Letters to the Editor
DC 37 Kept Up With Inflation 
 

To the Editor:

Your article entitled "Never Shared in Boom: As Wall St. Reels, City Staffers Shrug" in the March 28 issue of The Chief contends that city workers, especially those represented by District Council 37, received wage increases that greatly trailed inflation. The article is riddled with inaccuracies and its conclusion just doesn't hold up.

Wage hikes in both the 1995-2000 DC 37 economic agreement and subsequent contracts covering the period 2000-2008 kept pace with the rise in the cost of living.

To set the record straight, the total value of the compounded across-the-board wage increases and the value of the Additional Compensation Funds for DC 37 for the period 1995-2008 rose 43.21 percent, while the Consumer Price Index in New York City measured from April 1, 1995 (the first day of the 19952000 contract) to February 2008 (latest available data) rose by 43.58 percent. Similarly, for the period 2000-2008, the value of our compounded wage increases totaled 27.12 percent, while inflation rose by 27.28 percent. Clearly our wage increases have kept up with the cost of living.

Moreover, you fail to consider the value of the city workers' benefit package, specifically the value of the increases to the union's welfare fund in lieu of additional wage increases. It is significant to note that the city's obligation to pay the costs of basic health insurance for employees and retirees did not change over the period under discussion. These are important omissions.

Another omission in your article is your failure to recognize the value DC 37 members and other city employees received when the unions and the City of New York agreed to jointly lobby the State Legislature, as part of a 2000-2002 Municipal Labor Committee Agreement, to pass legislation to eliminate the basic 3-percent employee pension contribution after 10 years of service. This resulted in an increase in take-home pay of 3 percent.

Any accurate analysis of the DC 37 agreements reached in collective bargaining during this period should clearly take into account these elements.

Hopefully in the future, The Chief will make a more-diligent effort to back up the assertions you put forth.

Let's be clear, the members of DC 37 deserve fair and equitable wage increases that recognize their value to the City of New York and which can provide them a well-deserved improvement in their standard of living.

DENNIS SULLIVAN, Director, DC 37 Research and Negotiations Department