The Public Sector, 1981 January 28

. ~ Overwhelming

ALBANY — The Civil Service Employees Association will become a

Official publication of
The Civil Service Employees
Association
Vol. 3, No. 16
Wednesday, January. 28, 1981

(ISSN 0164 9949)

delegate vote—

supports CSEA/AFSCME bond |

permanent affiliate of the American Federation of State, County and
Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, following a landslide approval of the af-
filiation by CSEA Delegates meeting in Albany.

By nearly an eight-to-one margin, 900 elected Delegates representing
rank and file CSEA members from across the state voted to accept a con-

_ tinued affiliation agreement negotiated by CSEA President William L.
McGowan and AFSCME President Jerry Wurf.

“This is a great day not only for CSEA, but for the entire labor
movement,” proclaimed President McGowan at a late afternoon press
conference at CSEA Headquarters. Said AFSCME President Jerry Wurf
to reporters, “‘We're delighted by the action of the Delegates to make
permanent CSEA’s affiliation with AFSCME. As one union during the
challenging years ahead, CSEA and AFSCME will be a strong voice for
public employees and for all Americans who depend upon public ser-
vices.”

The vote of the Delegates ended a lengthy process of negotiations,
discussions and debates within the unions and between them as both
CSEA and AFSCME tried to reach a successor agreement to replace the
“temporary” affiliation agreement of April, 1978 which is now expiring.
The final result of the effort was a negotiated addendum to the-original
agreement which was approved by CSEA’s Statewide Officers, the un-
ion’s Board of Directors, the Special Committee to Study the
CSEA/AFSCME Affiliation, and finally by the Delegates. In each case
approval was overwhelming

“Our people know that our affiliation with AFSCME helped CSEA
march out of the past and into the present,” Mr. McGowan said. “We
have made great progress in just the past four years and the continuation
of the affiliation assures that the work that we have begun to build a
better union shall continue.”’

An exhaustive process of statewide membership meetings,

the union
that works
for you

SKCWAL

:
= :
SEALED WITH A HANDSHAKE — CSEA President William L.
McGowan, left, and AFSCME International President Jerry Wurf shake
hands moments after they signed an agreement making CSEA and
AFSCME affiliation permanent. The document was inked shortly after
CSEA’s delegates overwhelmingly approved the affiliation.

preparation of studies and reports, face to face negotiating and complex
financial arrangements all played a part in the agreement on a proposed
continuation of the affiliation, but no action was taken until an un-
precedented information campaign had literally brought all of the details
of the affiliation agreement into every CSEA member’s home.

For the average CSEA member, there will be no immediate change
resulting from the affiliation. The benefits of access to the resources of
AFSCME and the AFL-CIO will continue as they existed under the
previous agreement. In April, 1982, however, a modest modification to
the annual CSEA dues will be made (estimated to be about $13) to bring
CSEA's dues into conformance with the minimum dues rate allowable un-
der the AFSCME Constitution.

Thereafter, annual adjustments to AFSCME's minimum dues will be
automatically applied to CSEA dues.

Under the agreement CSEA will continue to maintain its autonomy
by keeping its Constitution and By-Laws, the right to make internal
decisions about political matters, policies, election of officers, etc., and
the union will retain its identity as CSEA, Local 1000, AFSCME AFL-CIO.

Speaking to reporters in Albany, President Wurf stressed the impor-
tance of the affiliation to the labor movement. Two great public
employee unions have joined hands permanently with the single goal of
improving the lives of the public employees that they represent. He said
the affiliation was a great achievement for CSEA and for President
McGowan who has led the way tor CSEA’s affiliation with AFSCME and
the AFL-CIO.

=x

A tentative
contract goes

to membership

for vote in

Suffolk County

HOLTSVILLE — Members of Suffolk County
CSEA Local 852 will be voting shortly on
ratification of a tentative, one-year, contract
covering about 8,000 county employees.

The tentative agreement was reached recently
following intensive and extensive negotiations,
and would provide a complete overhaul of the
current graded salary plan. Tentative
agreement was reached January 13 to conclude
eight months of bargaining. Local unit
presidents were presented details of the ten-
tative contract at a January 15 meeting and
recommended sending the document to the
membership for a ratification vote.

While complete details will be presented to
the membership prior to the balloting, some of
the key aspects of the agreement include pay in-
creases ranging from 742% to 234%, plus fringe
benefits that include a new 20-year longevity
step. The proposed package is estimated at $10.3
million in cash items.

The settlement, in a one-year contract, would
provide an all-new, 11-step graded salary plan,
eliminating the ‘locked-in’ feature of the last
contract under which most employees had

SUFFOLK LOCAL 852 PRESIDENT Ben Boczkowski, right, goes over contents of tentative Local
852 agreement with, from left, CSEA Collective Bargaining Specialist Nels Carlson, negotiating
committee chairman Ken Horsford, and staff negotiator Irwin Scharteld.

reached the maximum step allowed under the
four-year pact.

Now. one and two-year employees on Step 2
would be advanced one step effective Jan. 1 and
another step July 1. More senior employees lock-
ed in Step 2 will get a double step effective Jan. 1
and another step July 1. Step 6 employees would
be advanced with an average salary increase of
10%2%. Step 7 employees up to Grade 23 get 8%
and higher grades get 742%.

A major feature of the plan is to upgrade on
July 1 all regular and senior clerks, clerk-typists
and stenographers, account clerks, data entry
operators, nurse's aides and home health aides
and custodial worker I titles — slots
representing more than one-quarter of the
membership.

Fringe benefits include a new $250 longevity at
20 years, $100 additional premium for rotating
shifts, $50 per member increase in payment to
the benefit fund, increased mileage to 23 cents
now and 24 cents July 1, higher tool allowance,
protection for law enforcement officers against
departmental investigations and pay for line-up
time for Correction Officers.

CSEA Field Representative Irwin Scharfeld,
staff negotiator, commended the negotiating
team, which was led by Local President Ben
Boczkowski and Chairman Ken Horsford.
Scharfeld said the package was ‘“‘by far the
largest monetary package and best overall
settlement ever received” in Suffolk. He stress-
ed that the one-year term would allow CSEA to
react to changing economic conditions quickly.

eye

Singer, Gary Taibbi, and Rose Orenda.

