Plant Tenders Steaming Over Wage Survey

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

High Pressure Plant Tenders who were hoping for a salary boost like the one received by Highway Repairers in June from a prevailing-wage survey instead have been quoted a rate lower than the one they are earning.

MARK ROSENTHAL: An unfair comparison.

The survey performed by the Comptroller's Office used Firemen in private hospitals to set the prevailing wage at $23.11 an hour. Plant Tenders who work for the city currently make $24.88 an hour. District Council 37 Local 983 officials are weighing their options and are considering going to court to achieve a better settlement.

'Slap in Their Faces'

"I vehemently disagree with the results of the survey," said Local 983 President Mark Rosenthal, "and it's a slap in the members' face for what they do."

He said that the local was formulating a plan in consultation with DC 37 and would hold a membership meeting Sept. 10 to discuss the options. The members voted to go for the survey, believing that they could use the results as leverage in bargaining. Under Section 220 of the State Labor Law, certain public-sector blue-collar workers are entitled to the same wages paid in the private sector.

In June 2006, the city offered the workers $26.42 an hour, tied to a series of givebacks on vacation and personal days. The workers voted to turn down the offer and go with the survey.

In June about 1,000 members of Local 376 won an average of $90,000 in back pay each after they received a survey result that the city agreed was fair. Highway Repairers were bumped up to $36.48 per hour - a better-than 52-percent raise - and Construction Laborers saw their wages rise to $34.27 an hour, an increase exceeding 43 percent. Supervisor Highway Repairers in Local 1157 also achieved a positive result that month, and will likely receive a 46-percent hike in their hourly wage and collect between $100,000 and $150,000 in back pay.

Favorite Tactic Fizzled

The strategy of going for a survey was championed by several labor leaders and attorney Arthur Schwartz, whose firm aided Locals 376 and 1157. Mr. Schwartz, who also represents Local 983, had been critical of some DC 37 locals for not pursuing the prevailing-wage process more aggressively.

Mr. Schwartz said he was not involved in Local 983's survey. "DC 37 insisted on handling the prevailing rate proceeding," he said last week. "They held the bargaining certificate and said they were going to do it. There's clearly something wrong with the survey that was done."

Dennis Sullivan, DC 37's chief negotiator, said that the results of the survey would have been the same regardless of Mr. Schwartz's involvement, and that the process was the same used for Locals 376 and 1157. "We don't negotiate in the press," Mr. Sullivan said. "We don't take credit for accomplishments we have nothing to do with. We are going to get down to the serious business of resolving the situation in the best interest of the rank-and-file members affected."

There is a contentious history among the Plant Tenders of not following the DC 37 pattern and holding out for higher wages. In 1995, the HPPTs had not had a raise since 1990. Then-president Robert Taylor paid an attorney, Adam Ira Klein, $450,000 up front to negotiate a contract for the group of 217 workers. Mr. Klein failed to take action until 1997, drawing an unfair labor practice charge from the city.

In September 1998, a prevailing wage survey that compared the workers to members of Local 30 of the International Union of Operating Engineers came back with a rate of $23.01 an hour. At the time the workers were making $16.44. The city objected to the ruling, and Mr. Klein opted to go to arbitration, against the advice of Mr. Sullivan, who believed the local should wait for a final offer from the city.

A Casualty of Scandal

Even so, at a meeting of Local 983 members it was decided to keep Mr. Klein on retainer, instead of going with an hourly rate offered by Mr. Schwartz, who was the attorney of Mr. Rosenthal, who had recently gained office. Numerous civil service attorneys and union negotiators said the fee was unusually high and were also astonished that the entire sum was paid in advance.

That December, DC 37 Administrator Lee Saunders, who had just taken over the council after a wave of corruption scandals, cancelled the legal contract with Mr. Klein and sought the return of at least $300,000. The local now retains Mr. Schwartz's firm for about $100,000 per year.

Mr. Rosenthal said that regardless of the outcome of the survey, he did not regret taking that route. "I don't think we got compared to the title we should have been compared to," he said. "My guys do a lot more than the hospital workers. They should be compared to a Stationary Engineer or an Oiler."

Locals in DC 37 representing Sewage Treatment Workers, Radio Repair Mechanics, Laborers and Locksmiths are all awaiting prevailing-wage survey results.