PEF settles NDRI contract
By SHERRY HALBROOK
A tentative agreement was reached September 2 on a new, three-year contract between PEF and NDRI (National Development and Research Institutes Inc).

If ratified, the pact would cover approximately 30 employees in the NDRI research unit in New York City. The unit is one of only two remaining private-sector bargaining units represented by PEF, the other being at Lockport Hospital in western New York.
 
The PEF Executive Board approved sending the tentative agreement to the NDRI members for ratification in late September.

The pact provides 3 percent annual raises, retroactive to July 1 of this year.

The loss of state funding caused NDRI to shut down its outreach program earlier this year and layoff those employees. They were represented by PEF in a separate bargaining unit at NDRI.

“Three years ago we had 90 members at NDRI,” said Marvin Moschel, PEF’s director of field services downstate and chief negotiator of this contract. He said he is optimistic NDRI soon will receive new federal grants for research through the Obama stimulus plan.

“We hope to double our membership in the research unit within the next few months,” he said.

Speaking at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy September 21, Obama said he is dedicating 3 percent of the national budget to funding basic research, which he said is even more than when President Kennedy set the goal of putting a man on the moon in just 10 years.

Founded in 1967, NDRI is a non-profit that does research and education mainly on drug and alcohol abuse treatment and recovery, and HIV, AIDS, hepatitis C virus, and related social, health and urban issues.

PEF Division 500 Council Leader Robbie Berry chaired the contract team, which also included Division 500 Treasurer Lisa McCullough and PEF members Conrad Doremus, Heather Paradise and Jorge Lim.