Roberts Granted 'Secret' $35G Hike by DC 37; $25G Bump for Uddin At Tail End of Exec Board Meeting

Roberts Granted 'Secret' $35G Hike by DC 37;
$25G Bump for Uddin At Tail End of Exec Board Meeting

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

District Council 37's executive board has voted - without prior notice - to raise the salaries of Executive Director Lillian Roberts and Treasurer Maf Misbah Uddin retroactively to reflect the wage increases granted to the union's in-house staff.

LILLIAN ROBERTS: Big hike rushed through. The raises, back-dated to 2004, puts Ms. Roberts's current salary at $274,300 and Mr. Uddin's at $197,600, which is supplemented by $47,000 from his salary as president of Local 1407. They will receive another 4-percent increase in August, which will boost their base salaries to $285,300 and $205,500, respectively. Those represent raises of more than $35,000 for Ms. Roberts and $25,000 for Mr. Uddin.

'She Deserved a Hike'

"It's a job that requires enormous responsibility," said executive board member and Local 374 President Cuthbert Dickerson. "We felt that the executive director works very hard for the members. She deserved a raise."

Mr. Dickerson noted that in the past, salary raises for the executive director have been proposed in terms of lump sums, and that the new method would tie the increases directly to the staff raises.

MAF MISBAH UDDIN: Will cross $250G barrier. "They fight to give us a raise, so why can't they get a raise?" asked Mr. Dickerson. "People in [the union headquarters] building have gotten closer to her because they have been getting raises all along." Most staff salary increases are linked to members' contract gains.

The executive board has fought battles over Ms. Roberts's salary in the past, with a dissident faction that then constituted a majority cutting it to $175,000 for nearly two years, before it was restored to $250,000 late in 2005. The reversal was made retroactive and as a result, Ms. Roberts took in $393,077 in gross salary last year, not including more than $22,000 in allowances. Mr. Uddin's pay cut was also rescinded, giving him $255,549 last year in overall wages, not counting his local salary and approximately $22,000 in allowances.

First Hike Since Hill's

Until now, the executive director's salary hadn't risen since former leader Stanley Hill got his salary bumped to $250,000 more than a decade ago. The average salary for DC 37 members is about $30,000.

CHARLES ENSLEY: Wants full accounting. The recent pay increase spilled out in a delegates meeting last week when Local 371 President Charles Ensley asked Mr. Uddin if board members had passed salary increases for himself and Ms. Roberts at the previous executive board meeting. Mr. Uddin said they had, but when asked by Mr. Ensley to reveal the amount, he said he did not have the information available and would bring it to the next delegates' meeting in May.

"I will definitely bring the information to the next meeting," Mr. Uddin said the following day. "I did not know I would be asked for that, and I only had February's budget information with me."

Ensley Skeptical

Mr. Ensley said Mr. Uddin's response made it seem as though the board was trying to hide the decision. Mr. Ensley is an executive board member but was among those who had already left the March meeting when the salary motion was passed, and there was no prior notice given. "The treasurer of the union said he didn't know what he was making?" he asked. "We're back on the slippery slope again. They do things undercover; they're unwilling to let people know what has been done. It inevitably leads to corruption."

Ms. Roberts, who was also not in the room when the executive board voted, declined to comment on the decision.

"She feels it was very straightforward," said DC 37's chief spokeswoman Donna Silberberg. "The decision to approve their raises was unanimously approved, and it was in accordance with the constitution."

The raises are related to DC 37's two most recent contracts but match slightly different hikes for in-house staff. In 2004, staff received a 3-percent raise; the following year staffers got a 2 percent plus a .38 percent productivity raise and a $1,000 bonus. In 2006 the raise for staffers was 4 percent, and this year it is another 4 percent.