Avoids Fight With City
EMS Unions Not In Uniformed Coalition

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS

Unions representing Emergency Medical Service workers and Fire Alarm Dispatchers haven't been invited to join the fledgling effort to create a uniformed coalition for the next round of bargaining with the city, THE CHIEF-LEADER has learned.

TONY GARVEY: Couldn't include EMS unions.

Sources said the unions' tentative uniformed status - granted under Local Laws 18 and 19 that were passed by the City Council but challenged in court by both the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations - could undercut the coalition's effort to engage the city in bargaining.

'Need City's Recognition'

As this paper reported last week, Lieutenants' Benevolent Association President Anthony Garvey and Peter L. Gorman, president of the Uniformed Fire Officers' Association, met Jan. 4 to discuss the possibility of a uniformed alliance.

Mr. Garvey told this newspaper that including unions the city hasn't recognized as uniformed could be problematic.

"We are coordinating an effort that takes a lot of communication with different unions," said Mr. Garvey. "We are not trying to offend anyone, but if a coalition is to be formed, it would need to be recognized by the city as uniformed forces."

DAVID ROSENZWEIG: 'Won't jam them up.'

The coalition effort has yet to coalesce into a firm alliance. Norman Seabrook, president of the Correction Officers' Benevolent Association and Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association, attended the meeting but were noncommittal about joining.

PBA, UFA Not Joining

Missing from the table were two of the city's largest entry-level uniformed unions: the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and the Uniformed Firefighters' Association.

Both were invited, but the PBA has resisted joining coalitions in the past, and has currently filed for arbitration in its latest contract talks. The UFA, which in 2006 negotiated a four-year and two-month accord that moved it a round ahead of the PBA, has started bargaining its next contract with the city.

Patrick J. Bahnken, president of District Council 37 Local 2507, which represents Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics, wasn't distressed at being excluded.

"I have great respect for Anthony Garvey, and I hope this coalition can come together and do well; I wish them luck," he said.

PATRICK J. BAHNKEN: Must close pay gap first.

Cites Unique Needs

Even if his union were being courted by coalition organizers, Mr. Bahnken said, he probably would not join.

"I think the benefits of an alliance are tremendous, but at this point, I don't know that getting locked into a coalition pattern would best address the recruitment and retention problems my members face," he explained. "They are tremendously underpaid, and we have a lot of ground to make up."

The Mayor's Office has been battling Local Laws 18 and 19 since the City Council passed them more than six years ago. Both Giuliani and Bloomberg administration officials have argued that the Council overstepped its authority when it granted uniformed status to certain unions based on the fact that their conditions of employment were closer to those of firefighters and cops than those of the civilian work force governed by the citywide contract negotiated by DC 37.

Before Court of Appeals

The Fire Alarm Dispatchers' Benevolent Association was granted uniformed status under Local Law 18. DC 37 Local 3621, representing EMS Officers, and Local 2507 got uniformed status under Law 19. Lawyers for the unions have successfully argued their case to the Office of Collective Bargaining, and in front of the State Supreme Court and an Appellate Division panel.

The city has appealed every decision, and the case is now going to the State Court of Appeals.

David Rosenzweig, president of FADBA, said he understood the reasoning behind the decision not to include his group in a uniformed coalition until the issue is resolved.

"We consider ourselves uniformed by virtue of existing law, but we have not, to date, been seeking a uniformed contract agreement with the city pending the latest appeal," he said during a Jan. 11 phone interview. "I was part of a meeting held late last year on the possibility of a uniformed coalition, and I fully understand their position. We agreed it would be better to wait. I certainly wouldn't want to jam anybody up."

Chained Until Court Rules

Mr. Rosenzweig's union, like the EMS unions, has its own bargaining certificate and can negotiate directly with the city, but it's been held closely to the citywide pattern established by DC 37.

"Once the uniformed status is finalized, we would no longer be impeded by DC 37 changing the citywide contract and giving up benefits we have fought for over many years without us even being at the table to decide whether it's good or bad for our members," Mr. Rosenzweig contended.

His members were denied the one-percent productivity raise that was given to DC 37 members in their 2004 contract because the city wouldn't grant it to them, he said.

But he was able to get the city residency requirement for his members lifted, while the same benefit that was promised to DC 37 members in its contract has yet to move through the City Council.

Got Bill in Albany

For the past several years Mr. Rosenzweig has worked hard to convince the State Legislature and the city's Office of Labor Relations that a recruitment crisis was forcing his members to take on too many shifts and work extended hours.

He found sympathetic ears in Albany, where the State Legislature passed bills easing residency requirements four years in a row. Governor Pataki vetoed the first three bills, however, because OLR had indicated it would grant the title "hard-to-fill" status, which automatically lifts the ban on city residency.

"The city had the opportunity to grant us hard-to-fill status and they didn't want to, so we chose to pursue it through the Legislature," Mr. Rosenzweig said, adding that his bill was enacted by Mr. Pataki on the fourth attempt. "The Governor's office had understood that [OLR] was going to offer us that status, and when it didn't come through again, realized they were being stalled. Albany saw my documented proof that my people were suffering - working 18-hour days by virtue of the fact that we don't have adequate staffing - and we got it passed."