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Coalition's Upset UFA
Left Ranks To Get Contract;
The coalition had hoped to present a united bargaining front with the goal of bringing in at least the 4-percent raises over two years that Mr. Cassidy negotiated, plus an increase in starting pay for members that wasn't funded by concessions or givebacks in other areas. Pay Gained, Benefit Lost Mr. Cassidy's tentative deal, subject to ratification by his members, would hike the starting salary by nearly $10,000, to $35,000. But it's funded by six fewer paid holidays, a loss of most annuity payments and a 50-percent cut in night differential for new hires during their first five years on the job.
"Relative to [Mr. Cassidy's] contract, I won't discuss it while ratification is under way," said Anthony Garvey, president of the Lieutenant's Benevolent Association and a co-chair of the uniformed coalition that also included Uniformed Fire Officers' Association head Peter L. Gorman, Detectives' Endowment Association President Michael J. Palladino, Correction Officers' Benevolent Association President Norman Seabrook and Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association President Harry Nespoli. "There's no way I want to influence ratification one way or another," said Mr. Garvey. 'Never Called Us' But he didn't hide his anger that Mr. Cassidy cut a deal outside the coalition, setting potential bargaining parameters for the city and blunting the negotiating power of the other uniformed leaders. "I didn't get a call, nor did anyone else I know of get a call indicating that he had stepped out of the coalition," Mr. Garvey stated. "I am disappointed in the way he does business. I don't operate like that. If you indicate you are in a coalition, then your word is your bond."
"I'm pissed off," the UFOA leader said. "I'm still pissed off that we had a coalition in place, and as labor leaders we had an agreement that a coalition was in place. We reserved our right to re-evaluate that coalition on Feb. 14, and everyone agreed then that it was still in place, and in fact we had a scheduled meeting in place for March 7 that was confirmed by Steve Cassidy." Cassidy's Explanation Mr. Cassidy, who stepped away from the coalition in mid-February for two weeks to deal with the loss of his father, has maintained that he left the coalition at its mutually agreed-upon end date of Feb. 14. He said March 7 that while he had agreed Feb. 27 to meet with other coalition members, there had been no talks with the Bloomberg administration since late January and he had doubts about whether the coalition could be viable beyond its scheduled expiration date a couple of weeks earlier. On Feb. 28, he said, he got a call from Mr. Hanley about resuming talks involving only the UFA. They negotiated for much of the following day, leading to intensive bargaining March 2 that began at 9 a.m. and concluded 11 hours later with a City Hall press conference announcing the settlement. Mr. Cassidy indicated following the press conference with Mayor Bloomberg that he had accepted the offer after negotiators threw in several last-minute sweeteners in the form of specialty pay, a re-opener clause, and a line-of-duty prescription drug card covering medication costs for members. He stressed that the city had wanted to make a deal and he felt it was too good a package to pass up. Key Terms The two-year deal promises compounded raises totaling 8.16 percent, plus an additional 1.6 percent in benefits with no concessions from the union. The only givebacks are the benefit concessions for Firefighters hired after April 1 that offset the sizable increase in starting pay. City insiders have suggested that the Bloomberg administration was anxious to get a deal in place that would raise the starting salary for Firefighters, thereby increasing the likelihood that a similar hike would be part of any future arbitration award for the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, which trails the UFA now by two bargaining rounds. City firefighters and cops have had wage parity for more than 100 years. The tentative UFA contract would bring maximum pay to $68,475 after five years on the job as of Aug. 1, up from the current $63,309 after 5-1/2 years. That's $8,887 more than the $59,588 maximum pay that cops get after 5-1/2 years on the job. Problem for Officers? Labor leaders who were not part of the uniformed coalition speculated that Mr. Cassidy's deal could cause some problems for the smaller unions that represent officers. Specifically, they wondered how those unions would handle the 12-percent specialty pay the UFA leader secured for firefighters who have Haz-Mat training or are assigned to Special Operations Command companies. The city did not include the specialty pay as part of the basic package, leading Mr. Cassidy to describe it as "free money." Fire Department officials had urged that the differential be granted to place Firefighters in special assignments on the same financial footing as Police Officers assigned to the Emergency Service Unit. It would appear likely that fire officers assigned to Haz Mat or Special Operations Commands would also receive the differential. But while the city is not "charging" the UFA for that gain, it is not clear that it will make an equivalent offer to the unions representing cops, correction officers or sanitation workers. And despite the likelihood that fire officers in special assignments would get the extra money, Captain Gorman was uneasy about whether the city would try to impose on his union the parameters that it negotiated with Mr. Cassidy. He questioned whether he or other uniformed union leaders would have the discretion to move that money to cover other segments of their membership where they believed there was justification for added compensation. 'Could Be a Problem' "Mandates from [the Office of Labor Relations] could present a problem for us," he said. "There's no free lunch in contracts." Mr. Gorman also remarked, "Only me, my executive board and my delegates know the needs of my members. My priority could be longevity, annuity, starting salary, or something else. I don't like the city telling me where to put my money - that's my side of the table." But in a message on the UFOA hotline that he recorded shortly after the settlement was announced, he described it as "not a bad deal. The pattern is certainly set here; there's no doubt about it." Other non-uniformed labor leaders wondered if UFA members might shoot down the contract out of anger that only about 5 percent of them would receive specialty pay. A similar structure that would have forced most Detectives to extend their tours by at least 18 minutes without extra pay but exempted a minority of them was one reason the DEA's first tentative contract deal with the city in 2005 got torpedoed. Mr. Palladino was forced to go back and negotiate a deal that slightly lengthened tours for all members. Mr. Palladino declined to comment about the UFA deal for this article, but he too said he was bothered that Mr. Cassidy stepped out of the coalition. 'Surprised by Defection' "I was quite surprised by Cassidy's defection. However, what's done is done. Right now, my main concern is the fate of my Detectives involved in the Jamaica shooting," he said. "Once that issue is concluded, I will sit down and digest the terms and conditions of the UFA deal and see how it equates to Detectives." Following the uniformed coalition meeting March 7, participants declined comment on what transpired. Mr. Gorman emphasized, however, that the UFA deal would not affect his participation in the joint negotiating effort.
"The coalition is strong, we were united and that's why
[Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley] wanted to pick someone off," he said. "The
coalition, as far as I'm concerned, is in place." | |||||||||
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