CSEA SUFFOLK COUNTY LOCAL NEGOTIATING TEAM members which negotiated the tentative
one-year agreement for about 8,000 county workers. From lett are Jim Piersanti, Barbara Rotunno,
George Kirlokos, Chuck DeMartino, Al Mirani, Chairman Ken Horsford, Dottie Victoria, Preston

Maximum
available was
realized in this pact

‘“‘We were faced with two prob-
lems: .Inflation and a complicated and
unfair salary schedule that penalized those
employees in the lower grades and steps.
We feel we have extracted with this con-
tract the maximum amount of money and
benefits available for our members this
year, while at the same time correcting
many of the inequities of the old contract.
Furthermore, by limiting the contract to
one year, we will be able to react quickly to
economic conditions as they Meni and,
hopefully, to complete the restructuring
of our terms and conditions of
employment.”’

—Local 852 President Ben Boczkowski

Region VI political action seminars set

BUFFALO — An early start on political action and training for 1981 has
been announced by Region 6 President Robert Lattimer and CSEA-AFSCME
Political Training Specialist Ramona Gallagher. The early start will be in the
form of political action organizing seminars throughout the region.

School workers ok new pact

AVERILL PARK — Civil Service Employee Association represented non-
instructional employees of the Averill Park School District have ratified a two-
year contract with the district by a vote of 38 to 4.

The contract will provide an overall fiscal improvement package of 20
percent, 9.5 in the first year, 7.7 in salary, the rest in incremental im-
provements. The second year contains an 8:4% salary adjustment with the rest
of the increase also being put into longevity and increments.

Contract language ipprovements were also achieved.

Page 2 THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Wednesday, January 28, 1981

Topics covered will include committee organization, with specific
emphasis on assessment of campaigns for local government and school board
races

The preliminary sessions will be geared to orientation in the basics of
developing local and or unit committees. They will be followed up with more
in-depth sessions on campaign involvement later in the year, according to
Training Specialist Gallagher.

The schedules of the sessions are as follows

Friday, January 30, 8 p.m., Sheraton Inn, 770 Main St., Canandaigua (For
Wayne, Ontario, Yates, Steuben and Allegany Counties)

Sat., Jan. 31, 10:30 a.m., Holiday Inn, Batavia (For Genesee, Orleans,
Livingston, Wyoming, and Monroe Counties. )

Sat. Feb. 7, 10:30 a.m., Buffalo Convention Ctr.,
Niagara, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua Counties. )

President Lattimer urged all political action committee members to
attend as well as other interested members.

Buffalo (For Erie,

Ss WITOUT a PUBIC GUOreSS SYStem, WUTKETS TIVES are MN JeUparOy

Buildings a timebomb for disaster

By Deborah Cassidy

ALBANY — The lack of public address systems in three of the largest
buildings on the New York State Campus complex in Albany has Civil Service
Employees Assn. leaders worried that employees could not be evacuated in
major catastrophe.

The buildings, in which the state departments of Taxation and Finance and
Agriculture and Markets are housed, are numbers 8, 8A and 9

Carmen Bagnoli, President of the Taxation and Finance CSEA Local, and
a member of the Capital Region Uptown Committee, fears that in the case of a
fire, bomb scare or another emergency situation which calls for an evacuation,
authorities would not be able to instruct employees of the necessity to
evacuate, or what exit routes to take

The only way to contact the individual offices, presently, is by phone or by
sending someone around. However, with the multitude of offices, some without
phones of their own, and seven to eight floors in each building, this would be too
time consuming and even dangerous, says Sandra Sokolowski, President of the
Agriculture and Markets CSEA Local and former chairman of the uptown com-
mittee.

Proposed 30% pay hike for
County Exec. an outrage

UTICA — Two months ago things were looking good for the 1,100 members
of CSEA Local 833 Oneida County. Contract negotiations were moving along
well — UNTIL the news broke about the County proposing a 30 per cent salary
boost for the County Executive.

According to E.R. Ventura, CSEA Field Representative and Chief
Negotiator for the County employees, the Union and the County were near
agreement.

‘We were close to a settlement calling for 7 per cent (increase) and other
benefits, when the news broke the story about the proposed $9,600 pay hike for
the County Executive,” Ventura explained.

“Naturally, our people were angry. They were being asked to hold the line
and take 7 per cent, while the County Exec was going home with the ‘‘bank”’. It
just seemed totally out of proportion and our negotiating team called a halt to
all talk,’ Ventura said.

The refusal of CSEA to accept the County offer resulted in a declaration of
impasse by the County several weeks ago.

The Public Employment Relations Board has since assigned PERB
Mediator Paul Curry to help both sides reach a settlement. ;

The two contracts being negotiated include Highway, Social Services,
Mohawk Valley Community College, and Nurses Units and represent 1,100
County employees.

NT Ya NAS
oe

“
ti
*
HONORING RETIREE Beatrice D'Amato ot the Nassau County Police
n Unit of Nassau County Local 830 are, trom left, Parks Unit President
jolas Dellisanti, Local 830 President cholas Abbatiello and Police

Civilian Unit President Jay Cartman. In addition to the honoring of D'Amato,
employees Lydia Wayne and Richard King of the unit also were honored.

Both union leaders say they have discussed the matter, for nearly a year
now, at labor management meetings and meetings with the Campus Advisory
Committee, a committee created by the Office of General Services to study
and improve the working environment on campus

Earlier in 1980, the systems were lacking in several other campus
buildings and were installed over a period of months, as a result of the
meetings. Finally, explained Bagnoli, only these three buildings were left and
the progress stopped.

CSEA became more concerned about the situation after a recent fire in
building nine. The fire occurred after working hours in a wastebasket, outside
a first floor elevator. It was spotted and quickly extinguished by a maintenance
worker. However. if it had occurred during working hours, it would have been

necessary to keep others out of the area and especially keep that elevator from
being used

Following the fire, Jack Corcoran, CSEA Capital Region Director, sent a
letter to OGS about the matter. Now that the Occupational Safety and Hazards
Act has been put into effect, Corcoran says he may pursue the matter through
that channel,

EAP POTSDAM — Formal signing of an Employee Assistance Program for
Village of Potsdam employees in St. Lawrence County took place recently in
the Village Civic Center, Shown from left are, front row, Stephen Keleher,
Mayor Ruth Garner, patrolman Lloyd Shattuck. Second row, Steve Ragan,
CSEA Region V field representative; Frank Reynolds, St. Lawrence County
Mental Health Unit; patrolman Gerald Thomas. Third row, Lee Benjamin,
Robert Burns, Village Trustee; Lt. Dale Wells.(Photo courtesy Potsdam
Courier-Freeman)

Wednesday, January 28, 1981 Page 3

THE PUBLIC SECTOR,

THIS
REALLY

Official publication of
The Civil Service Employees Association
33 Elk Street, Albany, New York 12224

The Public Sector (445010) is published every Wednesday

weekly except for Wednesdays after New Years, Memorial

Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day for $5 by the Civil Service

Employees Association, 33 Elk Street, Albany, New York

12224.

