Fire Officers, Sergeants Make Deals to Hike Top Salary by 3.5%; Influenced by LBA Accord Keeping Parity with PBA with Fewer Givebacks
By RICHARD STEIER
The Uniformed Fire Officers Association and the Sergeants Benevolent Association last week reached tentative agreements with the Bloomberg administration that will increase maximum pay for their members by 3.5 percent.

JOHN J. McDONNELL: 'Time, annuity' keys to deal.

The deals came the week after a similar accord was entered into by the Lieutenants Benevolent Association. In each case, the union used a re-opener clause in its current contract to make up the difference between the 3 and 3.15 percent raises that it previously negotiated and the pay hikes that were awarded to the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association in May by an arbitration panel.

Cut Down on Givebacks

Applying the additional increases only to maximum pay - where the PBA award granted 4.5 and 5 percent raises to all steps on the union's salary schedule - allowed those unions to make fewer givebacks than were required of the Police Officers' union while maintaining longtime salary relationships tied to maximum pay.

While LBA President Thomas Drogan had spelled out his other concessions - a delay in when the added money took effect to limit the city's retroactive costs and the rescheduling of Lieutenants for up to five additional days per year without the NYPD having to pay overtime - UFOA President John J. McDonnell was more circumspect, explaining that he did not want to publicly disclose them until a membership meeting July 10.

HARRY NESPOLI: More optimistic now.

He merely confirmed that the increase would apply only to maximum salary and said, "In exchange for time and annuity, we reached a settlement." It was not clear whether by "time" he was referring to a change in vacation schedules or some shift in the length of tours for his members, who range from Lieutenants to Chiefs.

Ballots Due by 28th?

Once he has outlined the terms to his rank and file, Mr. McDonnell said, he expects to send out ratification ballots the following day, with the vote count tentatively set for July 28.

SBA President Ed Mullins did not return a call seeking details on his agreement, and Labor Relations Commissioner James F. Hanley confirmed reaching an accord with that union but did not comment further.

Several other uniformed union leaders reacted favorably after details of the Lieutenant accord became known. A 2005 PBA arbitration award had forced most of those unions to reduce starting pay and make other concessions to match the PBA's wage gains, making entry-level positions less attractive and leaving some veteran employees reluctant to accept promotions that subjected them to drastically reduced salary scales. The relatively painless way that the Lieutenants maintained pay parity with less-stringent concessions by focusing solely on maximum salary has created an atmosphere in which other accords seem likely to be reached in the near future.

Sergeant Mullins was among those who immediately after the PBA award was announced had questioned whether the additional raises it provided were worth the givebacks it required.

Nespoli: Waiting My Turn

Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association President Harry Nespoli expressed similar doubts at the time, but last week he seemed optimistic that he, too, could reach an accommodation with the Bloomberg administration. The only immediate problem, he said during a July 1 interview, was that a line had already formed in front of him of other uniformed union leaders seeking to make a deal with Mr. Hanley.

"I like what he did," he said of Mr. Drogan's accord for the LBA. "I think it's a good contract, a fair contract, and he made his own deal - I don't want to go to arbitration. The Lieutenants' [deal] looks like a both-sides win."

One difference in his own situation, Mr. Nespoli noted, is that while Police Lieutenants, as well as most other superior officers, work under pay plans where maximum salary is reached after three years, his more-recent members do not get to top pay until they have 5-1/2 years of service. That could complicate his negotiations a bit, he said, but "I'm willing to sit down as long as the delay to save the city money can be gotten later on."

May Delay Effective Date

He was referring to the delay in implementation for the LBA extra raises compared to when the PBA hikes took effect. It is believed that other unions are also considering having implementation of their hikes pushed back even further than for the LBA - whose members at maximum receive the raises slightly more than 14 months into the old contract, retroactive to Oct. 6, 2006 - to even out the cost to the city without other givebacks.

Mr. Nespoli stuck to his initial opposition to giving up vacation days - as new Police Officers are forced to under the PBA award - to help fund the increase. But asked whether he would consider the type of rescheduling deal the LBA made to reduce overtime costs, he said that was a possibility, adding, "Whatever comes up, we can do."