NEWS
Mayor Vows to Keep Trying for Concessions by Unions
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that he would continue to seek financial concessions from the city’s municipal unions, adding that in particular he hoped to tackle soaring health and pension costs.
Mr. Bloomberg expressed the commitment at a news conference yesterday at which he and leaders of the largest municipal union, District Council 37, announced a contract settlement providing a 10 percent raise over 32 months with no new concessions.
The mayor noted that the city continued to benefit from money-saving concessions in the union’s last contract, like reduced vacation and sick days for newly hired workers.
He added that the city and District Council 37, which represents 120,000 city workers, would set up a subcommittee to discuss pension changes and that he would urge the Municipal Labor Committee, the umbrella group for the city’s unions, to negotiate savings on health coverage.
“We have an enormous need to get our costs under control,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “During the eight years I’ll be in office, paying for pension and health coverage benefits will have gone from something like $13 billion a year to something like $25 billion a year.”
The city’s labor commissioner, James F. Hanley, reached a tentative contract with District Council 37 late Wednesday night. At the time, the two sides agreed not to announce the deal until after the weekend because the mayor was on vacation. Nonetheless, several union officials disclosed details on Thursday.
The agreement includes a 3.15 percent raise retroactive to July 1, 2005, the day the union’s last contract expired. The new pact also includes a 2 percent raise starting Aug. 1, and a 4 percent raise starting Feb. 1. District Council officials said yesterday that the union’s members earn an average annual salary of $30,000.
Lillian Roberts, the union’s executive director, said she was not surprised to have reached an agreement that included no concessions. She said the city’s projected $5 billion budget surplus made it harder for the mayor to demand concessions. Moreover, she said her union had shown the mayor that it was cooperative by giving some important concessions in its last contract, including a one-year wage freeze.
Explaining the absence of new concessions, Mr. Bloomberg said: “One of the problems we’re going to have is, it gets more difficult to find ways where you can continue to deliver services and do so with cost savings. That’s just because as we get more refined there are fewer opportunities, and certainly the opportunities are more difficult to come to an agreement on.”
Mr. Bloomberg made it clear that he thought the agreement should set a pattern for other municipal unions, including the new 20-union bargaining coalition that includes the teachers and sanitation workers.
“There is a labor history in this city that people tend to move in lockstep, and I see no reason why that would not continue,” Mr. Bloomberg said.
Randi Weingarten, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, said, “This sets a pattern of no concessions, and I hope that is part of what he envisions for the other unions.”
Then she added: “The mayor’s position is this sets a pattern. The coalition’s position is it intends to bargain its own agreement.”
Mr. Bloomberg and Ms. Roberts agreed that one of the most important provisions in the agreement was ending the requirement that members live in New York City. From now on, they can also live in any of six suburban counties: Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange.
The union had pushed to end the residency requirement because many of its members were having problems finding affordable housing. “I have plagued this mayor to death about the housing problems my members face,” Ms. Roberts said.
Mr. Bloomberg noted that the city adopted the residency restrictions 20 years ago when many middle class families were leaving for the suburbs, but he added that middle class flight has largely subsided.
The mayor acknowledged that one of the city’s biggest problems was the high cost of housing and so ending the residency restriction made sense.
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said yesterday that he would continue to seek financial concessions from the city’s municipal unions, adding that in particular he hoped to tackle soaring health and pension costs.
Mr. Bloomberg expressed the commitment at a news conference yesterday at which he and leaders of the largest municipal union, District Council 37, announced a contract settlement providing a 10 percent raise over 32 months with no new concessions.
The mayor noted that the city continued to benefit from money-saving concessions in the union’s last contract, like reduced vacation and sick days for newly hired workers.
He added that the city and District Council 37, which represents 120,000 city workers, would set up a subcommittee to discuss pension changes and that he would urge the Municipal Labor Committee, the umbrella group for the city’s unions, to negotiate savings on health coverage.
“We have an enormous need to get our costs under control,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “During the eight years I’ll be in office, paying for pension and health coverage benefits will have gone from something like $13 billion a year to something like $25 billion a year.”
The city’s labor commissioner, James F. Hanley, reached a tentative contract with District Council 37 late Wednesday night. At the time, the two sides agreed not to announce the deal until after the weekend because the mayor was on vacation. Nonetheless, several union officials disclosed details on Thursday.
The agreement includes a 3.15 percent raise retroactive to July 1, 2005, the day the union’s last contract expired. The new pact also includes a 2 percent raise starting Aug. 1, and a 4 percent raise starting Feb. 1. District Council officials said yesterday that the union’s members earn an average annual salary of $30,000.
Lillian Roberts, the union’s executive director, said she was not surprised to have reached an agreement that included no concessions. She said the city’s projected $5 billion budget surplus made it harder for the mayor to demand concessions. Moreover, she said her union had shown the mayor that it was cooperative by giving some important concessions in its last contract, including a one-year wage freeze.
Explaining the absence of new concessions, Mr. Bloomberg said: “One of the problems we’re going to have is, it gets more difficult to find ways where you can continue to deliver services and do so with cost savings. That’s just because as we get more refined there are fewer opportunities, and certainly the opportunities are more difficult to come to an agreement on.”
Mr. Bloomberg made it clear that he thought the agreement should set a pattern for other municipal unions, including the new 20-union bargaining coalition that includes the teachers and sanitation workers.
“There is a labor history in this city that people tend to move in lockstep, and I see no reason why that would not continue,” Mr. Bloomberg said.
Randi Weingarten, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, said, “This sets a pattern of no concessions, and I hope that is part of what he envisions for the other unions.”
Then she added: “The mayor’s position is this sets a pattern. The coalition’s position is it intends to bargain its own agreement.”
Mr. Bloomberg and Ms. Roberts agreed that one of the most important provisions in the agreement was ending the requirement that members live in New York City. From now on, they can also live in any of six suburban counties: Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Putnam, Rockland and Orange.
The union had pushed to end the residency requirement because many of its members were having problems finding affordable housing. “I have plagued this mayor to death about the housing problems my members face,” Ms. Roberts said.
Mr. Bloomberg noted that the city adopted the residency restrictions 20 years ago when many middle class families were leaving for the suburbs, but he added that middle class flight has largely subsided.
The mayor acknowledged that one of the city’s biggest problems was the high cost of housing and so ending the residency restriction made sense.
posted by A Strong, Proud UTP Member at 7/18/2006 12:20:00 PM
1 Comments:
The question, of course, is--what does this mean for the UFT?
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