Terms Mirror DC 37's
Auto Mechanics Get 74-Month Contract

By RICHARD STEIER

The union representing 1,200 Auto Mechanics and other car maintenance employees last week became the fourth union to leave a citywide bargaining coalition to negotiate its own contract based on last month's District Council 37 settlement.

JAMES HANLEY: Finds eager defectors.

Auto Mechanics Local 246 of the Service Employees' International Union, which had been working under an expired contract since 2002, made a tentative deal on a 74-month pact that is actually linked to the past two DC 37 accords.

One Added Concession

Although payment dates were moved around by the union in order to generate slightly more money than the DC 37 deals in some years, the overall cost to the city is the same, Labor Relations Commissioner James F. Hanley said Aug. 4, with a key additional concession affecting new employees making up the difference.

If the deal is approved by the mechanics, electricians, machinists and other trades personnel under Local 246's banner, it will provide a 1-percent raise retroactive to the first day of the contract, April 1, 2002. That will be followed by a 2-percent increase dating back to April 1, 2003, and a 3.15-percent hike as of April 1, 2004. Those raises roughly replicate what DC 37 members got over the same period.

Delaying the implementation of pay hikes during the final 38 months of the pact helped allow Local 246 to get a shade more in percentage increases than DC 37 members will receive if they ratify their new wage deal later this month. The initial hike of 3.65 percent - compared to 3.15 percent under the DC 37 deal - is effective retroactive to Aug. 1, 2005, with a raise of 2.03 percent to take effect this Oct. 29 and a 4.07-percent increase payable on April 29, 2007. When the deal expires on May 30, 2008, the Bloomberg administration will pay the equivalent of .34 percent in additional compensation to Local 246 members.

'Unborn' Pay the Price

To generate the slightly better raises, the union had to extend a reduced starting rate for new members for a year beyond what DC 37 agreed to in its prior contract. DC 37 members, who prior to 2004 received a first-year salary that was 7.15 percent below the regular base pay, under the contract settled that year had starting pay reduced from the basic rate by 15 percent for the first two years that each new member was on the job. Local 246, which previously had no reduced rate for new members, has agreed to have them receive 15 percent below the basic rate for their first two years of service and 11 percent below it in their third year. They will matriculate to the basic salary on the first day of their fourth year on the job.

Under the contract, the old base salary of $60,260 will rise to $70,485 when the final raise takes effect next April. As of last week, however, the new hiring rate is $57,010, with new employees staying at that level until they reach $59,083 upon completing two years of service.

There will also be a reduction of five vacation days for all new hires; the last DC 37 pact required the loss of vacation and sick days for future members.

Other Key Gains

But the Local 246 accord also features the same giveback-free gains that are a key part of the new DC 37 contract. Those include a $100 annual increase in permember contributions to the Local 246 welfare fund effective Sept. 29, a $166.67per-member one-time payment by the city as of Jan. 29, 2007, a waiver of the city residency requirement, and expansion of the TransitChek program to cover commuter railroads and buses.

A week earlier, United Marine Division Local 333 of the International Longshoremen's Association reached a deal that replicated the final 20 months of the DC 37 accord. That local, which represents Deckhands, Ferry Agents, Marine Oilers and Stokers, among other ferry boat personnel, agreed to a contract that runs from Aug. 25 of this year through April 26, 2008. If it is ratified, it will provide a 2-percent raise on Sept. 25, and a 4-percent salary boost on March 25, 2007.

Dwindling Coalition

Those two unions joined the United Probation Officers' Association and the Civil Service Bar Association in defecting from the municipal bargaining coalition formed in late June in order to match the DC 37 terms and quickly get raises to their members. The bargaining coalition, which is now down to 16 member unions, is expected to shortly begin discussions on contract strategy and present its demands to the Office of Labor Relations sometime next month.

One of the coalition's chairs, United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, has claimed that the prospect of dealing with the coalition made Mayor Bloomberg ease his bargaining stance and give DC 37 a deal she called fair and innovative. She has insisted, however, that the coalition will not be bound by the terms of that pact.