Minutes of Local 1407
Executive Board Meeting
October 4, 2004
A meeting of the Executive Board of Local 1407 was held on October 4, 2004 at 125 Barclay Street - 6th Floor Board Room, DC 37 Headquarters, New York, NY 10007. President Maf Misbah Uddin presided over the meeting.
Attendance:
Maf Misbah Uddin, President Jed Matalon, Vice President
Orlana McKenzie, Secretary Raymond Sourial, Treasurer
Executive Board:
Joseph Albert Vijay Bhatia Myrna Block
Virginia Cruzado Nader Francis Ruby Francis*
Michelle Gaddy* Earl Harewood Roydel Howe
Vijay Kohli David M. Low Gregory Maynard
Kenneth Mercer Nancy Montero Michel Mossad*
Enrique Oppenheimer Serge Pierre Theresa Roth
Jennifer Sagnelli* Steve Singer Sharon Steadman**
Franklin Taylor Denise Thorpe-Clarrett* Jennifer M. White
Also Present: Brenda Bradford – Delegate to DC 37
Verena Richards, Aleksander Shoykhet – Local 1407 Trustees
Sergeant-at-arms: Mitzie Finley
Council Representative: Barbara Terrelonge
* Absent
** Absent with Authorization
Quorum is Present – This Meeting is Official
Call to Order:
President Uddin commenced the meeting at 6:35 P.M. Melissa Brown, of the DC 37 Legal Department, is the parliamentarian.
Point of Information:
Joseph Vicinanza has withdrawn his set of charges against the officers and election committee chair from the Executive Board of Local 1407. Ms. Brown stated that since
Minutes of Executive Board Meeting of October 4, 2004 – Page 2
the charges have been withdrawn from the Judiciary Panel of Local 1407, the panel has no function to perform at this time. A copy of the withdrawal of charges (copy enclosed) was handed out to all members.
Trustees’ Audit Report:
The Trustees’ Report (copy enclosed) for the fiscal year ending April 30, 2004 was handed out to the members.
Nader Francis made a motion to approve the Trustees’ Report for the Fiscal Year ended April 30, 2004. Jennifer White seconded the motion.
A discussion of the report followed. Those who participated in the discussion were Ken Mercer, Theresa Roth, Nader Francis, David Low, Myrna Block, Gregory Maynard, Enrique Oppenheimer. In answering a question Trustee Verena Richards said, “Our audit is more in depth than other audits, since we go over all checks and vouchers that the local has issued and received during the period”. In response to Ken Mercer who wanted to see the work papers of the audit, President Uddin said, “He will get back to him on that issue”. The motion was passed by a voice vote.
Approval of the Minutes:
Franklin Taylor made a motion to approve the Executive Board Minutes of July 15, 2004. Vijay Bhatia seconded the motion. The motion was approved by a voice vote.
Monetary Items:
We reported earlier that the Work Place Safety and Protection Act was passed by the City Council. This bill will make the work place safer because all the City Agencies will be required to report accidents that have occurred within their respective work sites. The report will allow the union to follow up on member safety and protection issues more precisely. The Bill was mainly sponsored by Councilman Joseph Addabo. Local - 1407 feels that it would be appropriate to make a contribution to Mr. Addabo’s re-election campaign.
Roydel Howe made a motion to give $500.00 to Joseph Addabo for his re-election campaign. David Low seconded the motion. The motion was passed by a voice vote.
Diane Savino, a member of DC 37, is running for State Senator. She has already won the Primary. The Local has already given her $1000.00 for her primary election but she needs more help from us.
Serge Pierre made a motion to give Diane Savino $500.00 for her campaign for State Senator. Franklin Taylor seconded the motion. The motion was passed by a voice vote.
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President’s Report:
Civilianization: The courts have ruled in favor of District Council 37, saying that civilians should be working at various office jobs that are now occupied by police officers. This is a great victory for the DC 37 Locals including Local 1407. You may recall that President Uddin had testified before the Committee on Civil Service and Labor of the City Council regarding this issue on April 19, 2002.
Civil Service Titles: Several months ago we found out that the Fire Department and Police Pension Fund are hiring people in titles not represented by local 1407 to do jobs that are supposed to be done by Local 1407 titles. We immediately contacted the Department of Citywide Administrative Services and challenged both the FD and PPF. In both cases DCAS has ruled in our favor and informed the respective agencies to change those already hired to local 1407 titles and re-announced that the remaining positions that have not yet been hired be designated as local 1407 titles. This decision should allow the PPF to change all Community Assistants and Associates to the Retirement Benefits Examiner title series represented by local 1407. In the FD the titles of Retirement Benefits Examiner, Accountant, and Bookkeeper should be hired which will be represented by Local 1407. Members are requested to report if they see otherwise within their agencies.
Health & Hospitals Corporation: The Health and Hospitals Corporation and the Municipal Labor Committee will have a sub-committee meeting on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 at DC 37 Headquarters.
There will be a Council wide lunch time meeting at the North Central Bronx Hospital on October 14, 2004 from 11:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M.
Working Conditions: As we have already informed you, a year ago we filed several complaints with the Office of Labor Relations regarding the failure of not providing an Emergency Action Plan by the Comptroller’s Office, Office of Payroll Administration, Department of Citywide Administrative Services, and Department of Finance all located at One Center Street – the Municipal Building managed by DCAS. Finally, we received the emergency evacuation plan for One Centre Street. Since then we have decided to close cases #40694 OPA vs. Maf Uddin, et al; #40398 Office of the Comptroller vs. Maf Uddin, et al; #40692 Department of Finance vs. Maf Uddin, et al; and #40370 DCAS vs. Maf Uddin, et al. You may ask for a copy of the “Emergency Action Plan”, from your respective agency, if you have not received one yet. Regarding this you may also contact the local at (212) 815-1407.
