Civil Service:

Research Assistant Test: On December 5, 2011, DCAS established a list with 940 names. This test had taken place on January 22, 2011. Please advice members to inform their personal or human resources department of their place in the list.

Claims Specialist Test: This list has not been established. The Education and Experience open competitive test for Claims Specialist took place on October 5-25, 2011.

Public Records Aide Examination: The list for this test has not been established. The PRA Education and Experience examination was held on June 1-21, 2011.

 

You passed the Research Assistant Civil service examination Now what? The Research Assistant list was established on December 5, 2011. There are currently 940 names in the Research Assistant list. You should have received a score notice. If you did not receive it, please contact DCAS immediately. If you did received it, then give a copy to your personal or human resource department and let them know that you are in the list. After agencies request certifications of the list, the same agencies will send “canvass letters” to enough high scoring eligibles to fill their job lines. If you received a canvass letter, do not leave your current job. A canvass letter is not an offer of appointment. Please answer these canvass letters and attend the interviews. Let you agency know that you have been invited to an interview. Your agency may agree to help you stay in your agency. If you are a top scorer you might be considered for the job, but having a high score does not guarantee that you will be hired. An appointment from the list must be made by selecting one of the three highest ranking eligibles willing to accept the appointment. If you are removed from the list or you became ineligible for appointment because you failed to reply to a canvass letter or because you declined an appointment, you may request restoration to the list. The Civil Service Law provides that the duration of an eligible list shall be not less than one year nor more than four years.

NO to Cuomo-nomics!! We oppose Gov. Cuomo’s Tier VI Pension Bill and his 401K alternative. Governor Andrew Cuomo introduced pension reform legislation that would create a Tier VI Pension. The same bill includes, at the request of Mayor Bloomberg, a separate pension reform proposal for New York City. Tier VI will include, among other: Raise retirement age to 65; end early retirement; employees to contribute 6% of their salary during their whole career; provide a single pension multiplier of 1.67%; vesting after 12 years instead of 10; excluding overtime from final average salary. According to the bill, these changes will impact new hires of the State and Local government, including New York City.

Tell your State Assemblyperson and Senator that you oppose the plan!!! The 401 K alternative will take away the funding of the current Pension plan. The current average pension for DC 37 retirees is $20,000 per year. The Governor’s plan will balance his budget on the back of the working people.

Settlement on Past Contract. Longevity (ATG) Some members reported that they did not receive the retroactive or the new longevity. Please verify that you received the longevity money. After an over-two-years-waiting period and prolonged grievances and arbitrations, the City finally reached an agreement with DC 37 over Additions to the Gross (ATG) for the contract period March 3, 2008 – March 2, 2010. These additions were expected to be paid on the last day of the contract. The value of the increases for a total of 5.47% will be added to existing longevities for Human Rights Specialists, Claims Specialists, Special Consultants, and Research Assistants. The moneys were retroactive to March 3, 2010.

Contract Negotiations. DC 37 and the City are looking forward to start negotiations on the Citywide Contract which covers term and working conditions.

Economic Agreement: DC 37 had its first round of bargaining with the City on November 10, 2011. The Union demands included a fair wage increase, and elimination of reduced wages for new hires.  On the other hand, the City’s proposal echoed the latest NY State deals: the City offered a five year contract with 0%, 0%, 0%, 2% and 2% per year. Also, among others, the City asked for pension changes for new hires; 10% health insurance co-premium for actives and retirees; reduced welfare fund contribution of $100; and raise of the part-time threshold to 20 hours/week. DC 37’s Executive Director Lillian Roberts made strong arguments to support the rightfulness of the Union’s position. She denounced the waste of City resources when the City contracts out services that could be handled by City workers.  She explained that all of that money wasted in contracts that never produced real services could have saved jobs and help the City’s budget. The Union and City expect to return to the table with their own counterproposals.

The Unions will continue to press City Hall on the issue of the billions being paid for contracting out. As you are aware, the Mayor insists that any contractual raises be funded by productivity savings, pension changes and health insurance modifications. At the State level, at the beginning of August, New York State CSEA workers voted to approve a deal which calls for 5-year agreement, with a no-layoffs clause, 2 years of zero increases, $1,000 bonus on the third year, 9 days of furloughs (4 of these days will refunded during the 4th year of the agreement), and increased health insurance premiums. Governor Cuomo had threatened with 9,000 layoffs if the deal was not approved.

In the City, the Mayor has insisted on a number of proposals, including changes to the pension system and changes to health benefits. Pension demands for civilians include: increasing retirement age to 65, contribution of 6% for all working years, vesting after 12 years, and removing overtime from pension calculation. Health benefits demands include: co-premiums on all basic plans, co-payments and deductibles for HIP-HMO, elimination of Medicare Part B for all retirees, and making health benefits available only at or after 20 years of service. The Mayor also wants to end the Variable Supplement Fund for uniformed forces, and wants sanitation workers to put in 25 years of service before retirement. Also, the union asked the Salary Review Panel and the City for an update on the process. As you are aware, the main point of contention on this issue is the funding for the Salary Review process. The current economic crisis and projected budget deficit has slowed down contract negotiations and salary review.

Human Rights Chapter. Due to retirement of Chapter Chair Alonso Myers, the Human Rights Chapter held elections on January 25, 2012. Miguel Ramirez was elected as the Chapter Chair for the Human Rights Chapter. Congratulations to Miguel!!

Local Law 35. City Council passed Local Law 35 which the Municipal Labor Committee as part of its offensive against contracting out and privatization. The Unions lobbied City Council for this legislation. So far the Mayor has refused to sign the law. The Unions support these modifications because they protect jobs and the good delivery of services. The Intro is presented by City Council Members Mealy, Comrie, and James.

