SanWorkers In Strong Vote For New Contract

SanWorkers In Strong Vote For New Contract


Members of the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association voted overwhelmingly Aug. 13 to ratify a deal that will give them raises totaling 17 percent over 4-1/2 years, plus $783 annual annuity increases and the opportunity to join a supplemental retirement fund.

HARRY NESPOLI: Deal strongly backed. Approximately 98 percent of the union's 6,600 members voted in favor of the new deal. The final vote tally was 4,235 for and 56 against.

Key Gains

Under the agreement, all Sanitation Workers will receive 4-percent hikes retroactive to March 2 this year and on March 2, 2008. The contract's last two years include 4-percent raises effective Aug. 21, 2009 and Aug. 21, 2010.

The USA used the extra six-month, 19-day delay in raises compared to the deal's first two years to help fund added annuity boosts, welfare-fund raises, and an additional paid holiday, and to create a supplemental annuity fund.

USA President Harry Nespoli stressed that the union worked with city negotiators to increase the starting pay for new hires and to gain Martin Luther King Day as a paid holiday.

Starting Pay Boost

Based on the agreement, the starting salary for workers appointed on or after Jan. 1, 2006 will be increased to $31,200, up 20 percent from the prior $26,000. The minimum pay will rise to $33,746 with the final raise three years from now.

New Sanitation Workers will continue to reach maximum pay after 5-1/2 years, while those promoted after Jan. 1, 2006 would hit top pay after five years. The maximum salary will be $67,141 effective Aug. 21, 2010, up from the current $57,392.

At the deal's announcement, Mr. Nespoli noted that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tenn., where he had traveled to support that city's Sanitation Workers, who had been on strike since March.

Most civilian employees enjoy MLK Day as a paid holiday, but the city's uniformed personnel must work even though the late civil rights leader's birthday is a national holiday under legislation enacted by President Ronald Reagan in 1983.

By the end of the contract, newer Sanitation Workers would receive $2,215 a year in annuity money and veteran employees would get $2,782 annually. Unlike a longevity bonus, the annuity fund is tax-deferred until employees begin to receive the benefit at retirement. Investment earnings on the accumulations in the annuity account are also tax-deferred.

The city also agreed to spend $2 million to create a new supplemental annuity fund to boost employees' retirement pay. The new fund is predicated on the amount of $323 per employee effective July 1, 2009. The lump-sum amount to be contributed each year will be adjusted by any future across-the board wage increases.

The agreement also includes an increase in the city's contribution to the union's active employee welfare fund of $100 per person per year, and $300 for retirees, retroactive to March 2, 2007.

The accord, which Mayor Bloomberg said provides a 20-percent increase in compensation once benefits are calculated, also includes an unspecified 1.59-percent increase effective Sept. 21, 2010. Some of that money will be used to upgrade the salary steps on the USA pay scale.