Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2010 Co-op City Times
Vol. 45 No. 24
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Helen Atkins elected as Board President; newly elected Directors sworn in BY BILL STUTTIG bent Directors Andrea Leslie and Evelyn Helen Atkins, who won Santiago, and newcomer re-election in the recently Raymond Tirado were completed Riverbay Board sworn in with Atkins and election with a resounding Cylich and began serving victory, scoring 605 votes their three-year terms on more than the second place the Board immediately winner, was elected the after the Board voted to new President of the accept the Election Riverbay Corporation by Committee’s report. her fellow directors at The first order of busiWednesday night’s Open ness for the newly seated Board meeting by a vote of Helen Atkins Board was to elect a new 12-3. photo by Mary Ann Sowah President to replace Atkins was reelected Othelia Jones, who is to the Board to serve her stepping down from the office after third three-year term just two weeks ago. three consecutive years, the limit any The results were certified during a recanperson can serve consecutively as presvassing of the votes on June 3rd. ident under the terms of the Riverbay The year’s Election Committee by-laws. Chairperson, Director Bill Gordon, Among many accomplishments, Jones began Wednesday’s Open Board meeting helped lead the Board’s actions in continby reading the committee’s final report on the 2010 election and officially uing progress on the community’s coannouncing the final results which generation plant, taking it from a long showed Atkins receiving 605 votes more stalled project two years ago, to the near than the second place finisher, Bernard (Continued on page 2) Cylich. The other three winners, incum-
Swearing in
… Riverbay Counsel Jeffrey Buss (far right) leads the five newly elected Riverbay Board Directors in reciting the oath of service to the community prior to the beginning their new three year terms as Board Directors. The five elected Directors are (l. to r.): Andrea Leslie, Evelyn Santiago, Bernard Cylich, Helen Atkins and Raymond Tirado. Photo by Bill Stuttig
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32BJ strike ends; negotiations resume BY BILL STUTTIG The eight-day strike by Local 32BJ employees against Riverbay ended on Tuesday, June 8, when Riverbay granted the union’s request to allow the more than 500 workers to return to their jobs Wednesday while negotiations continue. Negotiations to end the labor impasse, which centered on a disagreement over the health care coverage for the employees in the new contract, resumed yesterday afternoon and more meetings are scheduled for this upcoming week. The eight-day strike cost the 500 union workers an average of seven days pay or approximately $560,000 in wages. While approximately 200 management workers, and staff from other unions worked 12-hour shifts to fill in and provide the necessary services to the shareholders to the best of their ability, picketing and protests by union members and their supporters grew increas-
ing louder and more antagonistic as the strike dragged on, and in some isolated cases, resulted in threats against the workers filling in and some acts of vandalism within the community. Riverbay General Manager Vernon Cooper stressed that those incidents are not being taken lightly and will continue to be investigated. In addressing the employees who filled in during the strike late Tuesday afternoon and officially informing them that the strike was over and the union members were returning to their jobs Wednesday morning, Cooper said, “Yesterday, the 32BJ surrogates sent a written request to us asking for an unconditional agreement to allow the men and women of 32BJ to come back to work…Today, we did agree to an unconditional agreement to allow 32BJ workers to return to work tomorrow morning starting at 6:30 a.m. (Continued on page 4)
Insurance cap a moot issue with health care reform BY JIM ROBERTS The comprehensive health plan that Riverbay Corporation is offering in a new contract to the five hundred Local 32BJ workers in Co-op City is virtually identical to the one the union leadership is demanding, and any limits on maximum coverage will be eliminated by President Obama’s newly-passed health care reform. Local 32BJ workers who see doctors in-network through the union’s Bronx Tri-State Plan, the plan that Riverbay has offered to pay for, will see virtually no difference from their current health care coverage, according to a report prepared by First Actuarial Consulting Inc., an independent company hired by Riverbay to compared the two plans. “Someone who will always use network medical providers will see no difference in the medical plans (under most programs, more than 95% of claims are rendered through network providers),”
the report states. “Overall, the two benefit programs are very similar, and in most situations virtually identical,” First Actuarial Consulting concluded. The leadership of Local 32BJ, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), has demanded that Riverbay Corporation, using the money provided by Co-op City shareholders through their carrying charges, pay an extra $1.34 million per year to keep the Co-op City maintenance workers in the union’s Westchester Suburban Health Plan. The union leadership rejected Riverbay’s offer of a 2.33% annual wage increase over each of the next four years proposed to the workers before the May 31 expiration of the previous contract. Riverbay then offered to let the union workers keep the higher-priced health (Continued on page 5)