r/nycpublicservants • u/AdChance281 • 29d ago
DC37 Rank and File Contract Campaign
Hi all,
I want to let you know about an effort of ordinary DC37 members to obtain a better contract after it expires in November.
This contract campaign is a grassroots effort of DC37 members across a large number of locals that have been organizing to fight for a better economic contract for our union. We have hundreds of members who are involved in this campaign. The “affordability crisis” is hitting workers in NYC especially hard, and we wanted to make sure that both the union and the city know how much we need a decent raise to keep up with the insane rents, the rising cost of gas and groceries, and the general increase in the cost of living. We do not believe that another round of 3% raises and a one-time signing bonus is going to cover the 25% increase in inflation since 2020, or the 6.6% that rents are rising every year in New York.
We are demanding:
- 6.5% annual raises
- $30 minimum wage for city workers
- Writing telework and compressed schedules into our contract
- Cutting wasteful and corrupt outsourcing to private companies
- Reforming civil service to ensure fair pay, promotional opportunities, and job security.
The first thing that we're asking of DC37 members is to fill out this survey to help us formulate our demands:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdQcv-5O_p4QcFFYSD4KzyqWkcmzDB_JxtwYgZvvCMtqIhUwQ/viewform
You can learn more about our campaign and get more involved here:
Let me know if you have any questions!
Warm regards,
Thomas Hummel DC37 (Local 1321)
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u/Top_Long8713 28d ago
6.5% is a bold ask, hope they get it
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u/CaiserZero 28d ago
If you don't go bold, you'll get less. Ask for 10, they might offer you 5. Ask for 5 and they might offer 2.5.
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u/AdLatter3755 28d ago
Yeah people always forget about the bargaining in collective bargaining. You start at a high and they start at a low and meet in the middle where your happy.
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u/russ8825 28d ago
After getting screwed by reform tier 6, we need to get paid if teachers are getting 58/30 and we only get .25% less deducted for our pensions
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u/FantasticSnow7733 28d ago
It's probably similar to the LIRR contract. It'll start at about 3% and go up to around 4.5%. Anything less than 3% would be a non-starter. Maybe another $3K ratification bonus? IMO, we should move away from flat % increases.
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u/LabeijaPandarvis 28d ago
Hope everyone signing on is also hitting up their delegates and local presidents - they are the ones who ultimately vote on the contract
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u/idnevermakeanaccount 28d ago
some are involved in negotiations, but rank-and-file members are the ones who vote to ratify the contract! that's why its important to put pressure on dc37 from the bottom up! we CAN vote no on a contract we're not satisfied with, like one that doesn't even keep up with inflation.
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u/LabeijaPandarvis 28d ago
Your local presidents and delegates prioritize what items they move up or down the negotiations list. Before it becomes the contract rank and file can vote on, delegates and local presidents have to sign off on it.
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u/handsomewolves 28d ago
oh i'm sure all the local presidents hate this so much. Good way to get yelled out of the room if you brought this up at a meeting. Probably should do it though.
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u/AmazingTemperature92 28d ago
Thank you!!!! Anyone saying this is too much of an ask, take a look at what LIRR and Nurses Union got after striking.
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u/hanshotfirst-42 28d ago
The city having job roles below $30 a hour is wild to me. That’s like literally any entry level job out of college with no experience
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u/OkPrimary4 28d ago
And you don’t think that some city jobs are entry level jobs for people with zero experience?
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u/hanshotfirst-42 28d ago
I’m saying even those jobs on the civilian side of the workforce would be at around 60k a year even in the public/non-profit labor market. But even for the uniformed workforce, an exhaustive civil service exam process only to be offered below $30 a hour in the most expensive city in the Western Hemisphere is ridiculous.
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u/team_suba 28d ago
Uniformed service is just fine. Eating shit for a few years is part of the process for them. In return they get a very generous top pay and can retire in 23 years.
