Ease Residency Rules For Most City Civilian Workers

The Chief-Leader/Adrienne Haywood-James DEFYING MAYOR: City Council Civil Service and Labor Committee Chairman Michael Nelson (seated) and Council Member Larry Seabrook (left) helped lead the push to override Mayor Bloomberg's veto of a bill expanding residency options for civilian city workers, with Mr. Seabrook terming it a matter of 'equality.'

The City Council July 29 overrode Mayor Bloomberg's veto to enact a bill to ease residency requirements for almost all civilian city employees not covered by the law it previously approved over the Mayor's objections in February for District Council 37 members.

Goes Beyond Contract Deals

First approved by the Council on June 19, but vetoed by the Mayor 10 days later, Intro. 992A consists of exactly the same provisions as the DC 37 residency law: city workers have to spend two years residing within the five boroughs before being allowed to relocate to six counties outside the city.

Introduced by Councilman Bill de Blasio of Brooklyn, Intro. 992A, like the DC 37 law, was rejected by the Mayor because it did not conform to collective-bargaining agreements on residency that the city made with several unions starting in 2006.

Those agreements eased residency requirements without any restrictions and also extended those rights to non-unionized management employees. But Speaker Christine Quinn and other Council members refused to pass legislation tailored to the collective bargaining changes.

Compromise legislation, proposed by Councilman Robert Jackson of Manhattan, was finally approved in late 2008, covering only DC 37 members. The two-year restriction imposed by that bill was designed to make sure that people outside the city wouldn't be able to take jobs from city residents.

Intro. 992A covers almost every other civilian employee except some prevailing wage employees whose salaries are decided by the City Comptroller.

City: Not What We Agreed To

At a May 21 hearing on the bill, Labor Relations Commissioner James F. Hanley said that the Mayor would only approve it if the two-year restriction was lifted and the clause about managerial employees reinserted, saying, "the two-year service requirement was not part of our collective-bargaining discussions with the unions."

At a July 28 hearing on the Mayor's veto, Mr. Jackson said he was baffled by Mr. Bloomberg's behavior. "This is an important bill for the people that were left out," he said. "I don't understand why the Mayor vetoed the first bill. And knowing that we overrode that veto, why would the Mayor be insistent on vetoing this bill, knowing that it's a cleanup bill?"

Larry Seabrook of The Bronx also pushed for the veto to be overturned, saying, "I urge an overwhelming yes vote so we can send a message that equality exists in this city for all workers."