CWA 1180 - Calendar

1 percent productivity raise under negotiation

February 2006: The saga continues

The saga of the missing 1 percent raise continues. For those who haven’t been following this soap opera, that’s the extra productivity raise built into the final year of the last Local 1180 city contract. That contract, which covered July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2005, included raises of 0 percent (with a $1,000 bonus), 3 percent, and 2 percent, with an additional 1 percent in the final year pending evidence of productivity gains.

After several meetings during the summer and fall with the Office of Labor Relations wrangling over how to prove the significant role Local 1180 members played in city productivity gains, 1180 president Arthur Cheliotes sent a letter to Labor Commissioner James Hanley on January 16 laying out the case yet again. Cheliotes presented a detailed analysis of productivity gains due to civilianization in the Police Department and concluded, “We believe that this sample serves as a basis to confirm our participation in any productivity saving created by the civilianization… and creates a road map to project future productivity savings.” At press time, Cheliotes had heard no response from Hanley.

The letter also alludes to an interesting twist in the story. The city is currently seeking to extend all union contracts governing civil servants by one year, to bring their expiration dates in sync with that of the teachers, police, and other public sector workers. And in that press, Cheliotes sees a bargaining chip. “We understand that there may be interest in extending our contract for an additional year in return for a pay increase,” Cheliotes wrote at the close of his letter to Hanley. “We are prepared to add to our negotiation on the 1% a comprehensive extension package...including the addition of job titles to our bargaining unit.”

If the city is truly motivated to get Local 1180 to sign a one-year contract extension, says Cheliotes, “they’ll have to cough up the 1 percent.” Meanwhile, Local 1180 has joined with other unions representing city workers, including the Organization of Staff Analysts, SEIU Local 300, ILA Local 333, and the Civil Service Bar Association, in a new 1 Percent Coalition, formed to push collectively for the long-overdue raise for all of their members. So far, only managers and unrepresented employees have received the raise, with one exception: workers represented by DC 37 got the 1 percent—just days before that union endorsed Mayor Bloomberg in his reelection campaign.

February 2006: Members take action

Shop steward Shirley Littman delivered the following letter to Mayor Bloomberg on January 30, on behalf of 107 Local 1180 members at the Department of Homeless Services.

Dear Mayor Bloomberg:

We send our congratulations to you on winning a second term as New York City’s mayor.

As we ask you to resolve a long-awaited 1% productivity increase that, as of this writing, we have not received, you have appointed our commissioner, Linda Gibbs, to the post of deputy mayor and point with pride to the accomplishments of our agency. While we will miss her leadership, the work of the agency is still to uphold the mission of homeless services and meet the goals outlined in the strategic plan.

But Mr. Mayor, when all is said and done, the mission and plan are much more than just ideas, strategies, and time lines on pieces of paper. We are the ones who carry out the daily tasks. We are among the workers whose style, even within a bureaucracy, ensures that personal excellence and teamwork coexist. You can point to us as the ones who push ahead and make sure the job gets done.

Our group deserves recognition for the accomplishments and successes at DHS, which absolutely mirror our efforts along with all of the workers in the agency. Why we have not been included in the 1% contractual increase is still unclear, since you have given it to original jurisdiction personnel, to the managers who our work supports, and to other staff who are supervised by us.

Politics aside, our productivity should not be overlooked. We have signed below and stand together waiting for your positive decision. Please revisit this issue and address our question. When will this 1% appear in our paychecks?

Thank you.

October 2005: The city holds out

Local 1180 again sat down with representatives from the Office of Labor Relations on October 6 to continue negotiations over the disputed 1 percent productivity raise. Local 1180's position remained the same: since our members supervise DC 37 workers, they likely played a vital role in any productivity gains made by DC 37 members, who already received a 1 percent pay raise in return for these gains.

So far, the city has refused to extend the same raise to Local 1180 members, so at this meeting 1180 president Arthur Cheliotes asked the city to provide documentation of DC 37 workers' productivity gains. That way the union could in turn document the significant role 1180 supervisors played in making those gains. But OLR was not forthcoming.

"In order to properly engage in these negotiations, we need to fully understand what qualified as productivity savings, how they were measured, and if productivity savings by Local 1180's members directly associated with DC 37's initiatives have been improperly credited to them," Cheliotes wrote to OLR assistant commissioner after the meeting. "It remains the position of this Local that there are substantial productivity savings associated with line accruals in agences that were able to reach their mission targets with a smaller payroll expenditure than originally budgeted. We believe that this is clear and measurable productivity and wish to be credited accordingly."

August 2005: Local 1180 meets with the city

On June 28, District Council 37 executive director Lillian Roberts announced a pact with the city that included a 1 percent raise for nearly 100,000 city workers affiliated with DC 37. The 2002-2005 contract had provided for this additional 1 percent increase contingent upon a joint union-city committee finding sufficient productivity savings to cover the cost. Roberts and Deputy Mayor Mark Shaw led the joint effort.

“It has been a long hard struggle to achieve this 1 percent,” said Roberts. “Ultimately, both sides were able to agree on a way to fund this additional pay increase without any givebacks."

CWA 1180 leaders met with the city on Tuesday, August 9, regarding this same 1 percent raise, based on productivity increases, as it affects our own members who work for the city. "We made it clear that since we supervise DC 37 workers, we are entitled to the credit for productivity associated with our supervision of their work," says Local 1180 president Arthur Cheliotes. He also explained that actual staffing levels fell short of staffing requests in many agencies, meaning fewer workers were able to meet agency goals. Members who can identify any additional areas of increased productivity in their workplace, such as contracting in of work and civilianization, should email Arthur Cheliotes at arthurc@cwa1180.org.

Updates will be posted here as negotiations move forward.

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