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Local 154 September 21, 2021Juan Fernandez – President ReportAFSCME, DC 37Effective January 12, 2021 the City has issued an Updated Guidance on LeavePolicy for City Agencies – Please see it in Local154.org website.The Union strongly support the vaccination of the City workforce and inspection ofall facilities before returning to any physical locations.On March 15, 2021 Governor Cuomo signed an order granting public and privatesector employees up to 4 hours of excused time per injection toward the COVID19vaccine.Return to the Office Inspections and Plans Review: On May 3, The City of NewYork started calling workers back to their office. In March 2021, DCAS updated itsguidelines for the reopening of City Agencies “Managing the Return to the Office in theAge of COVID-19”. Every City Agency was required to formulate and implement reopening plans by April 4, 2021. These plans were reviewed and approved by City Hall’sreopening Task Force. Managing the Return to Office in the Age of COVID-19Scheduled RTO/ Reopening Meetings (Local 154 Representation):April 2, 2021 The Union met with OLR and DCAS to discuss reopening.April 12, meeting with DORIS (President, Stewards Glowinski, O’Toole, Hobgood)April 13, meeting with FDNY (President, Hobgood)April 15, meeting with DOT, CCHR, NYCHA (President, VP, Whooley, Leopold, Lewis)April 16, meeting with Consumer Affairs (Presid. Whooley, Bonny) cancelled after a fewminutes.April 19, meeting with DOH-MH, DCAS (President, Alam, Lewis)April 20, meeting with OLR (President)April 21, meeting with Law Dept (President, Thillet, Whooley)April 22, meeting with CAWP, DORIS (President, Whooley, Glowinski, O’Toole, Bonny)April 28, meeting with DOE (President)May 6 meeting with Comptroller’s (V.Lues, J.White, President)At the RTO meetings, each agency has presented its plans to return to the office withdetails on floor plans, numbers of people returning & number of days per week, safety andsocial distance protocols, access to building, reasonable accommodations, child care leave,field activity protocols, protocol for reporting possible COVID 19 infections, use of cars,etc.Also, we will be doing walkthrough and inspection of facilities with special attention toairflow, filters, signage, use of elevators, etc. Recently some locations had had to test stillwater for legionnaire contamination.VISIT DC37.NET and LOCAL154.ORG TO STAY INFORMEDAll workers and visitors of City facilities should expect to follow sanitary protocols beforeand during their stay in the facilities. All workers should receive PPE (masks, cleaners,gloves) provided by employers; visitors should be prepared to wear masks at all time. Anyworker who feels that has been exposed to the virus should contact a medical provider,inform supervision and quarantine accordingly.The City has issued updated protocols for Sick Leave and Annual Leave and on the use ofmasks in the workplace. – Visit our website for review. On June 29, 2021, DCAS issued itslatest update on masks usage: Commissioner’s Directive No. 2020-1 Concerning the SafetyPractices of Personnel During the COVID-19 Crisis5

Local 154September 21, 2021Juan Fernandez – President ReportAFSCME, DC 37DC 37 will continue to review with the City reopening plans and specific workingconditions at every City agency. The Union has ongoing discussions with the City regardingthe new working conditions across the City, including staggered schedules, telecommuting,sanitary conditions and operations.*Visit our Website www.Local154.org to review City’s updated Time and Leave Policy (as of Jan12, 2021) during the pandemic (review it in our website Local154.org )Benefits for members’ families – 200 DC 37 members have died as consequence ofCOVID19, including two active members of Local 154 and one of our retirees.The City agreed to provide a 45-day extension of health benefits to dependents of workerswho had passed because of COVID19.On May 19, The City agreed to support three quarter line-of-duty disability pension to thefamilies of workers who have passed away as consequence of COVID 19, which was passedin Albany at the end of May.MTA had previously extended a 500,000 death benefit and three years of health benefitsto Transit employees who had passed as consequence of COVID19.The UNION has