Sanit Deal Has 17% Raise and Annuity Boosts; Hike Starting Salary 20%, Grant MLK Paid Holiday

By REUVEN BLAU

The Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association's tentative contract deal with the Bloomberg administration July 17 would give union members raises totaling 17 percent over 4-1/2 years, plus $783 annual annuity increases and the creation of a supplemental retirement fund.

JAMES F. HANLEY: Longer contract buys more.

The proposed contact, which would run from March 2, 2007 to Sept. 20, 2011, must still be ratified by the union's approximately 6,600 members.

Adheres to UFA Pattern

Under the tentative agreement, all Sanitation Workers would receive 4-percent hikes retroactive to March 2 this year and on March 2, 2008, which is consistent with the pattern established in March by the Uniformed Firefighters Association.

The contract's last two years - a slightly extended version of the just-settled Sergeants Benevolent Association's agreement - 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 previous two years to help fund added annuity boosts, welfare-fund raises, and an additional paid holiday, and to create a supplemental annuity fund.

The Chief-Leader/Adrienne Haywood-James SALARIES MOVING UP: Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association President Harry Nespoli was elated by the tentative contract deal with the Bloomberg administration, which would give union members raises totaling 17 percent over 4-1/2 years, plus $783 annual annuity increases and the creation of a supplemental retirement fund. 'This is a fair contract that provides a decent wage without penalizing the unborn,' he told reporters. To his left is Sanitation Commissioner John J. Doherty.

"It's a way of generating some additional savings," James F. Hanley, the Labor Commissioner, told reporters at the Mayor's temporary headquarters in the Office of Emergency Management.

USA President Harry Nespoli stressed that the union worked with city negotiators to increase the starting pay for new hires. Under the proposed contract, the starting salary for workers appointed on or after Jan. 1, 2006 would be increased to $31,200, up 20 percent from the current $26,000. The minimum pay would rise to $33,746 by the end of the contract in 2011.

Sign of Solidarity

"Any new Sanitation Worker will be working with the same benefits," Mr. Nespoli said. "That had to be a big achievement at the table with labor and management together. The [senior members of the] work force said they were willing to take less in package to secure the benefits for the entire work force."

Based on the tentative agreement, 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. Under the proposed contract, the maximum salary would be $67,141 effective Aug. 21, 2010, up from the current $57,392.

Mayor Bloomberg, who during his first campaign for office told reporters he believed Sanitation Workers had the most hazardous job in the city, once again highlighted the challenges they face in their daily routine.

"These men and women perform a very difficult, sometime dangerous, and often thankless job," he said. "In the pouring rain, in the sweltering heat, in the bitter cold they are out there on our streets, often reporting to work well before dawn. And because of their skill and dedication, our city is cleaner than it's been in over 30 years."

No Recruiting Problem

Despite the current reduced $26,000 annual starting pay, the position has remained popular among job-seekers. In all, 32,640 people took the June 9 written exam. That figure was down only slightly from the approximately 40,000 people who applied for the February 2004 test. Close to 7,000 candidates were appointed from that resulting roster.

Asked why he believed there remained so much interest in the job, Mayor Bloomberg quipped, "A great Mayor, a great union, I think it's very obvious."

Mr. Nespoli added, "This particular job - you service the public and then you go home."

The union president highlighted the additional paid holiday, noting that 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.

Special Meaning for Union

"The Martin Luther King Day, as far as I'm concerned it should have been part of this union years ago," Mr. Nespoli observed. "Why was he in Memphis? To march ... for better wages and better working conditions for Sanitation people. If that doesn't tie into this work force, nothing does."

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.

Some black activists have questioned why the city hasn't given all its workers that day off. They have contended the day should not be viewed as a negotiated benefit.

But Mayor Bloomberg said it was up to each union to bargain. "Some people would rather work and get the compensation, [while] some unions would rather have the day off," he said. "There's no free lunch here, and it's up to each individual union in terms of what they want."

