CWA 1180 - Worksite Organizing

Out-of-Title, Out of Line!
Union takes on pattern of contract violations
May 1999

"I've been told by numerous bosses that I'm being put in for a promotion, 'you're in the plan', 'give me your resume' - and it just died," said Elizabeth Mediate, a career civil servant and PAA I since 1983. "All those years I waited for management to do the right thing and management never did." It was that realization that convinced Mediate to file an out-of-title grievance.

"Protecting the integrity of our jobs"

Elizabeth Mediate is one of hundreds of Local 1180 members who file similar grievances every year. "The vast majority of the grievances we handle are out-of-title complaints," explained Gwen Richardson, one of 1180's five staff reps. In March, Richardson alone resolved 11 cases; "I've got 15 outstanding cases I'm working on right now," she said in an interview in April. She described the situation as one of "crisis proportions," an assessment others at 1180 agreed with. "This is a systemic problem," commented President Arthur Cheliotes. "It's a case of the bosses trying to get us to work for cheap-to work without being properly recognized or compensated. We're talking about a pattern of contract violations here."

It's the pattern of out-of-title violations that's got 1180 officials concerned. In response, the union has begun a concerted effort to urge members to file grievances whenever they are asked to do out-of-title work and to educate members about why filing those grievances is so important.

Stop selling your labor cheap, union officials urge.

One reason it's important is simply because members deserve to be properly paid for the work they do. Union members are entitled to certain compensation at certain titles for particular kinds of work; the union contract guarantees that. If the bosses don't automatically abide by the contract's rules-and the systemic nature of the out-of-title problem clearly shows that they don't-then it's up to union members to enforce the contract by filing grievances whenever it's violated. "Filing grievances matters because it's a way to make sure people are appropriately compensated," said staff rep Albert Van-Lare. It you're doing out-of-title work and you don't file a grievance, "you're selling your labor cheap," Richardson bluntly put it.

Local 1180 member Laura Webley agreed. As a shop steward in HRA headquarters at 180 Water Street, she encourages members there, and everywhere, to file out-of-title grievances. "If you feel you're doing a job that you feel you should be paid higher for, what have you got to lose?" In her own case, she filed a grievance several years ago, "because I got sick and tired of them dumping anything they could on me." As a result, her title was changed from a PAA II to a PAA III.

A second reason filing a grievance is important is because doing out-of-title work does not just affect the individual worker. "We are all hurt when anyone works out-of-title," said Cheliotes. Elizabeth Mediate's experience is a case in point. When she was first transferred to the Housing Litigation Bureau at HPD (Housing Preservation and Development), she took over the job of someone who had just won a grievance claiming the work she was doing as a PAA I was really PAA II work. She won the case in arbitration (step four in the grievance procedure) and was appropriately compensated. However, the title of the job was not changed. Thus when Mediate took over, the agency reverted to paying a PAA I salary for PAA II work. Mediate filed a grievance, and won it at the citywide appeals level (step three). Once again, though, the title was not changed.

"Personally, it doesn't affect me. The money is important. But the title issue does matter," she explained, "because for everyone who comes up after me, they are going to have to go through it all over again. There's no upward mobility. And sooner or later, someone will end up in the position who doesn't have the energy and the gumption to file that grievance. Someone's going to be intimidated." And that is exactly why management has resisted changing Mediate's actual title-and why it's so important for 1180 members to keep filing grievances in situations like this. "It's about protecting the integrity of our jobs," said Van-Lare. "It's a way to make sure our career ladder and upward mobility is maintained; we need to file for those coming behind us as well."

Sometimes 1180 members are reluctant to file out-of-title grievances, union leaders frankly acknowledge, even when it's clear that the work they have been assigned is higher title work. Sometimes they see the assignment of more challenging or complex work as a vote of confidence in their abilities, so they may feel appreciated even as they are cheated out of proper compensation. Sometimes, as in Elizabeth Mediate's case, managers promise to take care of workers. In other cases, workers may be intimidated; "they're scared of threats," explained Webley. Or they may be afraid that if they file a grievance, the higher title work is taken away from them.

One possible resolution to an out-of-title grievance is indeed to remove the higher title work from the worker, rather than upgrade her title and pay to match the kind of work she is doing. Although it is understandable that 1180 members might not want to risk losing more interesting work, it is a mistake to think that not filing a grievance will guarantee that they get to keep the work. "At that point, they're at the mercy of the employer," explained Richardson. "The boss can take that work away just as quickly as he gave it to them in the first place." That's because in that situation, by refusing to challenge a management violation of the contract, workers are operating beyond the reach and the protection of the contract.

Ignoring the contract by refusing to file an out-of-title grievance thus undermines the whole point of having a union contract in the first place, which is to have a workplace regulated by rules and not by the whim of the boss. And that may be the most important reason why every 1180 member assigned higher title work should immediately file a grievance.

"If we are uniform on this," said Cheliotes, "then management will know that no matter who's picked, we'll grieve. It takes pressure off the individual member if we file every single time it happens. And it also sends a strong message to management that we will enforce our contract."

To find out how to file a grievance, go to the Grievance page

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