lobbied to introduce a bill to have Accidental Death Benefits for thefamilies of public workers who died as consequence of COVID19; we are supporting billA3988 in the Assembly.DC 37 Reward Programs: DC 37 is offering a discount and rebate program for Unionmembers at dc37rewards.com, they include shopping discounts at large stores, hotels,travel, food, restaurants, etc. Also, a computer application to help Union members dealwith Students Debt will we offered shortly - visit DC37.net !!Local 154 Membership. After two years and 214 members signing Union Members Cards,we can announce that we have 99% membership. Only two or three opted for a free ride onthe back of dedicated paying members but everybody else did the right thing to protectcontracts, benefits and the collective bargaining. Many thanks to our Rep. Lewis Hobgood,the quintessential man, Vice President Juliet White and all officers who helped in thisorganizing drive.City & State BudgetThe current FY2022 City budget includes headcount increases for several departments,including DOE, Health, and DOT among others. Parks sees increases for seasonal workersbut is short on the funding for park rangers. The current new allocations take advantage ofthe federal relief funds.In March 2021, President Biden’s COVID19 Relief plan, signed into law in the samemonth, bringing 12.5 Billion to the State and approximately 6 Billion to the City of NewYork, providing a much necessary needed assistance to families, businesses and local and6

Local 154September 21, 2021Juan Fernandez – President ReportAFSCME, DC 37state governments. Mayor DeBlasio asserted that this assistance will avert layoffs duringhis term.City Had Proposed 22,000 layoffs.In June 2020, Mayor De Blasio announced that if Federal aid was not coming or the earlyretirement or borrowing authority was not in place, then the City will be forced to proceedwith furloughs and layoffs. The Unions made new savings proposals to the Mayor and alsoasked him to delay the 22,000 layoffs announced for October 2020. Also, the Unions havebeen working with the State Legislature to pass the Early Retirement Bill and to providethe Mayor with borrowing authority (bond authority) in order to finance the RetirementIncentive and to cover the deficit. The Early Retirement Incentive will help to createsavings for the City. In addition, the Mayor agreed to remove layoffs from the table inFY21-22 if the federal relief is above 5 Billion for New York City.Reaching a No Lay-Offs AgreementOn October 16, 2020, DC37 proposed the City to defer layoffs based on the delay ofcontractual welfare fund payments to the Unions. A few days later, the City and DC37reached an agreement of NO-LAYOFFS for the current fiscal year ending on June 30,2021. The agreement will allow the City to put on hold Benefits Funds payments due toDC37’s Welfare Fund in exchange for No Lay Offs for the remaining of the Fiscal Year.These payments do not affect your salary, wages or any of your current benefits. The DC37Benefits Funds have sufficient cash to continue operations until the moneys are restored inSeptember and November of Year 2021.This agreement allows enough time for the voting on the new Early Retirement Incentivebill (see www.Local154.org for copy of the bill) and the discussion on providing borrowingauthority to Mayor DeBlasio. In addition, the Mayor agreed to remove layoffs from thetable in FY21-22 if the federal relief is above 5 Billion for New York City.“This past year, we’ve been in the fight of our lives, pushing back on threats of layoffs. Lastfall, after hard fought negotiations, we struck a deal with Mayor de Blasio that delayed layoffsthrough June 2021, and a commitment that if the federal government provided at least 5billion in local aid, the delay would extend until at least June 2022. Last week, in passing theAmerican Rescue Act, our home state senator and Senate Majority Leader, Senator ChuckSchumer, delivered for all of us. His leadership led to 6 billion in vital aid to New York Cityand last night, Mayor de Blasio confirmed that as a result, good union jobs have beenprotected and layoffs are off the table for at least another year.” Henry Garrido, DC 37Executive DirectorClick here to sign up for DC 37 Action Alerts & NewsContracts / Citywide Increase:School Construction Authority is the only Unit which has not received the 2017 Contractincreases. Units A & C had ended their bargaining in 2020. In July 2021 we started Unit Bbargaining. The agreement is being drafted for presentation to members.7