CUNY: There will be a contract negotiation session with CUNY on October 28, 2004. The session will be held at 535 East 80th Street in Manhattan. CUNY members will be receiving their transit metro cards beginning in December, 2004. For details information please visit: www.cuny.edu/transitbenefit.
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Department of Finance: The Department of Finance has unilaterally eliminated compressed time from the agency affecting 30 local 1407 members. We have sent out letters to all our members describing the situation in detail. We have contacted our Legal Department about the possibility of bringing a lawsuit against the Department of Finance in regards to this issue. If any members are experiencing a hardship due to the elimination of compressed time please contact the Labor Relations office of the DOF and also inform the local.
Article 78: Article 78, which forces the City to hire off of an existing Civil Service List in a prompt fashion, was filed for the first time in many years for the following listings:
Assistant Retirement Benefits Examiner – Exam No. 1015
Associate Retirement Benefits Examiner – Exam No. 2504
Accountant – Exam No. 0046
Associate Accountant – Exam No. 8507
Bookkeeper – Exam No. 1016, and
Management Auditor – Exam No. 1027
This brought pressure to the City and the agencies have started replacing provisional members with permanent civil servants. In a recent “Hiring Pool” organized by DCAS, 94 people were hired off of the Bookkeeper list in different agencies.
School Construction Authority: The School Construction Authority will have a contract negotiation session on Friday, October 22, 2004. We believe that we will reach an agreement in either this or the next session with SCA.
Announcements:
DC 37 will be selling discount tickets for a New York Knicks Basketball game on December 1, 2004. Please contact Francis Curtis at the following number: (212) 815-1504.
PEOPLE will have a fund-raiser Atlantic City trip on November 5, 2004. The trip will be sponsored by Local 372 and Local 957. If you are interested in going please call (212) 815-1372 or (212) 815-1957.
The Municipal Labor Committee Conference will take place on Tuesday, December 7, 2004 at 52 Broadway, UFT headquarters.
President Uddin won a Vice-Chairmanship at the Municipal Labor Committee September 14, 2004 election. This is the first time Local 1407 will have a representative on this forum in 53 years! MLC negotiates our Health Insurance and Welfare Fund benefits on behalf of more than 300,000 City employees.
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Newsletter: At the present time we prepare a summarized newsletter based on the issues related to an agency or affecting a group of members within our local. Local 1407 is preparing to have a newsletter related to our entire local. If you would like to help in this endeavor, please contact us with any ideas.
Comments were made by Joseph Albert and Steve Singer regarding compressed time, Theresa Roth and Myrna Block regarding civil service listings, and Brenda Bradford regarding the DYCD QWL program which is now dominated by local 371.
Committee Reports:
Theresa Roth, Co-chair of the local 1407 Education Committee. She presented the recommendation of the committee regarding the requirements for fee reimbursement upon taking a civil service examination. She stated the following:
1. The individual requesting reimbursement should be a member in good standing with Local 1407 at the time of taking the examination.
2. The title must be covered by Local 1407.
3. The member must pass the examination.
4. The member should present a copy of their DCAS certification showing that they passed, and
5. The member should provide proof of payment for such examinations.
Myrna Block made a motion to accept the recommendations regarding the requirements above to obtain reimbursement from local 1407 by a member for taking and passing a civil service examination. Enrique Oppenheimer seconded the motion. The motion was passed by a voice vote.
Jed Matalon presented the requirements, as recommended by the Education Committee, for a member child or grandchild to obtain a scholarship form local 1407. The requirements are as follows:
Each year five Local 1407 scholarships will be awarded. Each scholarship will be worth $1,000.00 per year.
The school must be either a two year or four year accredited college.
1. The member must be in good standing.
2. The scholarship must be for undergraduates only. The student can be either a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior, and
3. Proof of enrollment should be submitted.
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The winners will be picked by lottery and an announcement will be made before the
Fall Semester/Quarter begins.
Steve Singer made a motion to accept the committee recommendations for a child or grandchild to obtain a scholarship from Local 1407. Severally seconded. The motion was passed by a voice vote.
President Uddin thanked the Local 1407 Education Committee members for their hard work and the Executive Board for approving the committee recommendations. He said that we all should feel proud that, for the first time, we now have our own scholarship for our members’ children and grandchildren. And by reimbursing exam filing fees to our members we will encourage more members to take Civil Service Exams in the future to become permanent in their respective titles.
Old and New Business:
Theresa Roth said she has not received Local 1407 business cards in her name yet. Several other executive board members also want Local 1407 business cards. Barbara Terrelonge will make sure that everyone gets their business cards soon.
Good and Welfare:
Local 1407 congratulates President Uddin on his recent accomplishment of getting elected as a Vice-Chair of the Municipal Labor Committee. MLC is a parent organization for 97 Local unions including the United Federation of Teachers and the unions representing Uniformed Officers.
Roydel Howe, Local Political Action Coordinator, has encouraged everyone to vote on November 2, 2004. He also explained why we all should join the PEOPLE program.
Adjournment:
Vijay Kohli made a motion to adjourn. Severally seconded. The motion was passed by a voice vote. The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 P.M.
Prepared by:
Orlana McKenzie—Secretary
Edited by:
Jed Matalon---Vice President