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Send address changes to The Public Sector, 33 Elk Street,
Albany, New York 12224
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Thomas A. Clemente—Publisher
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Deborah Cassidy—Staff Writer
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aa

Published every Wednesday by Clarity Publishing, Inc, Publication
Office, 75 Champlain Street, Albany, N.Y. 12204 (518) 465-4501

BYRNES ME

New format planned
for legislative seminar

ALBANY — How to lobby effectively?

You can learn just that at the annual CSEA Legislative Seminar to be held
Saturday, Feb. 21 at the Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza
Convention Center.

“This year, we're going to have a whole new format for the seminar,” said
Bernard J. Ryan, director of CSEA’s Political Action Department planning the
event

Past seminars have focused on legislative programs. This year, the all-day
seminar will take a “how-to” approach to lobbying.

During morning presentations, participants will learn how to lobby staff,
the Minority and legislators. Specialists will be on hand to address these
topics.

Two workshops on putting your lobbying skills into practice will highlight
the afternoon portion of the program.

There will also be an in-depth look at CSEA’s 1981 legislative package.

The Legislative Seminar will begin at 9 a.m. Lunch will be provided. All
other ‘expenses and arrangements, including transportation and accom-
modations, are the responsibility of the Local.

Those wishing to attend are urged to register early, as seating capacity is
limited. All registration forms must be obtained from and returned to the local
presidents. The presidents are asked to sign and forward the forms to: Joyce
Dimitri. CSEA Political Action Department, Room 2020, 99 Washington Ave..
Albany. N.Y, 12210. All forms must be received by Monday, Feb. 8.

Region VI workshop

BATAVIA — The Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA), in
cooperation with Region VI, is sponsoring a workshop entitled Professional
and Personal Relationships on Saturday, February 7 at the Treadway Inn,
Batavia, from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m

Workshop participants will learn to increase their ability to work.with
people: increase their problem-solving skills, gain the cooperation of others;
keep crises manageable and generally, improve the quality of their
protessional and personal lives.

The workshop is open to one person from each Region VI local. The union
stresses that the seminar will be limited to the first thirty persons who make
reservations. Those interested may call the secretary at CSEA’s Region VI of-
fice at (716) 634-3540 before February 3.

Metro Region nominations due

NEW YORK CITY — Nominations for the Metropolitan Region 2 election
of officers are now open, and must be submitted by the February 19 deadline.

Kirk Scott, chairman of the Region II Nominating Committee, urged
members to obtain a ‘Request to be a Candidate’’ form from the CSEA Region
II office or from any member of the committee. ‘

All nominations should be forwarded by certified mail to Kirk Scott, 100-41
199th Street, Hollis, NY 11423. 1

Members of the committee are: Chairman Kirk Scott, Brooklyn
Developmental Center Local 447; Phyllis Ferguson, Division of Housing Local
258; Rose Feurman, New York City Local 010; Charles Bell, Creedmoor
Psychiatric Center Local 406; Sarah Johnson, State Insurance Fund Local 351;
and John Gianguercio, Department of Labor Local 350.

i

Page 4 THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Wednes
TAMA ; aS chesads! c t 1

THE SOCIAL COMMITTEE of the Saratoga County CSEA Local 846 gathered
together for a picture recently, at the Rafter’s on Saratoga Lake. In the front
row, from left to right, are Sue Briggs, co-chairmen Chery! Sheller and Ann
Marie Meehan and Corine Daley. Behind them, left to right, are Bill McTygue,
Percey. Allen, Walter Davignon and Rusty Bowers. 200 people attended the
event.

SARTRE EE PRPEEEET

EEE

Everything in power plant covered

Caution: Breathing May Be
Hazardous To Your Health

BLACK, SICKENING SOOT covers everything inside the power plant, as
CSEA Shop Steward Frank Celentano, above, shows.

LOCAL 614 PRESIDENT CHARLES SCLAFANI, right, and Shop
Steward Frank Celentano, below, examine pile of plastic bags, all filled
with soot, where they are stored before being removed from the plant.

Daily
Stony Brook employees
in a black, foul mood

soot bath has

STONY BROOK — CSEA members at the Health Services Center
power plant at SUNY at Stony Brook are in a black mood because of the
virtual ‘‘soot bath” they are forced to take each day on the job, and
Charles Sclafani, Local 614 president is threatening to take action against
the University under the State’s OSHA Law.

The cause of the employees’ attitude and their rising chorus of com-
plaints, is the sulphur-laden soot generated by the power plant’s boilers
which burn number 4, 5 and 6 oil to generate steam power for the Health
Sciences Center. Employees have to clean out — by hand — soot from
hoopers at least three times every 24-hours; bag it in plastic containers
similar to lawn or garbage bags and cart it outside the plant to a
collection area. In addition, the inside of the plant is covered with soot
from the particles that are blown into the air by the boilers.

“It gets into your lungs, nose, ears and throat,’’ said Frank Celen-
tano, CSEA shop steward, who brought the condition of the plant to the
attention of Mr. Sclafani. ‘‘If you work here you start wheezing sooner or
later. If you inhale this stuff, it takes your breath away and leaves you
nauseous.”

Mr. Celentano said that employees in the power plant experience a
high incidence of colds and other respiratory ailments. Employees find
the soot in their handkerchiefs after blowing their noses and they cough it
up.

“We're not doctors, but this has to be deleterious to our health. We
want something done about these unacceptable and unsafe working con-
ditions” Mr. Celentano said.

Ironically, the state has purchased automatic soot collecting
equipment that was delivered to the power plant almost two years ago.
To this day, it remains rusting and soot covered on the floor of the power
plant. If it was hooked up to the boiler, it would separate the soot and
place it into sealed metal drums without contacting employees.

A recent tour of the power plant by Mr. Sclafani and a “Public Sec-
tor’’ photographer found the floors, stairs, pipes and machinery covered
with thick, black soot. About 35 employees, who work rotating shifts, are
exposed to the soot conditions, Mr. Sclafani discovered. The soot also
threatens to damage the electrical switching equipment and motors in
the power plant, he said.

While the SUNY management has been claiming a lack of funds need-
ed to hook up the automative soot collection equipment, Mr. Sclafani said
that if the situation was not rectified shortly, he would contact the State
Labor Department.