Local 154September 21, 2021Juan Fernandez – President ReportAFSCME, DC 37*Transit Authority: After a walkthrough of 130 Livingstone, Local 154 held a labormanagement to go over the issues raised by members regarding the reopening.MTA approved a 500K benefit for beneficiaries of Transit workers who have died due toCorona Virus while in active service.We are sending Transit Unions’ demands for the application of the .20% addition to the gross.NYCHA. A Coalition of seven Unions, including Local 154, sent letter to NYCHA Presidentasking for a meeting to discuss reopening plans. Copy of this letter was forwarded to CityCouncil’s City reopening hearings.Distribution of the .20% AdditionsAfter the initial agreement for the SSRT and Clerical Units, the City of New York decided tostop all bargaining and payments of the .20% due to the Budget Deficit as consequence of thepandemic. In early December 2020, Executive Director Henry Garrido in talks with City Hallwas able to negotiate the immediate reopening of this bargaining process and the release ofcontractual money being held due to the budget downfall. SSRT Contract. The SSRT Unit, pending Local 371 ratification, have reached apreliminary agreement with the City on the use of the .20% effective July 26, 2019.Although the amount of money available was really small, this distribution accomplishestwo things, first we were able to add money to existing RIP and Annuity amounts, andsecond we were able to include our brothers and sisters in two new titles. Many to thanksto the bargaining committee members VP J.White, Chapters Chairs E.Greene, D.Thillet,V.Tirado, V.Julien, Rep. L.Hobgood, and negotiator M.Dolan. Thanks to Local 371 andLocal 768.Payment Dates: Mayoral agencies and NYCHA will see the .20 ACF on the May 28th paycheck. H&Hwill receive it in June 11th for the rate and retro effective 7/26/19 and on June 25th for the rateand retro effective 10/26/19 which it is an additional 82 on the RIP, after 10 years of City Service. Therefore the retro will be about 150 before taxes. The new bi-weekly amount will be 23.82. There will also be additional 70 contribution to the Annuity Funds, retroactive to 7/26/19.Employees in the Adm Claim Examiner titles who were newly added will see the full retro if theyhave the 10 years.1) Amount added to current Annuity for Claim Spec., HRS, & Spec.Cons. II (old amount 724)2) Amount added to 10-year RIP** for Claim Spec. HRS,& Spec. Cons. II (old amount 521)3) Annuity* created for Equal Rights Compliance Spec.and Administrative Claims Examiners4) 10-year RIP** created for Equal Rights ComplianceSpec. and Administrative Claims Examiners 804 601 600 new 450 newClerical Unit Contract. This Unit covers the following Local 154 Titles: PublicRecords Aide, Public Records Officer, Associate Public Record Officer, DepartmentLibrarian, Department Senior Librarian, Department Supervising Librarian andDepartment Principal Librarian. We have reached an agreement on the use of the8

Local 154September 21, 2021Juan Fernandez – President ReportAFSCME, DC 37.20% which will be retroactive to July 26, 2019 and was applied to the RIP(Recurrent Increment Payment) in the following fashion:The RIP schedule after the application of the 3% increase effective 10/26/2019 is asfollows:Years of City Service RIP6 9669 88912 90015 51618 1,080 Total9661,8552,7553,2714,351 Real Estate Unit Contract. This Unit covers the following Local 154 titles: TitleExaminers, Senior Title Examiners and Principal Title Examiners. The preliminaryagreement on the use of the .20%, retroactive to July 26, 2019, is to add 216 to eachof the RIPs for the 6 through the 20th year of service; this will result in the followingschedule:Year Current RIP New RIPYear Current RIP New RIP6 272 41614 2,453 2,6697 543 75915 2,733 2,9498 814 1,03016 3,003 3,2199 1,087 1,30317 3,278 3,49410 1,363 1,57918 3,489 3,70511 1,635 1,85119 3,601 3,81712 1,908 2,12420 3,712 3,92813 2,183 2,399 We are restarting bargaining on the distribution of the .20% for the Accounting/EDP and Transit Authority Units. These Units include Research Assistants andClaims Specialists at Transit.Private Sector Units:On March 15, 2021 Governor Cuomo signed an order granting public and privatesector employees up to 4 hours of excused time per injection toward the COVID19vaccine.