NY Daily News – May 20, 2015
by Jennifer Fermino
The contract with sanitation workers announced Tuesday by City Hall could be bad news for the police union in its arbitration fight to get a sweeter deal for cops.
The Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association, which represents 6,000 workers, agreed to a seven-year contract that includes modest back pay of about 1% a year, starting in 2011 through this year, with raises rising gradually to 3% by 2018.
The raises total 11% over the life of the $271.1 million contract — 1% higher than the deal non-uniformed city workers with settled contracts, including teachers, have received.
It is very similar to the deal that the coalition of uniformed supervisors unions — including the Captains Endowment Association and Detectives Endowment Association — inked last year, but marks the first time that a rank-and-file uniformed union has settled.
Still without a contract are rank-and-file firefighters and correction officers and the 23,000 police officers represented by the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, which is pushing for more money in binding arbitration.
Bob Linn, the city’s chief negotiator, said the sanitation contract proves that the pattern established by Mayor de Blasio is fair.
“I would expect that the arbitration panel will understand how important it is … to maintain fair treatment of all the workers in similar fashion,” he said.
Richard Steier, a labor expert and editor-in-chief of The Chief, a newspaper for civil service workers, said the sanitation deal is “one more nail in the coffin” for the PBA’s chances of breaking the pattern.
“They tend to believe in preserving patterns,” he said. “They don’t tend to be trailblazers.”
The three-person arbitration panel likely won’t decide until the summer.
PBA President Patrick Lynch declined comment on the sanitation deal. He has argued that his members deserve to be paid higher salaries, comparable to other police officers — like Port Authority and Long Island cops — who earn more.
The cost of the sanitation contract is offset by $98.4 million in health care savings, bringing it down to $172.7 million, according to city officials.
Sanitation union President Harry Nespoli said he is happy with his deal after four years with no raises.
“The bills were piling up,” he said.
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