Pension Proposal developed by Comptroller Liu. Comptroller Liu presented a proposal to create an umbrella entity that will combine the investments for all 5 systems. This is not a merger of the 5 pension systems as reported by some media. The proposal is expected to save 1 Billion per year to the City.

Snow Day December 2010. As you are aware, the Union filed grievances to credit workers for this snow day. The arbitration hearing is scheduled for February 2012. Some of our brothers and sisters will testify at these hearings.

Retirement of AFSCME President Gerald McEntee. Pres. McEntee announced that he will retire and won’t seek re-election to AFSCME presidency after 31 years of leadership. Our best wishes to Pres. McEntee. Working America honored Pres. McEntee at an event in Washington on December 7, 2011.

Due Process for Provisionals. After long negotiations, the City and DC 37 agreed to establish due process for provisional workers who have served for two or more years in the same or similar title in the same agency. As you might remember, the State Appeals Court’s Long Beach decision eliminated tenure rights for all provisional workers. This agreement restores due process for provisional workers in City Agencies. Authorities would need to negotiate a separate agreement to put these provisions into effect.

NYCHA Contract Negotiations. The Union and NYCHA re-started contract bargaining on September 19, 2010.  The Unit Contract covers working conditions at NYCHA. Also the Union and NYCHA agreed on some points on Telecommuting and Compressed time Pilot Program. The Union and NYCHA agreed on starting a pilot program for telecommuting and compressed time. The telecommuting would allow employees to work from home as the compressed time would allow staff to work longer hours per day in order to have a 4-day per week schedule. Once the pilot is completed and evaluated, the Union and NYCHA will discuss its possible implementation throughout the Authority.

Labor and Workers’ Rights under attack! Using the budgetary crisis as an excuse, conservative politicians, including Republicans, Tea Party and some Democrats have launched extensive attacks against collective bargaining, pensions, social security, Medicaid, civil service and others.  They have proposed legislation to restrict and or eliminate collective bargaining in 12 states across the nation. AFSCME is one of the Unions who have been at the forefront of the fight against the conservative offensive. In New York, there is intense action against civil service and contractual rights of public employees. In the State, Governor Cuomo put intense pressure and threats of layoffs on workers to obtain concessions. In the City, Mayor Bloomberg have demanded end of seniority for teachers, changes to the pension system, and ending Medicare Part B for retirees, among others. Also, Mayor Bloomberg has lobbied Albany for extensive reforms to collective bargaining, including repeal of the Triborough Amendment (or Doctrine) (Bills A3569 sponsored by Assemblyman Pretlow from Westchester and A1329 sponsored by Hawley and Rabbit). The Unions are acting and taking steps to counteract these actions. We need action and we need unity.

We Oppose the Mayor’s Workforce Reform Task Report & Recommendations. This report issued on January 7, 2011 proposes major restructuring of the existing City’s workforce by changing the Civil Service law’s jurisdiction and proposing extensive reforms to the same. Among others, it proposes to remove the City from under state civil service commission jurisdiction; allowing TA and TB&TA their own civil service administration; hiring flexibility by reducing the number of titles that require tests; increasing number of non-competitive titles; broadbanding and consolidation of titles; using more E&E test for competitive titles; adopting band-scoring methodology; giving credit toward civil service for evaluations during provisional service; increase selective certification; eliminate and or reform the test review and challenge process; extending length of temporary appointments; removing seniority; redefining managerial titles; and, to provide incentives such as merit increases, awards and promotions based on evaluations. Many of the civil service system reforms contained in this report were previously presented as part of the City’s DCAS plan. On March 11, 2011, the Municipal Labor Committee (MLC) released a report with a detailed response to the Workforce Reform Report. The Unions reject the Mayor’s report and recommendations because they ignore the need for a merit and fitness system, which is required to avoid cronyism and political patronage; second, the Mayor seeks to have unregulated control over hiring and discipline, at the expenses of due process for workers and without the proper check and balances as provided in the State Civil Service system. The current Civil Service System was created to remove problems of patronage and corruption associated with the City government in the 1890’s. We need to keep and improve the current Civil Service system. We don’t need to destroy it as proposed by the Mayor. Local 154 and several other sister Unions have consistently presented testimony and evidence at State and City Council hearings convened to discuss past City’s proposals regarding the Civil Service system. You can read Local 154 testimonies by visiting our website www.local154.org

Workplace Violence Program: Since the Labor Department’s regulations from 2009 requires all public employers to develop and implement a Workplace Violence Prevention Plan, the Union has been making sure that such plans are developed with Union participation. Several Unions, including Local 154, filed complaints with the State Department of Labor and PESH for lack of a Workplace Violence Prevention Program and/or lack of Union participation at several agencies including DOH-MH, DOT, Fire Department and others. Also, we met with the Human Rights Commission to discuss the development of a workplace violence program.

What is Workplace Violence? NYCRR Part 800.6 defines workplace violence as “Any physical assault or acts of aggressive behavior occurring where the public employee performs any work-related duty in the course of his or her employment”.

Shop Steward Classes: If you would like to attend shop steward classes, register now by calling DC 37 Education Dept. at 212-815-1700.

Local 154 Scholarship Program. We are accepting applications for 2012. Two winners were randomly chosen at the Sept. 21, 2011 membership meeting.

If you have topics or questions about any labor issues for Local 154 website, please send them to Secretary Sheera Glass or President Juan Fernandez at L154AFSCME@AOL.COM