Auto Mechanics Honk Approval For Wage Deal

City auto mechanics and other car maintenance employees have approved a 74- month wage contract by a better-than 3-1 margin, Local 246 of the Service Employees International Union announced last week. About 85 percent of the local's 1,200 members cast ballots, with the Honest Ballot Association recording the final tally as 788-248.

The pact, whose terms roughly replicate those reached by District Council 37 under its past two contracts, will raise the basic salary rate for Auto Mechanics from $60,260 as of March 31, 2002 to $70,485 when the final pay raise takes effect next April. The new hiring rate, which will remain below the base rate for a longer period than for new DC 37 members in order to cover a slightly better raise package for Local 246 incumbents, will be $57,010, and employees will not advance to an intermediate salary of $59,083 until they complete two years of service.

The new deal provides retroactive raises of 1 percent as of April 1, 2002, 2 percent the following April, 3.15 percent in April 2004, and 3.65 percent as of Aug. 1, 2005. Members will receive a 2.03-percent wage increase Oct. 29, and one of 4.07 percent next April 29. The contract expires May 30, 2008.

It includes the key benefits won by DC 37 earlier this summer, including the right to live in six suburban counties outside the five boroughs, an expansion of the TransitChek program to cover several suburban commuter lines, a $100 per-member increase in the city's annual contribution to the Local 246 welfare fund, and a one-time, $166.67-per-member city contribution to that fund. The equivalent of .34 percent will be devoted to items ranging from tool and uniform purchases to an increase in members' annuity funds.

Local 246 President Joseph Colangelo said that while it had been a difficult round of bargaining, "we fared well and our members are happy."