Contentious Issue

The difference in paid holidays for civilian and uniformed workers stems back to collective-bargaining agreements that unions negotiated in 1985 with former Mayor Ed Koch and his Labor Relations Commissioner, Robert W. Linn.

In April 1985, District Council 37 Executive Director Victor Gotbaum agreed to a three-year deal with the city that included the significant symbolic gain of Mr. King's birthday as a paid holiday. Mr. Gotbaum reluctantly negotiated the benefit, arguing that it should be granted free of charge by the city.

But city negotiators then and now have insisted the added holiday could be granted only if the resulting costs were covered by some union giveback.

DC 37 officials back then agreed to reduced vacation schedules for new hires, a concession that the city's uniformed forces have never approved. Reducing leave days for new workers provided savings to the city worth nearly triple the cost of the paid holiday.

Costly If It Snows

One labor official noted last week that giving Sanitation Workers off for MLK Day could end up costing the city a substantial amount if there is a snow storm on that Monday holiday, requiring the DSNY to pay its entire staff overtime to help clear the streets.

"That was taken into consideration," Mr. Hanley said during a July 19 phone interview.

Another labor leader noted that the Sanitation Workers get "double time" for working on Sundays, but "time-and-a-half" for coming in on a holiday. "That's strictly for Sanitation," he added. "When a New York City cop or a Correction Officer works on a holiday they get straight time, because they get an additional holiday check two times a year."

Under the tentative agreement, there would also be an increase in the city's contribution to the annuity fund of $3 a day per employee effective July 1, 2007. Sanitation Workers currently receive $5.50 each day. Effective April 2, 2008, there will be an additional $2 per day increase for employees with 15 or more years of service. The new contributions will be raised by any future across-the board wage increases, the city said.

Eye on the Future

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. "I love the annuity," Mr. Nespoli said. "I love to put money into annuity for my members, because it's a cost savings for them that will be there when they retire."

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.

Under the proposed deal, the city also agreed to spend $2 million to create a new supplemental annuity fund to boost employees' retirement pay. "This is the first time it's ever been done," Mr. Hanley said.

The new fund is predicated on the amount of $323 per employee effective July 1, 2009, according to city officials. The lump-sum amount to be contributed each year will be adjusted by any future across-the board wage increases.

The retirement fund is similar to the Variable Supplements Fund Police Officers and Firefighters already receive, but it does not require legislative approval and is not guaranteed.

'Look to Build It Up'

Mr. Nespoli said the union will look to negotiate increased contributions from the city in future rounds of bargaining. "I'm going to do as much as I can to build that up," he said. "You're talking about something that can grow over years."

Based on the proposed contract, upon ratification there will be an assignment differential of up to 12 percent above the basic maximum salary for the 24 Sanitation Workers detailed on special assignment in the Citywide Transportation Unit. After a 24-month review period, the differential will become payable in four installments, at six-month intervals, of 3 percent each, city officials said.

That increase mirrors a section in the pattern-setting UFA accord, which gave approximately 500 firefighters in HazMat and Rescue units a 12-percent "specialty pay" increase.

The city did not include the specialty pay as part of the basic package, leading UFA President Steve Cassidy to describe it as "free money."

Welfare Fund Infusion

The tentative 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. In 2005, a report released by the City Comptroller's Office showed that the union-administered benefit fund was at risk of insolvency.

Benefit funds provide city workers, retirees, and dependents with an array of supplemental health benefits such as for prescriptions and eyeglasses not covered under city-administered health insurance plans.

The accord, which the city 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.

The recently expired contract included far-reaching productivity measures including a one-person garbage truck. The innovative plan, in which drivers collect large metal "roll-on" garbage bins, was expected to be expanded from the current 45 trucks in operation, city officials said in 2005.

The new agreement, however, does not include any added solo trucks, whose drivers earn an extra $80 a day. Mayor Bloomberg sidestepped a question about why that wasn't part of the new agreement. "We had an enormous amount of productivity savings last time and they are still being implemented, and it's my understanding that the process of implementing is going very smoothly," he said.