The Uniform Firefighters Association (UFA) has agreed to a tentative contract with the city. Firefighters will receive an 11% wage increase over 7 years. That is 1% higher than the UFT civilian pattern setting contract negotiated by Michael Mulgrew and in line with the pattern set for uniform city workers. Health cost savings are part of the deal too. In addition, firefighters and the city agreed to go to the Legislature in Albany to seek higher disability pensions for those hurt in the line of duty.
For those who need a refresher, pattern bargaining means one union settles with the city on a contract for a given raise, then there is a pattern that the city adheres to when they negotiate agreements with other city workers. Breaking the pattern is virtually impossible. The civilian pattern set by the UFT was a 10% salary increase over 7 years. The pattern for uniform employees is a little higher. Pattern bargaining has been upheld many times by arbitration panels who settle or recommend contracts.
The UFA agreement leaves the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and the Corrections Officers as the only two major city unions who have not settled contracts with Mayor Bill de Blasio. The PBA is in binding arbitration. If they win and beat the pattern to actually win a decent deal, it will be one of the greatest upsets in the history of municipal labor settlements. My understanding, however, is arbitrators can only award a settlement for two years and the first two years of the uniform pattern are something like 1% and 1%. The PBA contract would be expired the day the arbitration panel awards it.
Maybe the PBA is hoping to break the pattern by getting increases higher than 1% and 1% for those two years the arbitrators will decide and then defeating this mayor to work on a better deal with a successor. Their tough talking, controversial President Patrick Lynch easily won reelection in June with 70% of the vote. Whether one likes Lynch, the police and the PBA or not, he has demonstrated that a union leader will be backed by the membership if he/she defends the rank and file with everything he/she has.
It may have been a better strategy for the UFT to let arbitrators recommend our last contract where pattern bargaining pretty much assured us 4% + 4% over two years as DC 37 agreed to a pattern setting 4%+4% contract without givebacks back in 2008. The UFT was in non-binding fact finding arbitration when Mulgrew settled for our nine year contract in 2014.
We could have taken the two year settlement and then held out for a better pattern for the current round. Had we done that, we would have had that retroactive money already and our salaries would be higher than they are today since the money from that last DC 37 settlement is being added to our salaries in stages through 2018 and the arrears won't be paid in full until 2020. If an arbitration panel would have recommended an arrangement where we had to defer back pay, the UFT could have said no and upped the negotiation ante.
The city may have struck a deal with another union to set the same weak pattern anyway but our back pay case would have been robust and we could blame the poor pattern as another justification for why we need the back pay up front. As an alternative, the Municipal Labor Committee could have let the PBA go first because they have the best case to make that police officers make much less than their counterparts in the surrounding areas. Besides the pattern, arbitrators also look closely at what other similar employees earn as well as the city's ability to pay.
Had we just stood tall, the economic reality is the city certainly would have had the ability to pay more than we are getting. If we wanted to help the city financially, we could have improved our working conditions as an alternative. We did not (school based committees on paperwork and PROSE schools are not gains in working conditions nor is interminable professional development on Mondays).
In the end, we didn't wait so the city pocketed the savings. De Blasio ended the recent fiscal year with a $5.9 billion surplus, thanks in large part to the miserly municipal labor contracts, and conditions in the schools have not improved. As I have been saying since May 2, 2014, the day Mulgrew set the substandard pattern that all city employees are stuck with, our contract was a missed opportunity.
*The title was changed in response to a comment and some offline stuff.
7 comments:
That is 1% higher than the UFT civilian pattern setting contract negotiated by Michael Mulgrew and in line with the pattern set for uniform city workers.
Makes you headline VERY misleading. Ar teachers worth less than other agencies?
Call me naive, but what scares me the most is what happens in the next round of contract negotiations between the city and the UFT. If the PBA and the Corrections Union settle for a crappy contract, the "pattern" of a garbage contract will be set in stone and we will probably have to settle for 1% raises over 7 years or something just as horrible. Thoughts???
We will be lucky to receive anything as a narrow minded billionaire backed republican is more than poised to take over for Mr.de Blosio.
To 10:20 am- The uniform pattern is often a point higher than the civilian pattern. It goes back to the time when Ed Koch was mayor and thought they deserved more. That is why the headline says "basically" since 1% more for uniform workers fits in with past patterns.
To 11:59 am-The PBA is attempting to break the pattern through binding arbitration. Most doubt they can win much.
To 12:58 pm-You have a good point which is why I keep saying we have to organize ourselves to be ready to be a militant labor union as the UFT was back in the sixties and seventies. We probably need to be tougher now as the forces lined up against us are strong and well funded.
I would ask that you review your article and amend it accordingly. The UFT pact covers a much longer period than the NYFD, they get 1% more, they get immidite payment upon ratification of their contract in 60-days of retro etc. They did way better! They didn't sell-out any member and they only won!
The UFT contract was for nine years, not 7 like the UFA, because of the two years prior to the current deal. For those extra two years, the UFT got the 4% +4% other unions received between 2008 and 2010. That is the retro that is being put in piecemeal for us through 2020. I will put an apples to apples comparison up when I have a chance. The current piece is accurate. I checked. We got retro up front for the current round which was very little. Our big payouts are for the last round which firefighters and others received six or seven years ago.
We put a follow-up post that compares the numbers as apples to apples. I hope it clarifies everything.
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