*New York Law School. On June 16, 2020 NYLS Informed the Union of its budgetmodifications due to revenue losses because of decreased student enrollments, cessation ofpublic events, gala and fewer donations. These changes include one layoff and changes inhealth care premiums at NYLS. The recently contractually agreed health premiumincrease cap of 15% covering Local 154 members will be respected and salary increaseswill not be affected. A separation agreement was finally offered and accepted by a memberat the school.9

Local 154September 21, 2021Juan Fernandez – President ReportAFSCME, DC 37Members had approved a new agreement with NYLS on February 2020. After adisagreement on the language of the MOA which delayed the execution of the Contract, onApril 17, NYLS agreed to the language proposed by the Union and the bargainingcommittee signed off on it. Retroactive payments and rate increases were included in theMay 28 paycheck. Thanks to Pres. Fernandez, Cheryl Shields, Louis Monbourn, LewisHobgood and Michelle Trester for their hard work.In November 2020, NYLS negotiated a new premium with a medical vendor which NYLSand DC37 agreed that it won’t be added to the current premium paid by our members.*SODEXO. Sodexo members are covered by the mandate to vaccinate issued by theGovernor to all public health facilities in New York State.During the months of March and April 2020, the Union distributed masks and gloves tomembers at Queens, Elmhurst, Woodhull and other hospitals. The City declared a shortageof PPE and DC37 reached to obtain PPE in order to make sure our members had theessential equipment for the important, front-line work, they perform.Other Chapter Activity:Lobbying Albany LegislatorsOn 3/2/21 AFSCME and DC37 held a lobbying session with NY State legislators. TheUnion presented some of our bills and concerns for the upcoming session, namely raisingrevenues for the State, protecting health care programs, fair and equitable distribution ofvaccines, passing early retirement bill (S4170), protecting City workers (vaccines and,safety and health, waiver for Social Services), extending Accidental Death Benefits to Cityworkers victim of COVID19 (A03988). A number of Senators and Assembly Membersspoke to show their support for these and other initiatives, Senator Liu and Senator Ramosamong others.Remote Union MeetingsSince we have the proper technical support, we have been organizing remote membershipmeetings. We had meetings with Law Department, NYCHA, HHC members on July 9 andComptroller, CCHR, DORIS, DDC on July 23. All other chapters were invited for anAugust 6 meeting. We also held virtual membership meetings in September and December.Research Assistant/Title Examiners ChapterIn November 2020, Local 154 responded to DCAS’s stated intentions to eliminate the titleof Title Examiner because it was not being used. Local 154 gathered information showingthat the duties of the title were being contracted out to vendors who, to add insult to injury,were not performing the job correctly with the consequent loss of City revenues. The Localwas able to provide documentation on some of the lawsuits initiated by the City againstvendors who were not up to task. Naturally, the people correcting the undoing of privatecontractors were City workers in the Senior and Principal Title Examiners titles. Cananybody say the City is throwing money away twice or thrice? Finally, in December DCASinformed the Union that they were desisting in removing the Title.10