— .
AUTOMATIC SOOT COLLECTING EQUIPMENT, purchased and delivered to the power
plant nearly two years ago, lies rusting and soot-covered, like everything else in the plant.
If hooked up and operated, this machinery would eliminate the need for employees to
gather soot by hand, which is clearly an unhealthy practice.

ppumege

THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Wednesday, January 28, 1981

CREEK ORME RE TAD AINE 7a rapt

Page 5

ones

Unisex bathroom is just one example of °
harassment by uncooperative engineer

By Dawn LePore

STAFFORD Management at the state Department of Transportation
outpost here is in violation of OSHA standards by forcing male and female
employees to use the same bathroom facilities, and a grievance has been filed
by employees who that sharing the single restroom is not only a invasion of
privacy, but ‘‘unsafe, unhealthy and inhumane.”

The issue was created last November when the resident engineer, David
Lange. ordered the four women on the operational crew to use the same
bathroom as the two dozen men who work there. He insisted that the change in
shifts to winter hours in order to provide 24-hour snow removal necessitated
the move

Previously, the female employees used the women’s room in the office
section of the building, now used only by the two female members of the
clerical staff. All of the male employees use the one, now unisex, facility in the
garage 2

Lange has said that the office must remain locked to insure the confiden-
tiality of personnel and other records, but the employees question that
judgement.

“If we are so untrustworthy that we can’t use the john, then why were we
hired?’’ asked Barbara Gage, one of the workers involved. ‘‘We’re not even
allowed to use it during regular office hours anymore.”

*‘When we questioned him (Lange) about it, he said it was no business of
mine,’ she said. ‘Well, it is my business, because I have to share that
bathroom with him.”

To make the bathroom unisex, a bolt was placed on the outer door of the
restroom. Inside, two of the three stalls have no locks, the urinals have no
enclosures and there is no cover for the waste can. In addition, the facility is
not cleaned once between Friday and Monday mornings.

The employees claim that the bathroom is just one example of general

harassment, especially against women, at the work site. Barb Gage offered
another.

ONE OF TWO PEDESTRIAN EXITS in the Stafford gar-
age, and both are broken and unable to open, forcing
employees to use truck exit overhead doors instead. This,
door is also partially blocked with material and
equipment in addition to being broken.

When I came here in July, I had had two years of outside construction ex4
perience as a masonry laborer and carpenter, yet I was refused permanent!
status, while two men who came in after me both received-permanent status,”
she explained

On a recent Saturday morning, Gage said she was ordered to coi t
work, although it was her day off and her daughter had a fever of 103 degftes,

“IT was told I had no choice, and yet he never called any of the other
laborers to see if someone else could make it.’

Gerald Dusel, president of the Genesee-Orleans DOT Local 513, said that}
Lange’s behavior is consistently anti-union

“You can’t even talk to him,” he said. “He is totally uncooperative
Everything has to be grieved.”

When the workers signed a letter of protest about the restroom, they never
received a response.

When some windows were found broken at the garage Dusel was blame:
for the breakage, although no one was at the site when it occurred. Langeha
pictures taken of the windows and placed them in Dusel’s personnel fil®

When any employee is out sick for more than one day, Lange demands
doctor's certificate, complete with the employee's diagnosis.

“It's none of his business what we're sick with,’’ Gage said. ‘‘It could bi
very personal.””

Dusel said that once when his own note did not contain the doctor’
diagnosis, he was refused his paycheck until he used two hours of his own tim
to get the note revised.

‘He’s done that to a few people,” Dusel noted.

Lange has been similarly unresponsive to various safety hazards at th
garage. Doors on several of the trucks have been broken for some time, eithe
flying open unexpectedly or remaining permanently shut.

The two pedestrian exits in the garage have been broken (shut) for a yea
and a half. The only way employees can exit the building is through th
overhead doors used by the DOT trucks, exposing themselves to the hazard o!
moving vehicles.

INISEX BATHROOM FACILITY at the Sta!
ford DOT outpost. Urinals have no enclosures, a
waste can is uncovered, the facility is not clean.

_ ed over weekends, and employees view it as a
‘invasion of privacy, unsafe, unhealthy and in.
humane. Employees say it’s one form of many)
‘problems related to what they claim is an un- i
cooperative resident engineer at the
: _

By Dawn LePore
STAFFORD — State Department of Environmental Conservation officials
were surprised and disturbed recently to learn that an illegal landfill is being
operated by another arm of state government, the Department of Transpor-
tation, at its facility just east of Batavia here.
When this Public Sector reporter — notified by concerned employees at the
facility — questioned a DEC official about the landfill, it was discovered that

@ no permit had been issued for such a site.

“This is the first time I’ve heard anything about a landfill there,” said
Steven Betts, principal engineering technician with the DEC’s Solid Waste
Division in Avon. ‘There is absolutely no way we would issue them a permit
without extensive engineering plans, monitoring wells, etcetera. It’s a very
compl ed procedure.” :

‘There is no way of telling what all is buried back there,” said Gerald
Dusel, president of the Genesee-Orleans DOT Local 513.

But employees do know that dead deer and dogs are routinely thrown in
heaps several hundred feet behind the garage. Frequently, the carcasses are

* not even covered with dirt, leaving access to neighboring dogs and encouraging
rats

“I'd say that some of those rats are about a foot long,”’ said one of the
employees, who estimated the practice has been going on since last summer.
“We never used to have anything like that around here.”’

The employees are also worried that the dogs, who feed on the carcasses,
could transmit diseases to their owners

“You see those dogs, just covered with blood, and then they go home and play
with the kids,” said Dusel.

“They have no business burying those animals back there,” Betts said.
“They are supposed to be removed to the local town landfill. They
(management) should know that.”

e The employees became even more concerned when several weeks ago they
were ordered to bury about 50 five-gallon pails of obsolete lead-based paint at
the site.

a When someone lodged a complaint with the health department,\the pails
“~ were dug up. About a dozen were broken in the process. At the same time,
employees uncovered a 55-gallon drum containing an unknown substance.

“T have no idea what was in that barrel, but it smelled pretty strong,” said
Rod Turner, one of the men working on the job. ‘I saw fumes rising from it and
one of the guys said he felt sick.”

Because the Batavia area is built over a system of underground lakes and
streams beneath a gravel base, everything leaches through pretty fast,’’ he

@ said. ‘Now, I live less than a mile from here. There are 22 houses with our own
private water system. The health department checks it every few months, but
still... Maybe there’s nothing to worry about and maybe there is.””

According to Betts, the lead paint falls under state toxic waste regulations
and would have to be disposed of at an approved hazardous waste site, probably
in Niagara Falls. He said he would investigate the matter immediately.

