Plus $1,085 Payment: COBA Deal: 6.24% Over 27 Months

Plus $1,085 Payment

COBA Deal: 6.24% Over 27 Months

By REUVEN BLAU

The Correction Officers' Benevolent Association April 27 reached a tentative 27-month contract with the city that provides 6.24 percent in raises and other benefits, which were financed by stretching the length of the accord slightly beyond the length of deals for other uniformed unions.

NORMAN SEABROOK: Longer deal buys extras. The additional benefits include a one-time lump-sum pensionable payment of $1,085 and a $100 uniformed allowance increase. The city's contribution to the annuity fund will be hiked by $475 for all officers.

'Took Care of Members'

The contract, which must be ratified by COBA's 9,500 officers, runs from May 1, 2005 through July 31, 2007. "This clearly demonstrates once again that when we work together ... we can take care of the men and women who I believe patrol the toughest precincts in New York, the city jails," said COBA President Norman Seabrook at a press conference in City Hall announcing the proposed agreement. The tentative accord includes a 3-percent raise effective May 1, 2005 and a 3.15-percent increase on May 1, 2006. Those terms are similar to those reached for roughly the same period by unions representing Sanitation Workers, Detectives, and Firefighters.

The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and the Sergeants' Benevolent Association have so far scoffed at those financial terms.

The $1,085 lump-sum payment for Correction Officers will be effective May 1, 2006. The $100 uniform allowance increase and the $475 annuity fund hike will be effective May 1, 2007.

Prior to the tentative agreement, Correction Officers with five years or less on the job would not receive annuity fund payments.

Last September, COBA negotiated a 10.25 percent raise for its members over a 26-month period. That deal was a slightly extended version of the 2-year wage pattern set by the PBA under an arbitration award last June.