FOR THE RECORD

FOR THE RECORD

Among the more interested observers of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association arbitration process was United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten. She said May 22 that while the award presented problems for Mayor Bloomberg because it granted bigger increases to the PBA than other uniformed unions negotiated with his administration, his method of dealing with those unions' reopener clauses could be just as fraught with peril.

The print was barely dry on arbitrator Susan Mackenzie's ruling when the administration issued a press release explaining that while the raises granted to Police Officers for the period from August 2004 through July 2006 were 3.5 percent greater than those for other uniformed workers, once the givebacks under the award were factored in, the cost of the package was just 1.16 percent above the norm.

Mr. Bloomberg immediately declared this the "uniformed differential," which he and some previous Mayors have granted in recognition of the added dangers faced by cops, firefighters and other uniformed workers. This was the first time, however, that a differential had been invoked retroactively - it was thought at the time in October 2005 that the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association established the uniformed pattern that the PBA broke with last week's award that the Mayor was using the same model that he settled a deal with the UFT on two weeks earlier.

Ms. Weingarten said she and PBA President Pat Lynch over the past decade have faced similar dilemmas - pay for their members at both the top and bottom of the salary scale falling behind what their counterparts in neighboring suburbs were getting - and she understood only too well his need to get beyond the basic bargaining pattern. They have taken completely different approaches to address the problem - she has always negotiated with the Bloomberg administration and last time brought in a contract deal nearly a year ahead of schedule, while he has gone to arbitration three consecutive times, with the last two deals already well out of date by the time they were awarded.

"One really has to do something when you have significant recruitment and retention problems," the UFT leader said. But even if she had the right to binding arbitration, as Mr. Lynch does, she said she would have reservations about "having a third-party arbitrator making these kind of solutions."

On the other hand, Ms. Weingarten added, "The pattern being too inflexible and too lock-step has made it very difficult to solve these issues."

That is one of the reasons she is happy Mr. Lynch was able to go beyond the existing pattern. But the Mayor's invocation of the uniformed differential as a way to spin the award as something other than a partial defeat for the city brings another issue into play, she said.

"The flip side is I'm very concerned that there is too much of a differential between uniformeds and civilians," the UFT leader remarked. "The fact that somebody wears a uniform is not a sufficient rationale." She noted that among those in the civilian category are educators, doctors and nurses, Emergency Medical Service personnel and other groups that could argue that their work is just as vital to the life of the city as those deemed uniformed employees for bargaining purposes. (EMS workers have the designation under law but are still treated as civilians by city negotiators.)

"All of us are watching very carefully to see what happens with these reopeners, what happens with DC 37's negotiations," Ms. Weingarten said.

She also noted that Mr. Bloomberg immediately adjusted his budget to cover the extra costs expected to result from the PBA deal and the reopener clauses other uniformed unions have. The UFT leader said she'd like to see similar flexibility in restoring money for education, and made clear she'd emphasize that point to City Council leaders as they negotiate a final budget deal with the Mayor's staff.

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Amid the overflow crowd that took up two floors of Battery Gardens for Charles Ensley's retirement party May 20, one wiseguy wondered whether Gee Whiz had been booked for the night.

Mr. Ensley chuckled; even his own sense of irony wouldn't have permitted him to hold the send-off in the restaurant near District Council 37's headquarters that a decade earlier had been the prime meeting place for the union's corrupt leadership, as well as being a participant in some of the kickbacks that marked the regime he railed against. Besides, it wasn't large enough to accommodate all those who showed up to say goodbye to Mr. Ensley, who was departing the scene after 26 years as president of Local 371 of DC 37.