April 15, 2014
By Marc Bussanich
The decision was partly in response to District Council 37’s petition to create a new bargaining unit for 300 traffic enforcement agents (TEAs) working as Levels III and IV agents.
But OCB denied DC 37’s request because “of the fact that there are other employees in the same title and occupational group who are in the same level of bargaining in another bargaining unit.”
(See the OCB’s decision regarding Traffic Agents via http://bit.ly/1hF0ruE on pages 73-78.)
OCB, therefore, found it prudent to create one bargaining unit, the Traffic Enforcement unit, which combines TEAs Levels I and II, Associate Traffic Enforcement Agents, Parking Control Specialists with TEA Levels III and IVs.
“The reconfiguration of these title into one bargaining unit containing all the Traffic Enforcement titles will afford the employees the fullest freedom exercising their bargaining rights granted under the amended statute,” the OCB said in its decision.
Robert Cassar, president of Communication Workers of America Local 1182, which represents TEAs Levels I and II, said he was happy with OCB’s decision.
“The Office of Collective Bargaining made the right decision in our opinion,” Cassar said.
The creation of one bargaining unit for all of the city’s traffic enforcement agents, however, didn’t resolve the issue of which union would represent them.
DC 37's Local 983 represents about 300 Levels III and IV TEAs, Local 1182 represents 2,700 Levels 1 and II's, the majority of TEAs in the city, and Teamsters Local 237 represents 29 Parking Control Specialists.
OCB said in its decision that, assuming that more than one of these three unions expresses an interest in representing all the titles in the unit, it would hold an election to determine which union the employees desire as a collective bargaining representative.
According to Mr. Cassar, the national unions of the aforementioned locals reached an agreement without having to go through an election.
When the new bargaining unit meets with the Office of Labor Relations to hammer out a new contract, nine members of the unit will be from Local 1182, DC 37's Local 983 will have two members and Local 237 will have one.
“Each one of us would be allowed to have a bargaining representative at the table. It was a great decision. It was great that the unions were able to settle this thing amicably,” said Cassar.
When asked if he had preferred an election to determine outright that only one, and not three, union would represent all the employees in the new bargaining unit, Cassar said the local was happy with the agreement reached by the three unions.
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