500 Jobs At Risk
HA Layoffs Delayed But Still Possible

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

The Oct. 1 deadline for 500 layoffs slated at the Housing Authority passed without the axe falling, but HA officials are still promising staff cuts.

TINO HERNANDEZ: Feds shorting HA.

The personnel reduction could come in the form of attrition or through layoffs to be announced in the future. The affected unions had hoped that $47 million in additional state funding that they successfully lobbied for would stem the job losses, but HA Chairman Tino Hernandez testified at the City Council late last month that the agency was "poised to implement" its workforce reduction plan.

Puts Blame on Feds

"Significant Federal disinvestment in public housing is forcing NYCHA to make tough decisions," Mr. Hernandez told the Council's public housing sub-committee.

Teamsters Local 237 President Gregory Floyd met with Mr. Hernandez last week and said that the Chairman told him that layoffs were still possible. HA spokesman Howard Marder would say only, "We continue to evaluate all of our options.

The union will join a community rally on Oct. 4 to demand more funding for public housing.

GREGORY FLOYD: City should pick up slack.

The bulk of Local 237's 8,000 HA members are in the core services, but there are hundreds with administrative jobs, such as Housing Assistants, who could be at risk. "I'm worried about everybody's members," Mr. Floyd said. "Whenever there's a layoff in another title, the work in that title falls on the members that are left behind."

For example, Mr. Floyd cited a Housing Manager who had no secretary and had to answer the phones and type up reports in addition to her own duties. As a result, she fell behind in her paperwork and the HA was threatening to bring her up on charges. The union could seek a cease-and-desist order, but that process can take up to two years, Mr. Floyd said.

Short $574M Under Bush

Since President Bush took office in 2001, the HA has been funded at less than 85 percent of its operating costs. The overall loss totals $574 million, including the current year.

In the spring, HA officials announced the job cuts plus a budget deficit of $51 million. The new state money will be phased in and will bring in $6.7 million this year and $29.5 million next year, rising to $47 million by 2010.

The total savings from the layoffs will be $5 million annually. Mr. Hernandez argued that the agency needed to use the added state funding to "reinvest in core services," which will include hiring more core service staff, even as jobs are cut in administrative and non-core areas.

"Notwithstanding our financial constraints," he said, "it is imperative that we continue to hire staff in positions that provide core services to NYCHA residents at their developments."

Pressure on the agency to improve services increased last month when a Bushwick Houses resident died of an asthma attack after being force to climb 10 flights of stairs because her building's elevator was broken.

Among the jobs included in core services are Caretakers, Elevator Mechanics, Carpenters, Plumbers, boiler tenders, maintainers and garbage haulers.

DC 37: Too Early to Talk

District Council 37 officials, whose clerical and administrative staff members are most likely to be affected by the job losses, said they had no comment because they had not received any official notice of layoffs.

The HA must notify affected unions 90 days in advance of layoffs and must negotiate the process. In the case of job cuts through attrition, management must meet with the union to discuss the impact, but is not required to negotiate. The union can grieve the action if it believes that the attrition will have an impact that will violate the contract, such as adding job responsibilities that have not been agreed upon to remaining employees.

The Federal budget for next year would again fund the HA at 83 percent of its operating costs, and the agency is already projecting a $124-million deficit. A separate bill has been introduced in both houses of Congress by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY) that would bring Federal money to 21 state and city developments that currently don't receive any. If passed, it would produce $54 million annually.

An Endorsement Issue

Mr. Floyd said his union was meeting with presidential candidates to get a commitment from them to fund public housing. He has already met with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton and former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. He said he was open to meeting with Republican candidates if they were interested.

(Mr. Floyd gave no indication of whom the local will endorse, but sources said that Teamsters in New York are leaning towards Ms. Clinton, while Teamsters in Chicago favor Mr. Obama and the union's southern locals prefer former Sen. John Edwards)

In the meantime, the union leader believes the Bloomberg administration should pick up the slack. "The city is going to have to shoulder this burden," Mr. Floyd said, "until the Federal Government steps up to fund its responsibility to public housing."