DEER CARCASSES are clearly visible poking through snow behind the DOT
garage at Stafford. Carcasses of deer and dogs are frequently dumped here but
not buried, creating a serious health problem, employees claim. Neighborhood
dogs chew on the carcasses, and foot-long rats now infest the area.

CSEA LOCAL 513 PRESIDENT Gerald Dusel inspects portion of an illegal
landfill being operated by the State Department of Transportation.

LEAKING PAILS of lead-based paint dumped behind the DOT facility. A 55-
gallon drum of foul smelling, but unknown, substance was turned up in the
same area.

Sop EE

AS SL ITS SE SUI OE AS IE TEE TE LETT SE IES TS TARO IE TES

eR

THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Wednesday, January 28, 1981 Page 7

for pension

ALBANY — With many retired public
employees living at just the poverty level, or
even below it, CSEA has taken up their cause
once again and is proposing legislation to
supplement meager pension allowances.

A member of the New York State Retirement
System who left public service in 1970 has seen
his/her pension dollar decline in value by 57
percent. Indeed, coupled with the reality that the
average pension for someone who retired in that
year is only $3,147 ($1,1353 in 1980-dollars) has

persion:

Date of Retirement

CSEA launches campaign

value to only 43 cents. Clearly, something needs
to be done, and this legislation will do just that.”

Under CSEA's proposal, all retirees as of Dec.
31, 1979, who are 62 years of age or older, would
have the following supplements added to their

Prior to April 1, 1970
April 1, 1970-Dec. 31, 1970

supplement

Gilmartin calls the legislation, ‘‘absolutely
necessary to help lift retirees from the clutches
of inflation,” and statistics are on his side. He
can tell you, for example, that since 1975 the
General Electric Co. has increased pension
payments four times to keep up with inflation, or
that eighty-one percent of companies surveyed

Supplement “A matter of simple erlaeag

6 percent for our retirees o.
16 percent er .

15 percent by Bankers Trust in May of 1979 have extended
14 percent increases to some or all retired employees at
12 percent least once since 1974. He also sees the pension
10 percent adjustments as, ‘‘a matter of simple justice for |
8 percent our retirees.” i
7 percent Whether or not that “simple justice’ comes —
6 percent rests with the New York State Legislature and ©
4 percent Goy. Hugh Carey, and Gilmartin urges all —
2 percent retirees to, ‘prepare for the battle.” |

<i gOS SETI

Accord reached on new Sullivan pact

created a shocking situation which is break- 1971
ing the backs of countless citizens. ade
Retirees Director Thomas Gilmartin explains, 1974
“between April 1, 1970 and July 1, 1981, there will 1975
have been an increase in the cost of living of over 1976
130 percent, and over 67 percent since the end of 1977
] 1975. The value of the 1970 retiree’s pension 1978
i dollar as of next July will have been reduced in 1979
%
oe

IT WAS A STANDING ROOM ONLY crowd as county workers gathered to
hear the contract explained by Collective Bargaining Specialist John
Naughter, flanked by negotiating team chairperson Estelle Schmidt and Local
President Walter Durkin.

LIBERTY — What a difference six months makes.

In June, 1980, the Sullivan County Board of Supervisors imposed a
legislative (Taylor Law) settlement on 470 county workers, yet in December
both parties were able to put that behind them and reach accord on a new
three-year contract overwhelmingly ratified by union rank and file, and
unanimously adopted by the Board of Supervisors.

Local President Walter Durkin explains that the change in circumstances
may have had some connection to the fact that the imposition shocked many
county workers into political consciousness. Indeed, groundwork was laid with
various other unions to get political clout, and since the supervisors come up
for reelection in 1981, the implications were certainly not lost on them.

Negotiations were led by Estelle Schmidt, who expressed gratification
with the results, calling them, ‘‘very good.’’ She praised the efforts of Collec-
tive Bargaining Specialist John Naughter, and other members of the
negotiating team, who were Belle Cohen, Fritz Kayser, Chris Bracey, Bill
Galasow, Sylvia White, J.J. Liimonti, Frances Thomas, Josephin Kuis,
Richard Sacco and Nancy Kirchner. Durkin also served as an ex-officio
member.

New and significant features of the. pact are:

* Agency shop established. ~

* first year salary raise of nine percent, with a minimum $1,000
guaranteed, and hikes in the next two years, respectively, of between seven
and ten percent, based on annual consumer price index rates.

increase in “shift differential’ over the life of the contract from 24 cents
to 30 cents.

* addition of extra longevity step after five years employment.

¢ raise in clothing allowance to $150 in 1981, and $200 afterwards.

¢ provision that three personal days granted Jan. 1, and additional days

, July 1 and Oct. 1.

¢ system changed so vacation time rated on days work instead of annually.
° partial payment of unused sick days permitted upon death or retirement.
¢ county may look into changing health insurance plan, but can only do so
with CSEA’s approval, and any money saved put into establishing dental plan

Denies request by City of Poughkeepsie to designate jobs ‘managerial’

PERB rules to keep jobs in union

POUGHKEEPSIE — An attempt by the City of Poughkeepsie to take five

positions out of the Civil Service Employees Association bargaining unit has
- been denied by the Public Employment Relations Board.

PERB Director Harvey Milowe rejected the city’s petition to designate as
‘managerial’ four positions in the public works department — garage
foreman, sanitation foreman, chief water treatment plant operator, and office
Manager — and to make ‘‘confidential’’ the job of personnel clerk in the
finance department.

The actions would have deprived employees of bargaining rights and union
representation.

The city argued that the foremen and plant operator should be considered
management because they help formulate policy. Public Works Superintendent
Al Signote testified that, \‘due to their union membership'he has felt constrain-

Page 8 THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Wednesday, January 28, 1981

ed to keep some matters to himself.’ Milowe ruled, however, that, ‘‘these
employees exercise solely a supervisory responsibility for the implementation
of policy handed down from their supervisors and have purely a ministerial
role in personnel and contract administration.”

In regards to the office manager, PERB held that even though he super-
vises a radio operator and two stenographers the duties, “reflect merely
ministerial responsibilities,” while in the case of the personnel clerk, the ‘‘con-
fidential”’ designation was turned down because she is not privy to, ‘‘labor-
management relations information which, because of its significance to the
basic mission of the employer, is not intended for the eyes and ears of rank-
and-file personnel or their negotiating representatives.”

The rulings were handed down Dec. 31, according to CSEA Unit President
Al Gallo; who is also the garage foreman affected by the decision.

Fellowship is
central to a

holiday treat ,
at O. D. Heck —

By Daniel X. Campbell

ALBANY — Publie employees are special people,
often going beyond the call of duty, the letter and
spirit of their respective collective bargaining
agreements, to take care of the needs of the public
they serve in personal, private, humanitarian ways
V which often never gain attention or public
siation.

