Plant Tenders Boiling Over Delay In Reaching Pact

By MICHELLE FRIEDMAN

Some frustrated High Pressure Plant Tenders have threatened to leave District Council 37 over frustration that they are about to enter their seventh year without a contract.

DENNIS SULLIVAN: Trying to reach deal.

One HPPT who spoke conditioned on anonymity claimed that "their broad-banded brethren in hospitals, oilers/plant maintainers and their supervisors are making over $20 an hour more." He believes this is "unprecedented treatment" towards skilled trade workers in New York City, claiming that in other trades titles city workers are no worse than $5 behind the hourly rate for their private-sector counterparts.

Local 983 President Mark Rosenthal, who represents the HPPTs, said that he has no involvement in contract negotiation, but he believes "these men deserve more money. I do the best I can; but I am not a negotiator."

He also expressed anger over the City Comptroller's decision to base HPPT salaries on what is paid to private-sector employees in the title of Fireman who are represented by Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union. "I believe the comparison of an HPPT to 1199 workers is wrong," Mr. Rosenthal said in an April 24 phone interview. "The numbers just don't pan out. It doesn't make any sense. HPPTs are more compatible to a Stationary Engineer or an Oiler, not Firemen."

HPPTs are on the city's official list of physically taxing positions, and also require a specific certification.

DC 37 maintains that it has attempted to negotiate a contract on behalf of HPPTs several times and that it is working with Local 983 to reach a resolution. In an April 24 statement Dennis Sullivan, the union's director of research and negotiations, said, "The High Pressure Plant Tenders voted to reject the city contract offer and pursued a request for a prevailing rate survey with the Comptroller. A preliminary determination was not acceptable to the members."

One source said following an April 25 negotiation that an agreement was near.

The roughly 200 HPPTs were said to be fearful that the poor state of the economy would negatively affect a final deal.