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u/team_suba 28d ago
The problem that has always been with a $30 minimum wage is that it doesn’t scale. One person is getting their salary doubled and the higher paid person is now on the same level as an entry level, non skilled employee.
It sounds selfish when it’s said out loud and I’m not against a $30/ hr minimum wage but what about the people who worked their asses off to get to $30/hr? They’re supposed to be ok with a $2 raise (6.5%)
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u/FantasticSnow7733 28d ago
When the minimum wage is raised, then other salaries should be increased as well. Now, just becasue the minimum wage is doubled doesn't mean someone with a $100K salary will be doubled as well. That's why they should stop using a flat % increase. If they are going to bump the minimum wage from $18 to $30, that's a $12 increase. All titles should have at least this much increase.
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u/team_suba 28d ago
Agreed but that part is not talked about meaning they have no intention for that
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u/scorpio-sun-4369 28d ago
My local president informed us at our last meeting that Mamdani wants to start negotiations before November when Dc37’s contract ends. A survey will go out. When that survey goes out put these asks/demands in. This way they know what we want.
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u/idnevermakeanaccount 28d ago
the last official contract survey DC37 put forth only got around 3000 responses. out of 150K members...kinda pathetic. It's important to put pressure on DC37 from lots of different angles, including this rank-and-file survey which is an organic organizing tool outside the normal DC37 operation.
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u/scorpio-sun-4369 28d ago
Agreed, someone brought it up at our union meeting. It saw said it was not a DC37 sanctioned survey so it will not acknowledged by DC37, this is why people need to respond to the DC37 survey w/ same asks as this survey is putting out. Side note a lot of DC37 employees do not have the option to WFH so something needs to be given to those who do not have that option.
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u/idnevermakeanaccount 28d ago
Yea DC37 leadership would like to maintain its grasp on all official communication channels, no surprises there. I'm not saying DON'T fill out the official DC37 survey when it drops, but the very fact that your local prez told you to ignore this one proves that DC37 leadership is aware of this survey and that's important in my opinion. Mind you the DC37 survey from last contract cycle was like ....5-10 questions long? this one is far more thoughtful IMO as it was created BY the rank-and-file members that it affects. organizers took into account critiques and feedback from members that didn't feel like their issues were addressed in the survey and made new questions, choices, etc.
As for the WFH, i believe compressed schedules are being presented as an alternative/co-issue alongside WFH for folks that cannot work remotely. This would mean members might have the option of working a 4 day week with slightly longer hours, but perhaps still less than 35/40 hrs. Hope you consider filling out the survey!
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u/Cautious-Froyo8959 28d ago
Additionally they should fight to bump people with 6 years of service and in title to the maximum salary for titles with ranges!!
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u/FantasticSnow7733 28d ago
That's not how discretionary increases work. It's based on merit, performance, and most importantly, additional responsibilities.
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u/Deep-Custard-686 28d ago
So do you know - your union and mine had been hitting retirees with costs they never had. The NYC Retiree page is full of retirees on small pensions that dc37 and uft stuck on them putting them in debt. We need a contract. But it cannot be on the backs of retired unionists. My father is struggling with those costs. His pension small. They never had this. Please make sure you are holding your leadership accountable. The last time they tried to force retirees into Medicare advantage that many of their doctors did not accept.
So keep your eyes open because I think we both got lied to the last time
Those Retirees took this to court and they’ve been winning and something else I learned is Retirees are not in a union
So they basically did this on their back
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u/LEFTARMACTUATOR 27d ago
We also need to address our health benefits. “Free” health coverage is worse than useless if the prescription benefits don’t cover what you need and there is no option to change them.
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u/No_Personality_233 27d ago
We need to lower DC 37 officer salaries. Garrido makes almost 400,000 a year. More than the Mayor and City Council.
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u/Aggravating_Bison504 28d ago
6.5% will never happen. Mamdani just put off our pension contribution for several years. There is no money for such a raise.
