President's Report
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Testimony at City Council Budget Hearings 6-10
On June 7, 2010 President Juan Fernández
presented testimony before the Committee on Finance. President Fernández
proposes measures to prevent cuts to City services and to stop the layoffs of
City workers. Here is his complete testimony.
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Local 154 Testimony at NY City Council Civil Service Hearings on June 2010
On June 15, 2010 President Juan Fernández
presented testimony before the New York City Council Committee on Civil Service
and Labor. Here is his complete testimony.
Good afternoon Chairman James Sanders, Jr. and fellow
Committee members. My name is Juan Fernández. I am the President of Local
154, District Council 37, AFSCME. I am here before you today to share some of
the concerns of the members of Local 154, the workers I represent. These workers
represent the titles of Research Assistant, Human Rights Specialist, Claims
Specialist, Special Consultants Level II, Public Records Aide, Title Examiners,
Departmental Librarians and a number of other related titles
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Union Denounces City's Civil Service Plan
On October 21, 2009, President Fernandez presented
testimony to the New York State Senate Committee on Civil Service and Pensions
on behalf of Local 154. The hearing was called by Committee Chair Senator Diane
Savino to hear presentations on the status and impact of DCAS proposed plan for
the City's Civil Service system. As you know, DCAS's plan includes scheduling
additional Civil Services tests, reclassification of certain Civil Service
titles, and the broadbanding and/or consolidations of others. In addition, the
plan proposes to remove Transit Authority workers from under DCAS jurisdiction.
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The Finances of Local 154:
Asking the questions
Several years ago, we presented members with a
three-page report entitled "All You Ever Wanted to Know About Local 154
Finances." We attempted to answer some of the common questions about union dues
and union expenditures commonly asked by our members. We wanted to establish
with you a dialogue that would allow everybody to understand the Local's
financial conditions and the manner by which we would work to improve them.
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Local 154 Presents at Salary Review Panel
We are underpaid. We create revenues for the City. We
demand salary equity, salary step plans and career development.
Using these concepts, Local 154 presented 6
proposals, covering 13 titles, to the Salary Review Panel. The two days of
presentations, one in March and another one in September, were the result of
several months of intense preparations including researching and writing these
proposals. All the proposals were prepared in-house by Local 154 members.
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Salary Review Report Special Consultant Level II
(Mental Health Standards and Services)
This paper documents the need for salary review for
the job title Special Consultant Level II at the Division of Mental Hygiene of
the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (the Department, or
DOHMH). In the past four years, the Department has undergone several
reorganizations and Special Consultants, a title unique to this Division, now
perform a myriad of new functions and activities. Current job descriptions no
longer match the one now on file with DCAS. Recent work activities are
documented within the body of this paper, and will demonstrate that Special
Consultants are performing beyond their job description and are significantly
underpaid.
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State Legislature Support Plan for Provisional Workers
A great victory for the rights of workers was obtained
in the halls of the New York State Legislature when both houses passed a bill
providing relief for provisional workers in New York in mid January.
In May of 2007, the NY State Appeals Court had
delivered a devastating blow to tenure rights for all Provisional workers in the
State, including the 35,000 Provisional workers employed by the City of New
York. The Long Beach decision removed all tenure rights, including existing due
process rights that Unions had managed to obtain through collective bargaining.
The decision pointed out that since the State Civil Service Law did not provide
any tenure rights for Provisional workers then those workers could be terminated
from their jobs at managers' discretion, at any point in time. Also the decision
reminded Local governments that the State Civil Service Law mandated that
provisional workers could only be appointed for up to nine months.
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Preparing Contract Negotiations — Fighting for Our Jobs
The Union is preparing to initiate new rounds of
economic bargaining with the City as our current Economic Agreement is coming
to an end on March 2, 2010. During our last agreement in 2008, the DC 37
Bargaining Committee, headed by Lillian Roberts, was able to obtain two
consecutive years of 4% compounded for our members. That was an important
achievement given the growing economic crisis in the horizons of 2008.
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Research Assistant Test:
Gaining Civil Service Protections for our Members
One Hundred and Seventy Research Assistants Appointed From the List
Local 154: a Watchdog for Members' Rights
Local 154 has been strong on demanding Civil Service
status for our members. Since 2003, we have managed to get the City to schedule
five Civil Service examinations for titles that in some cases had Provisional
workers languishing in the system for years, if not decades. In 2003, after
suing or threatening to sue the City, DCAS put the Claims Specialist, the Human
Rights Specialist and the Public Records Aide test in the calendar of
examinations. In 2004, DCAS agreed to include a promotional examination for the
title of Associate Human Rights Specialist. In 2005, after a year of pressures,
the City agreed to include the Research Assistant test in its calendar. Today we
are proud to report that Local 154 has one of the highest proportions of members
with Civil Service status. Since 2003, hundreds of Local 154 members have been
appointed from the Civil Service test list. During the past month of November
alone, during a two-days hiring pool, nearly 100 members were appointed to the
title of Research Assistant, for a total of 170 since the establishment of the
list in 2006.
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Health Equity for Claim Specialists at Transit Authority
Our benefits are under attack
Governor Pataki just vetoed your bill. That was the
message from Albany. We were upset but not surprised. During year 2006, Local
154 had spearheaded a coalition with several other Locals to lobby for a bill
that would give health coverage to our retirees at Transit Authority in same
terms and conditions as in the rest of the City. The current rule provides
health coverage for retirees with at least 25 years of service at TA. However,
the City of New York provides health coverage after retirement to vested members
with 10 years of service.
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Human Rights Victory
On January 18, 2008 the City's Human Rights Agency
and Local 154 settled a grievance presented by Local 154 after the failure of
the Agency to post one of its vacancies. The Agency agreed to follow the
contractual agreement and to post the announcement for the position of Executive
Director in the Community Relations Bureau, and its job description.
Read more.
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