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July 16, 2004
City Unions Picket To Welcome RNC
Mayor Real Target
By Mark Daly
A move by Police Officers, Firefighters and Teachers to picket
Madison Square Garden during preparations for the Republican National
Convention is turning up the heat on leaders of the trades unions
who will be doing the work.
Although the municipal unions are billing their joint effort as
purely informational picketing, some appear to be hoping that trades
workers will join them.
‘Want Their Support’
“We’re asking for their support,” said Al O’Leary,
spokesman for the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. “We
know there are many unionists that will not cross a picket line.”
The round-the-clock protest is due to begin July 19, when the Republican
National Committee takes control of the site. Contractors will build
a stage and lay miles of electric cable to prepare for the arrival
of thousands of delegates, journalists and guests at the end of
August.
The city unions hope to seize the national spotlight with their
labor action as a pressure tactic in their contract talks with Mayor
Bloomberg, who has demanded productivity concessions from each group
in return for a raise. The largest unions for cops, firefighters
and Teachers have been without contracts for two years.
Organizers want to maintain a continuous picket line for at least
10 days, and perhaps longer. Larger labor protests are being planned
for when the Republican National Convention takes place from Aug.30
to Sept 2.
“We’re exercising our free speech right to make clear
to everyone that the Mayor’s actions don’t match his
words when it comes to firefighters,” said Stephen J. Cassidy,
president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association.
When the rest of the nation hears about the protest, Mr. Cassidy
said, “I think they’ll be shocked that Firefighters
who lost 343 brothers less than three short years ago can’t
get a contract.”
Mayor Bloomberg, who claims the city lacks the ability to grant
significant raises, said that situation will worsen if the pickets
depress convention business.
The city’s talks with the PBA and the United Federation of
Teachers are at an impasse, and state mediators have been assigned
to move them along. The UFA and other fire and police unions have
complained their negotiations are proceeding at a fitful pace.
The protesters may be aiming to duplicate what has unfolded in
Boston, where a long-simmering contract dispute between the city
police union and Mayor Thomas M. Menino has affected preparations
for the Democratic National Convention, to be held July 26-29.
Boston Cops Sway Kerry
The 1,400-member Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association began
its third year without a contract July 1, amid sharp disagreement
with Mr. Menino over the size of a future raise.
The police unions’ protest last month outside the city’s
FleetCenter, the site of the Democratic convention preparations
for three days after construction and electrical workers refused
to cross the picket line. The union’s later protest outside
a Boston meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors prompted U.S.
Senator John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee,
to cancel his appearance there.
The Boston conflict is occurring on a much higher plane than labor
negotiations here, where the city’s tough stance on productivity-driven
raises has the unions bargaining up from zero. The Boston PBA wants
16 percent in raises over four years to match a contract previously
negotiated with the city’s firefighters. Mr. Menino has offered
the cops 11.9 percent over four years, citing a downturn in the
city’s economy since 2001, when the firefighters’ contract
was signed.
How Salaries Compare
Base pay for police officers in Boston averages $53,786 a year,
according to the Boston Municipal Research Bureau. With overtime,
uniform allowances, and bonuses for college degrees, officers’
annual pay can reach $83,760.
The NYPD’s unions call themselves the lowest-paid of the
nation’s big-city police forces. PBA members here with five
years’ experience on the force make about $60,000 in base
pay and differentials, and average $69,000 a year with overtime,
according to the Independent Budget Office.
The officers’ pay rates are comparable to those of the city’s
firefighters, who expect to match any raise that cops get. For their
own part, Teachers say hiking their salaries will encourage younger
recruits to stay in the profession.
A complicating factor in the New York protest is that the unions
that will be working inside the Garden have signed no-strike agreements
with the Republican National Committee in exchange for a guarantee
that all work will be performed by union employees.
The restrictions led other members of the ad-hoc municipal coalition
to downplay the significance of the protest. “This is just
informational picketing. We are not asking any other union members
not to cross a picket line, or anything like that,” said Ron
Davis, a spokesman for the Teachers’ union.
The New York City AFL-CIO Central Labor Council, led by Brian M.
McLaughlin, took part in the negotiations on the no-strike agreements,
which were key to bringing the GOP convention and its accompanying
jobs here. Last week, Mr. McLaughlin said his organization hadn’t
received a request from the municipal unions for a show of labor
solidarity.
“We will support them with everything they’ve got,
the best way we can,” said Mr. McLaughlin, who said he personally
spoke to Mr. Bloomberg about the issue.
Outside a Gray Area
The CLC-sponsored no-strike agreements cover all work done inside
the Garden, but it’s not clear whether they cover outside
units, such as Teamster locals, who may represent drivers or laborers
who will be delivering materials to the site.
The latest joint effort by the three municipal unions follows the
large rally they held outside City Hall in June to protest Mr. Bloomberg’s
insistence that future contracts should follow the outlines of his
three-year agreement with District Council 37.
DC 37’s recently ratified agreement includes a signing bonus
but no raise in the first year, plus 5 percent in wage hikes. The
final year’s 2-percent wage increase is linked to cuts in
starting pay and benefits for future city employees.
The PBA, UFA and UFT say they are seeking a boost in pay beyond
the range in the DC 37 agreement, for newer members as well as veterans.
In remarks to reporters July 8, Mr. Bloomberg hinted that the city
may take legal action, if necessary, to enforce the no-strike agreements,
and criticize the unions’ decision to picket.
“If they disrupt our ability to have a growing economy…we
are not going to have the revenues to pay them. So they really would
be very much hurting themselves if they wanted to do that,”
Mr. Bloomberg said.
The PBA, which led the public announcement of the picketing last
week, isn’t a member of the AFL-CIO, unlike the firefighters’
and Teachers’ unions.
Mr. O’Leary said the union wasn’t concerned about sparking
a labor rift with the demonstration. “If they choose to enter
and do work, we’ll still be out there getting our message
out,” he said. “We’re going to make some people
uncomfortable. If we create a little agita, that’s fine with
us.”
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