Such are the efforts of 183 public workers, some
high-level State officials and mid-level
management, and many in the general labor
‘lassification who worked together as fellow
human beings to help brighten Christmas morning,
1980, for 240 “Special Friends”, clients at the
Oswald D. Heck Developmental Center in Schenec-
tady

The 183 people are members of the Central Staff
of the Office of Mental Retardation and
Developmental Disabilities in Albany. During the
major portion of the work year, these people ad-
minister the OMR-DD Programs which serve the
day-to-day needs of thousands of OMR-DD clients

a large Christmas/Chanukah greeting card in

SPECIAL FRIENDS — Representing the various levels of support for the Special Friends program at
0.D. Heck Developmental Center are, from left, 0.D. Heck Director Fred Finn, client Linda Harrington,
front; CSEA Local President Wanda Lubinski, center rear; client Keith Selner, and OMRDD Com-
missioner James E. Introne, right. — Photo courtesy OMRDD

that helped take care of most of the remaining non-
selected names on the list.””

throughout the state. But, while involved with
every aspect of the well-being of each and every
client, this staff has very little direct contact with
the men, women and children they serve. However,
for Christmas 1979, the Central Office staff

surrected an almost-forgotten holiday project,
“Special Friends’ list, and provided 110
personally-selected holiday gifts for clients at the
nearby O. D. Heck' Facility. And, in 1980, the people
wanted to do more with this program.

Karen Rogers, a warm and energetic staffer and
a CSEA Local officer, is credited by William
Knowlton, OMR-DD press officer, with being the
driving force and general organizer behind this proj-
ect. She explained the internal workings of the
“Special Friends’ program. ‘‘Really, it’s quite
simple.’ she said. “First, we have the support of
Commissioner Introne, as a fellow worker. We in-
formally asked our fellow employees if they would
forego sending out the usual holiday greeting cards
to each other and use the same amount of money to
buy a needed or desired gift for an individual they
would select from a list provided by O.D. Heck, our
nearest client-serving facility. We posted copies of

numerous places in the work location and that
replaced the normal greeting cards.""

Bill Knowlton praised the efforts of these people.
“No one gave an inexpensive gift,’ he stated
“Everyone outdid themselves. It was as if they
wanted their gift to be extra-special for their
special friend. They gave watches, sweaters, high-
quality items all the way.” A broad smile spread
across Knowlton’s bearded face, ‘‘And we're proud
of our success; we really did something!”’

But. sometimes to do something extra-special
takes a little extra-special help. Wanda Lubinski,
CSEA Mental Hygiene Central Office Local
President, explained CSEA’s involvement in this
people-oriented project. ‘‘When I went to pick out
my Special Friend, I noted that, while the people
were really doing the best they could, and some
were selecting two and three names, a lot of un-
selected names remained on the list. So, first I took
up a collection to help pay for some extra gifts for
unselected individuals on the list, and the people in
nearby offices contributed fifty dollars. Then, I ask-
ed our CSEA Local to donate $250 to help us help our
Special Friends. The donation was approved and

A total of 240 extra-special gifts were presented
by the OMR-DD Central Staff to their Special
Friends at O.D. Heck.

This people-to-people project has had a positive
effect on the Central Staff of OMR-DD in that it
helps them get in touch with the clients they do not
normally see. And, according to O. D. Heck
Volunteer Coordinator Clara McAllister, this proj-
ect is “dynamite” for both the clients and staff at
the nearby facility: “This project means so much to
all of us. Our clients are told that their Special
Friend has personally selected a special gift just
for them. So they really look forward to opening up
that package on Christmas morning. And, our staff ~
is touched and proud of the person-to-person spirit
of concern that symbolizes this program.”

The whole effort of the ‘Special Friends” project
can be summed up in the personal experience of
Colette Crisafulli, an OMR-DD staffer, who per-
sonally delivered her special gift to a Special
Friend. ‘My Special Friend asked for a pool cue.
So, I delivered one pool stick to 0. D. Heck and my
Special Friend. I lost two games of pool to my
Special Friend, but somehow, I think we all won.”

PROGRAM COMMITTEE Membeca in Region V met recently in Liverpool to
discuss sites and plan agenda for upcoming winter and spring meetings. CSEA
members and guests have been attending Region V conferences and workshops
in record numbers, thanks in part to. the planning and team effort of the com-
mittee members shown above. Seated, from left, are James Menechella,
chairperson Linda Fiorentino, and Marsha Coppola. Standing, lett to right, are
Barbara Allen, Margaret Compoli, Helen Hanlon. Not present were vice
chairman Roy Hall, ‘advisor Marjorie Coggeshall, Bonnie Barber, and retiree
observer Helen Musto.
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Grievance wins $73,000 in
overtime for therapy aides

NEW YORK CITY — Fourteen mental hygiene therapy aides will receive
more than $73,000 in overtime pay previously denied them by Bronx
Developmental Center (BDC) as a result of a grievance filed on their behalf by
CSEA Local 401

When BDC opened apartments in the community for the care of adult men-
tally retarded patients, management assigned grades 7 and 9 mental hygiene
therapy aides to supervise patients around-the-clock, or on an oncall basis, and
did not pay the aides the proper amount of overtime.

“BDC clearly violated the Institutional Services Unit contract by denying
the mental hygiene therapy aides their overtime pay,’’ said CSEA Field
Representative Bart Brier. ‘When the problem was called to the attention of
the director of BDC, we were quickly able to reach a settlement on behalf of
the aides at step I of the grievance process.’

In addition to the request for overtime pay for the mental hygiene therapy
aides, the grievance also challenges the policy of the Department of Civil Ser-
vice and the Office of Mental Retardation that requires BDC to schedule the
directors and assistant directors of these apartments on a live-in basis, thus
denying these workers overtime pay. This component of the grievance is at
step 3. in the office of the Governor's Director of Employee Relations.

There may be more good news for the mental hygiene therapy aides at-
BDC: Brier will br meeting with the aggrieved workers to audit BDC’s records
to determine if even.more overtime pay is due them,

“Tam extremely pleased that we were able to obtain the overtime pay for
the members of Local 401,"" said CSEA Region II Director George Bispham ‘It
demonstrates that the members are continuing to be’ represented efficiently
and effectively while the local is in trusteeship,.’’

