CSBA Leaves Coalition, Gets 9.53% Raise

By RICHARD STEIER

The Civil Service Bar Association, representing 800 city Attorneys, July 18 became the first union in a 20-member bargaining coalition to break ranks in order to obtain contract terms similar to those reached by District Council 37 six days earlier.

GLORIA JOHNSON: A deal worth grabbing.

Under a 31-1/2-month contract, members would receive a 3.25-percent increase retroactive to July 1, 2005, a 2-percent raise effective Sept. 17, 2006 and a 4-percent hike as of March 17, 2007. The contract is two weeks shorter than the DC 37 deal but the latter two raises are implemented at least a month later in its term, evening out the costs to the city. With compounding, the raises total 9.53 percent.

The city will increase its annual per-member contribution to the CSBA welfare fund by $100 retroactive to July 1, and on Dec. 17 will make a one-time payment of $166.67 per-member to that fund. On the last day of the pact, there will be an "equity" adjustment providing employees with some form of additional compensation equal to .34 of a percentage point.

Residency Change Key

Less than a month earlier, Ms. Johnson - whose organization is an affiliate of Teamsters Local 237 - was among the labor leaders who announced the formation of a bargaining coalition that they hoped would strengthen the unions' cause in contract talks with the Bloomberg administration. She said during a July 21 interview that she believed the coalition had given DC 37 more bargaining leverage and may have influenced the terms of its contract.

"The numbers were better than we expected from DC 37," Ms. Johnson said. "Both [the CSBA] board and our bargaining committee agreed we wouldn't do any better if we held out, and our members were clamoring for a contract."

A major factor in the decision to leave the coalition and make a quick deal was the city's agreement with DC 37 to end the 20-year-old residency requirement and allow its members to live in six New York counties surrounding the city - Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, Orange and Putnam.

Made Feelings Known

When newspaper articles reporting the change appeared, Ms. Johnson said, "I started getting phone calls from members saying, 'We want to be a part of this.'''

The CSBA board voted July 20 to recommend ratification of the deal. Ballots will go out to union members Aug. 9, with a return deadline of Aug. 23, and will be counted the following day by the American Arbitration Association.