA's reclassification plan.

The overall accord is similar to the financial terms of the pacts negotiated by other court and state employee unions this round of bargaining.

Added Differential

But the SCOA contract also included a retroactive "senior officer series differential" which gives incumbent officers additional pay increases in lieu of placing those titles higher on the pay scale as part of the court reclassification plan.

The roughly 1,000 officers eligible for the senior differential include: Senior Court Officers and Court Officer Sergeants in those titles on Jan. 8, 2004 or thereafter. They will receive a $1,000 raise retroactive to Jan. 8, 2004, a $1,700 hike as of Jan. 8, 2005, and a $2,350 boost as of Jan. 8, 2006.

The deal also provides several time-and-leave benefit gains that were first negotiated by a coalition of eight unions representing city and Long Island court employees in April 2004.