HA Gets Legal Clearance To Lay Off 32 Painters; Bumped by Supervisors

Painters in the Housing Authority have been laid off to make way for demoted supervisors after an injunction against the layoffs was lifted by the judge who issued it.

STEPHEN MELISH: HA skirting safety regulations.

The Housing Authority is eliminating the Supervisor Painter title and laying off 32 Painters to make room for 79 supervisors who are joining the Painter roster. The layoff was initially stopped by Local 1969 of District Council 9 of the Painters Union, which got an injunction from Bronx Supreme Court Justice Patricia Williams. But Justice Williams recently lifted the injunction, allowing layoffs to proceed while the case is adjudicated.

Says HA Way Behind

In a phone interview, Local 1969 President Stephen Melish said that the union was trying to appeal the layoffs, arguing that the Housing Authority would be placing its residents in danger by getting rid of Supervisor Painters and turning much of its work over to contractors.

"We're fighting on the grounds that the Housing Authority has been violating city housing laws where it states that all building owners are responsible to paint residents' apartments every three years," he said. "Currently, 108,000 apartments have not been painted in accordance with this law. HA has 183,000 apartments in total, so over 50 percent are entitled to paintwork."

Mr. Melish said that work required strict safety regulation by Supervisor Painters. "There's Fire Code regulations, lead-dust control procedures, health and safety issues, residents can be hurt," he said, criticizing the HA for contracting out $30 million worth of painting to non-union contractors.

Board Members Targeted?

He added that he believed the layoffs were "retaliatory in nature because of the union's activities in the past." He said that Supervisor Painters on the executive board of the union received layoff notices when they shouldn't have, as they have the legal right to revert to lower titles before being fired. "The HA issued out layoff notices to these members without even checking the law," Mr. Melish said. "We believe they were happy to get rid of the leadership that was in place."

An HA spokesman declined to respond, citing the pending legal case.

Mr. Melish also dismissed rumors that some of the supervisors being demoted to the Painter position had no experience in the lower title. An e-mail campaign within Local 1969 alleged that some Painters were being replaced by unqualified bosses.

"I've heard that [rumor] repeatedly, and there's no truth to that whatsoever," he said. "What the members are speaking of is that approximately 20 to 22 supervisors came in as open-competitive supervisors. The Housing Authority many years ago felt that they needed so many supervisors, they didn't have enough to get through promotions, so they opened it up through an open-competitive [exam]. You needed five years' experience as a Painter and one year as a Foreman to get that position."

He also clarified that while originally 44 Painters were set to be laid off, retirements brought the number down to 38. Six of those slated to lose their jobs were able to transfer to other agencies that had either provisional staff or vacancies.