The leadership changes announced at District Council 37, the city's largest municipal union, will in some ways complicate and in other ways ease Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's efforts to negotiate a contract with the council, union leaders and labor experts said yesterday.þþAlarmed that political divisions were paralyzing the council, the president of its parent union created a seven-member committee on Wednesday that will work closely with Lillian Roberts, the executive director, in running the council and negotiating a new contract with the city. The contracts reached by District Council 37, which represents 121,000 workers in 56 union locals, have often set a pattern for all of the city's unions, and the council's last contract expired June 30, 2002. þþSince Ms. Roberts led a hospital strike in the 1960's, city officials have considered her a truculent negotiator, but the new committee that will help run the council will include several labor leaders with a reputation for knowing how to reach a deal. þþLee Saunders, the official with the parent union who will preside over the committee, reached a contract with the Giuliani administration when he ran District Council 37 during a three-year trusteeship. Another committee member, Charles Ensley, the president of the union local representing the city's social workers, has a good working relationship with James Hanley, the city's labor commissioner.þþIn January, Ms. Roberts narrowly beat Mr. Ensley in a race for the council's top post, but Mr. Ensley's supporters won control of the council's executive board. This division of power helped paralyze the union. As a result, Gerald W. McEntee, president of the parent union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, set up the committee that will include Mr. Saunders, Ms. Roberts and two of her supporters, and Mr. Ensley and two of his supporters. þþMr. McEntee warned the council's leaders that unless they figure out how to cooperate to help the union move ahead, he might send in three outsiders to help run and restructure the district council.þþSeveral union leaders said the new committee could create a more united, more aggressive union that might deal more forcefully with the city in labor talks.þþÿBoth sides are united in their desire to win a fair contract for our members,ÿ Mr. Ensley said. ÿWhatever the perception is of internal problems, they will not hurt us in bargaining.ÿþþUnion leaders said several recent developments would make it harder for Mayor Bloomberg to persuade District Council 37 to agree to a lower fifth tier on pensions for new workers. Setting up such a tier would save tens of millions of dollars by reducing the amount the city would have to contribute toward pensions. þþWhen union officials revealed last month that Ms. Roberts was considering a fifth pension tier to help persuade the city to give sizable raises, officials from many other city unions vigorously criticized the idea, causing the council's leader to alter her position, union leaders said. þþÿThe notion of a fifth tier becomes much less likely because there's so much opposition to it,ÿ said Randi Weingarten, president of the teachers' union. ÿThe city has problems because they know that no other union will go for it.ÿþþUnion leaders said Mayor Bloomberg's attempt to grant wage increases only if the city's unions agree to concessions on productivity or other issues was complicated by the tentative contract Gov. George E. Pataki reached two weeks ago with the state's largest public employees' union, the Civil Service Employees Association. Mr. Pataki agreed to an 11 percent wage increase over four years without the union agreeing to concessions on productivity.þþMs. Weingarten, who is also chairwoman of the Municipal Labor Committee, argued that the state agreement undercut Mr. Bloomberg's stance. She said, ÿThe C.S.E.A. agreement points to a framework that is at odds with the mayor's professed bargaining strategy of no raises without offsetting long-term givebacks or productivity increases.ÿ þþMs. Roberts said the state deal might open the door to a contract with the city. ÿThe state found a way under adverse fiscal conditions to settle,ÿ she said. ÿThe state's fiscal position is arguably worse than the city's. That suggests that D.C. 37 and the city can also come to an agreement.ÿþþDistrict Council 37 will next hold negotiations with the city on Monday. ÿWe will continue to have a free flow of ideas,ÿ said Mr. Hanley, the labor commissioner. ÿIt's an ongoing process.ÿþþMr. McEntee took issue yesterday with District Council 37 officials who said the new committee he set up would take away some of Ms. Roberts's powers. ÿLillian Roberts will continue to have complete authority to manage the council as its leader,ÿ he said. þþStill, several officials said the committee would clearly reduce Ms. Roberts's powers and would make it harder for her to take partisan actions that divide the union.þþÿAny time the president of the international union creates a new executive committee to bring about peace, it certainly changes the power relationships within the union,ÿ said Raymond Markey, the president of a librarians' local.þþ
Source: NY Times