Mudge eee i

(01) THE RUBLGS6G¢ TOR, Wednesday) January 28/198)! 12+):

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Vet e« rae rare weed

Committee prepares for May elections

ALBANY — CSEA’s Statewide Nominating
Committee is at work preparing for union elec-
tions in May to choose members of the CSEA’s
Board of Directors’ State Executive Committee,

The Statewide Nominating Committee, com-
prised of three elected representatives from
each CSEA Region, is charged under the union's
Constitution with responsibility for nominating
candidates to appear on official ballots for each
representative on the State Executive Com-
mittee

Under the union’s open elections procedures,
any eligible member in good standing can have
his or her name placed on a ballot either by
nomination by the Committee or by obtaining a
certain number of CSEA member signatures on
an official petition form.

The Committee met January 16 in Albany to
begin preparations for the May elections. Rose
Marie Saunders of Erie County Local 815 was
elected chairperson of the Committee.

Any CSEA members eligible to run for the
State Executive Committee are invited to apply
for nomination to the Committee by completing
an application for candidacy and sending it to:
CSEA Statewide Nominating Committee, c/o
Executive Director Joseph J. Dolan, 33 Elk
Street, Albany, N.Y. 12207. CSEA DEMOCRACY — With elections slated to begin in May for CSEA’s State Executive Committee,

Applications will be available next week from the union’s Statewide Nominating Committee is beginming its efforts to select qualified candidates for
CSEA State Division Local presidents, CSEA nomination for office. Pictured at work, starting Tell, are committee members Betty Lennon, Anthony
Regional Offices or the Office of the Executive Muscatiello, James McGuiness, Janice Schaff, Robert Coleman, Robert Greene, John Aloisio, Jr., Lou
Director at CSEA Headquarters. Completed Mannellino, Pat Froebel, Charles Bell, Kirk Scott, Rose Feuerman (not visible in photo), Ida Mc-
applications must be received by the Committee Daniel, James Jayes and Rose Marie Saunders (Committee Chairperson). Also pictured are CSEA
no later than February 22, 1981 to be considered. staff members David Stack, Comptroller, Marcel Gardner and attorney Marge Karowe.

Rome library employees
request to join CSEA

ROME — Citing a lack of contract, no job security, and other hardships
brought on by inflation, employees at the Jervis Library here have filed
petitions to be represented by the Civil Service Employees Association.

According to Chris Jamison, CSEA Regional Organizer, CSEA has
petitioned the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and is awaiting a
reply. CSEA also petitioned the Public Employment Relations Board in Albany
and notification of a hearing date is anticipated in the near future.

In a poll of employees, Jamison indicated a lack of communication was
evident between the Library employees and the Board of Trustees.

“In June of 1980 the employees submitted a list of suggestions, only to be
told they were too late — the list should have been submitted in April, approx-
imately six months prior to the Annual Meeting of the Library Board. We call
that unfair. It clearly indicates a total lack of concern for the needs of the
employees,’ Jamison said,

“Wages and benefits of Jervis Library employees have also failed to keep
up with those of City of Rome employees and every time there is talk of a
money ‘squeeze’, they threaten to cut Library staff or services,’ Jamison con-
tinued

“The employees at Jervis Library are dedicated to performing valuable
service to the Rome community, and have the right to Union representation
They are not making unrealistic demands. They simply want to look forward to
job security, fair wages and benefits in line with City employees,’ Jamison
concluded

February

Saratoga County Local 846, general membership meeting, 7:30 p.m., VFW Past 420
Home, Excelsior Avenue and Gick Rd

Region IV workshop for local/unit nominations and elections chairpersons, 9:30
o.m.-3 p.m., Ramada Inn, Western Avenue, Albany

Suratoga County Local 846 stewards meeting, 5 p.m., Solar Bldg,, High Street,
Ballston Spa.

Long Island State Parks Local 102 dinner dance, 8 p.m., Huntington Towne House,
Huntington

Saratoga’ County Local 846 Executive Board meeting, 7 p.m., Solar Building, High
Street, Ballston Spa

|8—Butfalo Local 003, executive committee meeting, 5:30 p.m., Plaza Suite, Buttalo
20-22—-Region V Winter Conference, Hotel Syracuse, Syracuse.

SE ETE e
Page 10 THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Wednesday, January 28, 1981

ALBANY

recommended agreement.

Thomas Whitney, Administrative Director of CSEA Office of Member
Services, John Carey, Administrative Director of the CSEA Office of Collec-
tive Bargaining, and David Stack, CSEA Comptroller, provided detailed ex-
planations of the impact of the agreement on membership services and

dues.
The leaders
Educati

by John Carey.

ba

CONNIE COLANGELO, Schenectady Secretarial Unit, and Fred Farone,
Schenectady County Local president, listen as debate on affiliation touches

some local concerns.

Albany meeting agenda
topped by affiliation

A thorough discussion of the CSEA-AFSCME affiliation
was the featured item of the first business meeting of 1981 for the leadership
of the Capital Region of the Civil Service Employees Association. Atty.
James Roemer of CSEA’s law firm, Roemer and Featherstonhaugh, provid-
ed the 140-plus regional leaders with a complete overview of the

ip also heard reports from the Regional Political Action,
ion and Social Committees. A discussion of Employee Benefit
Program coverage for part-time and seasonal public employees was given

employee evaluation program from CSEA staffer Joseph Conway.

a

EMPLOYEE EVALUATION help Charles ‘Butch’ Knox, left, President of i
CSEA Capital Region SUNYA Local 691 gains some insights into the ongoing

KAREN MESSIER, left, former Rensselaer County Unit President, Josep!
Cassidy, center, Troy Unit President, and John Francisco, right, CSEA
Capital Region Political Action Committee chairman, listen as the CSEA-
AFSCME affiliation addendum is explained by James Roemer.

_ highlights regional a
. AFFILIATION ISSUE meetings this month

Lattimer, McGowan lead Buffalo discussion

BUFFALO — CSEA delegates, attending a
Region 6 meeting January 9 and 10 here, voted to
recommend that Region 6 support the union’s af-
filiation with AFSCME,

Several days later, on January 22, CSEA
delegates from throughout the state met in
Albany and voted approval of permanent af-
filiation between CSEA AND AFSCME. The un-
ion’s Board of Directors took similar action at a
board meeting Albany on January 14.

The group made their recommendation, which
did not bind the regional delegates to vote in
similar fashion, after posing their last minute
questions to CSEA President William McGowan
and Region 6 President Robert Lattimer, who
chaired the union’s affiliation committee.

After the vote was tallied, Lattimer offered his
opinion on the importance of the affiliation:

“We have the choice whether as an
organization we want to pay the price to stay in
the mainstream of labor, to be a force in deter-
mining the future of the public employees we
represent,” he said. ‘“There’s no way the union
can adequately represent its members without
working with the national labor unions.