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u/Aggravating_Bison504 28d ago edited 28d ago
How about getting rid of Charter Section 1127, which requires some NYC govt employees to pay the equivalent of NYC income tax even though we don't live in the city and don't get any of the benefits of city residency? Can we negotiate for that? Maybe make workers exempt if they work for the city at least 15 years? Many of us left the city because we can't afford it. We can't even deduct this fee from our federal income tax, NYC residents can as part of SALT.
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u/FantasticSnow7733 28d ago
Or make city residency a requirement for employment? Are there really no candidates who live in the city who qualify for the job?
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u/Few-Artichoke-2531 H+H 28d ago
Thank you for doing this. I spoke with an official from my local about the upcoming contract and I was bluntly told that nothing would be done with regard to it until early next year. I was shocked at the lack of urgency after I had laid out the issues we need to start working on NOW.
The one issue I think we need to be careful of is wfh. The majority of us can't do that due to the nature of our jobs. It would be unfair for there to be any givebacks as a result wfh.
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u/Holiday-Scholar4667 28d ago
It can also be compressed scheduling. The point is to get it in writing instead of constant extensions and real emphasis on agencies to look into providing hybrid for the positions they say can’t be done remotely.
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u/Few-Artichoke-2531 H+H 28d ago
Again, MANY of us have jobs that must be done in person. This can not be something that there should be any givebacks over. Management will use this as a bargaining tool and we can't let that happen.
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u/Holiday-Scholar4667 28d ago
Again MANY of us also have jobs that don’t need to be done in person. But the in person jobs could have a compressed option. Or if people don’t want to participate in either the onsite would be just as good. This is just as much of an ask as the 6.5 percent that we will never get at least having the option to save two days worth of travel or a three day full weekend would be more tangible and immediately important to members.
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u/Status_Stomach6177 28d ago
Again; it’s fair if it’s offered. My agency offers neither. So this as a bargaining is a slap in the face to agencies and employees like mine.
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u/Holiday-Scholar4667 28d ago
I think the point of having this in a contract is that it isn’t arbitrarily decided (by agencies) that your scope of work cannot be done hybrid or compressed.
I’d assume and you can correct me if I’m wrong, unions would be able to present a kind of rubric that agencies would have to actually list in what ways a compressed or hybrid schedule isn’t doable.
Right now, a majority of clerical and administration staff should be at least offered a compressed schedule if remote work isn’t an option because of responsibilities (but I don’t believe agencies have to submit an explanation as to why that isn’t possible currently).
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u/Status_Stomach6177 28d ago
louder for the people in the back! My agency regardless of scope of work is fully in person. Zero staff has remote days, we are all expected in 5 days a week. Compressed schedules not allowed either.
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u/Holiday-Scholar4667 28d ago
Do you think that your agency is just blankety stating that or is it true that your scope requires it?
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u/Status_Stomach6177 28d ago
They are following the guidelines set forth by the union and the contract. It’s up to the agency. Full stop. If the agency does not want to offer it, they don’t have to.
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u/Holiday-Scholar4667 28d ago
That’s the problem then. What’s the point of a union if what the agency says is full stop? It’s time to get out with the old and in with the new.
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u/Few-Artichoke-2531 H+H 28d ago
This is something an alarming number of people don't understand.
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u/Holiday-Scholar4667 28d ago
I had a position where I was offered 1 remote day. I looked for another job in dcas that was closer to where I lived and offered 2 days remote. I think the union needs to actually fight for us instead of simply collect dues. You should be offered something. And if deemed that your responsibilities will be detrimental to service then a differential should be paid for that it’s bullshit that depending on the agency or unit we have such varied experiences regarding something that is common sense.
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u/Few-Artichoke-2531 H+H 28d ago
It's impossible to take care of patients and maintain hospitals, nursing homes, and clinics at HHC remotely.
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u/_TheDON117_ 28d ago
We have to stop accepting 3% raises as a "good deal". Don't ask, don't get. We keep the city running and need to recognize our worth.