Local 154September 21, 2021Juan Fernandez – President ReportAFSCME, DC 37Many thanks to our diligent members led by Chapter Chair James Whooley in thegathering of documents on this issue. Many Thanks to Moira Dolan in DC37 Research andNegotiations Department.DOH-MH. Labor ManagementOn December 22, 2020 Local 154 held a meeting with DOH-MH to discuss and clarify anumber of issues reported by members in the HEAT unit, including a new time a leavepolicy with incorrect information distributed to members and other items. During themeeting we:1) Clarified that there are 3 sick days available for an ill family member as well asPaid Family Leave.2) Clarified that a person may call out sick for one day and not provide a doctor'snote. However, five times in a six-month period will lead to a written warning, inaccordance with long standing absence control policy. In the past there have been absencecontrol issues with this program due to the nature of the weekend and late-night shifts.We requested a copy of the policy that is distributed to the HEAT team members.3) Exposure to COVID rules - clarified questions about what happens whena worker is notified about a workplace exposure. Staff that are clearly contacttraced to have been in close contact with another worker will be sent home forthe required period. Not everyone in the team needs to be sent home. They arefollowing test and trace.4) Time in the field - currently the schedule is set up so that all HEATmembers are in the field 3 days of the week, rather than five.5) Health and Safety walk throughs will be scheduled as necessary.In July 2020, some Special Consultants II were assigned to monitor a Manhattan Hotelwith elders from nursing homes and people affected with COVID19 as they are dischargedfrom hospitals. The assignment was preceded by Labor Management meetings wheredetails and nature of assignments were discussed. Workers had access to child care centers.Pres. Fernandez and Chapter Chair Elliot Greene represented Local 154. Thanks Elliot!!*Transit Authority: MTA President sent proposal to include a 500K benefit forbeneficiaries of Transit workers who have died due to Corona Virus while in active service.MTA Board will vote on it on Wednesday April 22, 2020. Many thanks to Negotiator LisaRiccio and many thanks to Veronica Julien for stepping forward to help us with theproposal. In January 2021, Transit announced the consolidation of several departmentsunder MTA. The Union have reached out to TA to discuss the measure.Law Suits* The Union filed an Improper Practice suit in that DCAS installed and is using real timeGPS to monitor and discipline members who use city cars, a change of terms and11

Local 154September 21, 2021Juan Fernandez – President ReportAFSCME, DC 37conditions of employment. Although the incidents occurred at Parks and DOT, this lawsuithas broader implications for many workers using City Cars while at work.*Transit Authority: In 2018 the Union filed an Improper Practice suit against Transit forthe hiring of people in the title of Staff Analyst to fill jobs performed by Claim Specialists.The PERB hearings scheduled for April 2020 were re-scheduled for October 26, Nov 2,2020, and for February 2021. The October 26 and November 2 hearings included testimonyfrom Local 154’s Stewards and DC37 Research and Negotiations.* Victory!! On a second case against TA filed three years ago to obtain representation ofHearing Officers, PERB ruled that these workers should be considered employees (Transitclaimed they were merely Contractors) and therefore eligible to be represented by a Union;a hearing to discuss community of interest was scheduled by PERB to take place onOctober 24, 2019. This hearing did not take place since TA and Union agreed to review andcount the Union cards signed by workers, the Judge determined that the majority ofworkers have signed to join the Union therefore adjudicating the work unit to DC37. Wethank DC 37 General Counsel’s Office, Atty. Dena Klein, Organizer Julien DeJesus, ourTransit Chapter Chair Veronica Julien, and Shop Steward Greg Petrus for their work andcommitment to this organizing fight. DC37 sent a report to AFSCME asking it to assign thenew unit to Local 154. AFSCME has the power to make this determination.* DOE: Union filed an Improper Practice suit against DOE based on information thatDOE was changing the title of the “Equal Rights Compliance Specialists” to “EqualOpportunity Complaint Investigator”. During a hearing at PERB on Feb 13, DOE gaveinformation that they have classified these Specialists as Confidential Employees which isbeing c

Dental Services: Our new Delta Dental plan started on September 2020. Delta Dental is the new dental network provider with 1800 participating dentists in the New York City area and no added cost to DC37 members; DC 37's Health and Security has invested 10 Million dollars to offer a panel with expanded services and increased fees for dental work.