New NDRI contract ratified 48-4

By SHERRY HALBROOK
Members of the research unit at National Development and Research Institutes Inc. (NDRI) in New York City gave a big thumbs up last month to a tentative agreement between PEF and NDRI.

At a March 13 meeting, the members of PEF Division 500 at NDRI voted 48-4 to ratify the new four-year pact, which is retroactive to July 1, 2001.

“We feel it’s a really good contract and our members are happy about it,” said Division 500 Council Leader Jennifer Fuld.

Highlights include annual 3 percent raises on July 1 of each year including 2001, and:
• Severance pay of two weeks pay for each year of service up to 16 weeks of pay;

• Extension of individual health insurance benefits for laid-off employees, according to their length of service. Those with three years of service, will receive three months of coverage. Employees with four or more years of service will receive six months of extended coverage;

• Voluntary leave donation;

• Pre-tax savings plan for transportation expenses;

• Improved funding for reimbursement of educational expenses; and

• Creation of a new grade 12 title — senior executive assistant.

The members had overwhelmingly rejected an earlier tentative agreement in June of last year.

The main sticking point was a cap on severance pay for the unit — an important issue for members with low job security because of the unreliability of grant funding which forms the backbone of NDRI’s income.

The unit includes approximately 65 researchers, interviewers, administrative support staff and others who conduct research on drug addiction and diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis B and C and related areas.

“We went back to the table after our members rejected the contract last year,” Fuld said, “and with our members’ support and lots of expert help from PEF we achieved a much better agreement.”

Fuld said members demonstrated their solidarity by wearing buttons and posting signs at work.

Division 500 produced a newsletter, “The PEF Hammer,” to keep members posted on the negotiations.

And the bargaining team met with unit members to discuss the negotiations just before the tentative agreement was reached.

The pact must still go before the NDRI Board of Trustees, which is expected to approve it in April.

PEF also represents another unit of employees at NDRI in the AIDS Outreach Program (AOP). Their contract will expire later this year.

TAKE A BOW — Members of PEF’s successful bargaining team at NDRI take a bow after members ratified the new pact in New York City in March. Shown are: Carrie Coen, PEF Director of Field Services downstate Kali Zervos, PEF associate counsel Lisa Newmark, Division 500 Council Leader Jennifer Fuld, Dorline Yee, JoAnn Rodriguez and Angela Taylor. Not shown is PEF field rep. Carolos Arroyo who is taking the picture.

By SHERRY HALBROOK
The state Supreme Court Appellate Division has upheld a first-of-its-kind lower court ruling of last May that the state Labor Department (DOL) broke state law when it withheld from PEF information in records of its employees’ job-related injuries.

“This precedent-setting decision upholds basic workers’ rights and all public employees in New York state will benefit,” said PEF President Roger Benson

PEF brought the lawsuit against the state Labor Department in April 2001 after the Industrial Board of Appeals sided with DOL.

PEF associate counsel Elizabeth Schuster represented the union.

Benson called it “outrageous for DOL, which is responsible for enforcing the state’s Public Employee Safety and Health Act (PESHA), to violate its own employees’ rights under that law.”

PEF Executive Board member Ron Goldstein, who serves on the PEF-DOL Statewide Joint Health and Safety Committee, requested the records so they could be reviewed by the committee.

“They wanted to see if any patterns of job-related injuries or illness existed and if measures could be taken to prevent them in the future,” Benson said. “That’s exactly why the state is required to keep the records and that is just how they are meant to be used.”

On May 11, 2001, the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of PEF, saying,

“... In essence, the DOL, in redacting the (employees’ names, job titles, and worksites) from the logs, ... renders access to such logs practically meaningless.”

The state DOL appealed that ruling to the Appellate Division.

However, on March 14 the five-judge Appellate Division panel unanimously upheld the lower court’s ruling ordering DOL to give PEF the complete records.

Goldstein said he was very pleased the courts have continued to uphold PEF’s right to see the unredacted logs.