$7-$10 Hourly Hikes Possible: Local 376 Wins Verdict on Wages

$7-$10 Hourly Hikes Possible

Local 376 Wins Verdict on Wages

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS

Highway Repairers and Construction Laborers who work for the Department of Transportation and the Department of Environmental Protection, respectively, are entitled to the same wages earned by their better-paid counterparts in the private sector, City Comptroller William C. Thompson announced May 1. The Comptroller's Office has for several months been investigating a prevailing wage complaint lodged by Local 376 of District Council 37 on behalf of members who work in road and highway construction and repair.

WILLIAM C. THOMPSON: Hands union big win.

Prescribes Big Raise

Mr. Thompson's decision could result in an hourly wage increase between $7 and $10 for Highway Repairers and Construction Laborers - bringing the average pay up to approximately $33 an hour.

Local 376 President Gene De Martino welcomed the Comptroller's findings.

"Our last contract expired in July 2002 and so we are looking for back pay from that date until the present time. It's been four years since my members had a decent raise," he noted. "The city should have sat down with us and tried to hammer this out years ago - four years is ridiculous. It's in the best interest of the city and the local to get things done as timely as possible."

GENE DeMARTINO: Raises long overdue. Local 376 must meet with the Mayor's Office of Labor Relations to discuss the prevailing wage issue before steps can be taken to implement pay changes. Attorney Arthur Schwartz, who has handled several prevailing wage cases for DC 37 locals, said it's likely OLR won't accept the Comptroller's findings, which means the issue will probably end up before an Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings judge.

Won Previous Battle

"We brought a similar prevailing wage claim for Highway Repairer Supervisors in Local 1157 and it had to go to the OATH judge, who adopted the Comptroller's decision," said Mr. Schwartz. "And the city has filed an Article 78 petition with a State Supreme Court to try and overturn that OATH decision. It's a pretty weak lawsuit, and they are just delaying, and they'll very likely to do the same thing for Local 376."

The Comptroller's Office evaluated Local 376's claim for wage parity by comparing the tasks that Highway Repairers and Construction Laborers do with those performed by private-sector asphalt and construction workers represented by Laborers Local Union 1010 and Sheet Asphalt Workers' Local Union 1018.

It was a lengthy process that involved multiple visits to numerous work sites around the city, said Thomas Kattou, Local 376 treasurer. Mr. Kattou accompanied the Comptroller's representatives on most trips, pointing out numerous instances where a private contractor hired by the city was working side by side with a municipal employee, but earning nearly $10 more an hour.

'Pay More for Our Work'

"The city actually eliminated in DOT some of the milling work, when we go in and grind down old asphalt and get rid of old street, by contracting that out in small contracts to private workers," he said. "They didn't reduce our headcount, just the number of us working those jobs. But they contracted it out and paid those people the prevailing wage to do the same milling we do."

Mr. Kattou agreed with Mr. Schwartz that the city would likely try to delay the progression of the prevailing wage increases.

"It's been my experience that the city will always delays these things when it can, even after it's been told by an arbitrator to reinstate a worker or ordered by the Office of Collective Bargaining to pay a worker back wages. But the biggest hurdle was getting the surveys and the Comptroller's analysis done, and that part is now complete."

Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley said his office was evaluating the Comptroller's analysis "and we will be talking to the union about it."