“We are a force in New York State, but that is
no longer enough. Congress controls what money
comes back to the state and that determines
whether public employees will stay and work
and earn a decent wage.

“If we have no capability to talk to Washington
and to join forces, we are not going to exist for
long and public employees are going to suffer.’’

Lattimer warned that if CSEA chose to remain
independent, it should ready itself for a fight.

“We had better marshall the troops because it
takes a lot of energy to fight raids. We will have
to withdraw from other member services. We
will need money above and beyond the amount
needed for affiliation,” he said.

In other union business:

—Members voted to increase the per member
rebate to the region from five cents to 15 cents in
order to offset the rising expense of renting
meeting rooms. It was decided that a committee
would be formed to study the situation.

—President Lattimer urged members to
boycott the Holiday Six Theaters on Union Road
in Cheektowaga in response to a request from
Local 233 of the International Alliance of

Local 815.

THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Wednesday, January 28, 1981

filiation at Buffalo meeting. At left is Russell
Bettis of Local 872, and at right is Sal Castro of

Theatrical Stage Employees and Moving Picture
Operators

—It was announced that a pilot project train-
ing seminar entitled “How to Increase Your
Effectiveness as a Union Officer” would be held
February 7 at the Treadway Inn in Batavia. The
six-hour, one-day session is limited to thirty per-
sons, with no more than one attending per local.
The seminar will deal with problem solving,
crisis management, working with others and
how to improve the quality of personal and
professional life.

—Members voted to donate $100 for tickets so
that fifty children would be able to attend the
Shrine Circus coming to Buffalo in February.

LOCAL 315 MEMBERS Jean Benz and Jeanette
Shaffer were among those who heard detailed
discussion affiliation.

~ Page 11

i CELEBRATING THE HOLIDAYS meant something a little extra this year
|| for the Travis family. Standing are, from left, daughters Brenda, Kim,
|, Georgean and Stacey. Sitting are family friend Robin Gardner, George Jr.,
) and parents George and Eileen. Their “Christmas Cheer’ was the PERB
‘ decision.

An effort to
withhold fee
for parking
sparks charge

WHITE PLAINS — The
decision by Westchester County
to withhold parking fees from
the paychecks of employees who
use the facilities, has resulted in
a union grievance being filed by
Ray O'Connor, President of the
Westchester County Civil Ser-
vice: Employees Association
Local.

O'Connor explained that ‘the
county should have taken the
matter first to the joint labor-
management parking com-
mittee before initiating the
practice at the start of the new
year. He is requesting the
county to stop the practice, and
instead give employees the
option of paying the fee directly,
as has been done in the past, or
else seek their concurrence
before making the withholding.

The grievance was filed with
the county's Director of Labor
Relations.

River Valley Local 015.

Page 12 THE PUBLIC SECTOR, Wednesday, January 28, 1981

ELIZABETH A. BIRD discusses her recent out-of-title
grievance victory with Francis J. Mitchell, President of Black

George Travis reinstated

CSEA wins job back and
30 months of back pay
for Peekskill employee

By Stanley Hornak

PEEKSKILL — It was a very merry Christmas for George Travis, his
wife who suffers from multiple sclerosis, and their five children. On Dec.
22, the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) reinstated Travis on
his job as a maintenance-laborer with the Peekskill Housing Authority and
awarded him 30-months back pay.

It all started innocently enough when Travis moved his family out of
public housing.

When Travis was first hired in 1973, he lived in a housing project,
“Bolmann Towers,’’ and was never told that residency was a condition of
employment. Later, he moved to another publicly-owned site and arranged
with his supervisor to work there as a maintenance-mechanic, even though
he retained his old job title as a laborer. Finally, in 1978, seeking to improve
his family’s living conditions, the father moved his family into privately
owned housing, and that’s when all his troubles began.

The housing authority's attorney wrote Travis that his, ‘‘employment
. .. Was predicated and conditioned on availability as a resident . . ."’ and
that although he was certainly free to move, if he did so it would be con-
sidered a resignation. When Travis moved on March 31, the authority
promptly sent him a letter acknowledging his “‘resignation,’’ but later
changed its mind and decided to go after him through disciplinary
proceedings, charging in part that he was “incompetent to perform the
duties because he was not physically present at said site and on call 24-hours
per day.’’ Shortly thereafter, the chairman of the PHA was assigned to hear
the charges, and ruled that there was no written policy or job specifications
requiring residency. The full housing board agreed, then proceeded to pass
two resolutions abolishing Travis’ job, and creating a new position of
“resident maintenance-mechanic.’”

When the new title was filled, the man hired as a ‘‘mechanic”’ was told
his job duties would be the same as Travis’, a ‘‘laborer.”’

CSEA then filed an Improper Practice charge, with Regional Attorneys
Arthur H. Grae and James M. Rose maintaining that imposition of a
residency requirement on current employees is a subject of bargaining and
that the authority abolished one job and created another to avoid such
bargaining.

PERB Hearing Officer Louis J. Patack agreed. He ordered George
Travis reinstated to his former position with full back pay and benefits, and
told the authority that it would have to negotiate in good faith with CSEA
concerning imposing. residency requirements on current employees.

Elizabeth Bird
out-of-title pay
grievance is won

WATERTOWN — The Governor's Office of
Employee Relations (OER) recently notified
Elizabeth A. Bird, a member of CSEA Local 015
Black River Valley NYS DOT, that an out-of-title
grievance filed in May, 1980, has been decided in
her favor.

The grievance contended that as a Grade 7
Senior Clerk, Miss Bird had also been perform-
ing the duties of the Principal Clerk, Grade 11.

The Department of Transportation disputed
the claim, pointing out that Miss Bird was not
permitted to sign attendance and labor dis-
tribution reports.

In a Step 3 decision handed down by Nancy L.
Hodes, Assistant Director of OER, it was con-
cluded that ‘‘For the period in question, Miss
Bird was assigned to perform the most difficult
duties ned the Principal Clerk and that
these duties require a higher level of perfor-
mance than is normally required of a Senior
Clerk. We, therefore, recommend that this
grievance be sustained and that Miss Bird be
awarded compensation at the Grade 11 level for
the period from May 18, 1980, to August 14, 1980.’

In a comment after the decision, Francis J.
Mitchell, President of Local 015, said, “Of
course we are happy with the outcome. It w n
important decision, not only for Elizabeth Bird,
but for the union. It proves once again that CSEA
will go all out to fight for the rights of a member
under the contract.’