N EWS LINE Department of Public Works Union Approves Labor Contract

By Matt Dougherty

Aer months of deliberation and a changing of the guards on the city’s negotiating team, the CSEA union representing sta at the Department of Public Works (DPW) has come to an agreement with the city to approve a new labor contract that won’t expire until December 31, 2025.

e Common Council o cial approved the contract at their March rst meeting.

Last fall, the CSEA DPW union made the decision to vote down the contract that was o ered to them because it was “not a good o er” according to DPW Superintendent Mike orne. orne said that following that decision many of those union members addressed the Common Council with their concerns in November, 2022.

Despite the setback that came as a result of comments from City Attorney Ari Lavine comparing the union members to an angry mob, orne said “many of those members expressed their concerns and their voices were heard.” He continued saying that signi cant changes to the original contract have been made and that the end result is

“a very good labor contract” that the DPW union “overwhelmingly voted in favor of.”

According to orne, “this contract xes long standing problems that past union contracts have le unsolved.”

CSEA labor relations specialist, Stephanie Engster, who represents two bargaining units in Tompkins County and two units in the City of Ithaca, said “the CSEA DPW bargaining unit reached a tentative agreement with the city in September of 2022. However, that agreement was rejected by a large majority of DPW union members.”

Engster continued saying that, “In January 2023, the city and CSEA went back to the bargaining table with the city’s newly constituted bargaining team.” e city’s bargaining team was led by Jim Romer, Earl Ready, Michelle Nunn, Mike Perhanic, and recently appointed Chief of Sta Deb Molenho . e CSEA-DPW union met with the new bargaining team twice before agreeing to the new contract. According to Engster, “the rst meeting was to go over the issues that led to the rst tentative agreement not being rati ed.” She also said that issues regarding recruitment and retention issues at DPW were discussed.

Engster continued saying that during the second meeting, “the city negotiating team responded to our concerns with an o er that was very di erent from the rst set of agreements.” A er seeing these changes, union members agreed to the contract.

In a recent interview, Mayor Laura Lewis said that the new contract focuses on recruitment and retention of workers while also addressing issues of low morale. “ is new contract addresses those three most important items: recruitment, retention, and reward,” said Mayor Lewis.

Regarding the contract approval Fi h Ward Alderperson and Mayoral candidate, Robert Cantelmo, said that he was “extremely heartened to ratify the new labor agreement for the CSEA-DPW group.” He continued saying, “ e agreement was overwhelmingly supported by both the bargaining unit and Council, and recognizes their hard work and the needs of our labor force. Our employees are the beating heart of the City and are central to what makes this community a wonderful place to live.”

In a statement from the Ithaca Public Workers Coalition — which represents the City Executive Association, Ithaca Professional Fire ghters Association, the CSEA-DPW Unit and the CSEA-Administration Unit — DPW Unit President Justin Perkins said that their negotiating team “concentrated on bringing our lowest paid employees to a livable wage and we feel good that we achieved that goal.”

Perkins continued saying that the DPW Unit “entered into a two-year contract with the City that o ered retro percentage adjustments, COVID-19 based payments, clothing, boot and tool allowance, paid CDL license renewals and much needed increases in pay.”

Even though the contract was approved, orne told the Common Council that some people who were not a liated with the union attempted to convince union members to vote against the contract.

According to orne, “people outside of the DPW union tried very hard to in uence union members to reject the contract.” He

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The City’s Special Committee on Reimagining Public Safety has released a draft report work plan and will be holding a public hearing at 6pm on Wednesday, March 8, 2023, Council Chambers, 3rd oor City Hall, 108 E Green Street.

All interested parties will be given an opportunity to be heard and may choose to attend the public hearing in-person, register to speak remotely here, or comment on the report using this comment card. You may also submit a written comment in person, or via mail to the City Clerk’s O ce, 108 E Green St, Ithaca, NY 14850.

All written comments and requests for virtual comment must be received by 3pm on Wednesday, March 8, 2023.

Hard copies of the report can also be obtained at the City Clerk’s O ce. Additional questions can be directed to Melody Faraday at mfaraday@cityo thaca.org

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