OLR MEETING SUMMARY-- DECEMBER 12, 2007

MEETING SUMMARY

On December 12, 2007 and at the request of the City’s Office of Labor Relations (OLR), a meeting took place at OLR to update all concerned parties on future plans for ECB. The following were in attendance:

Present for UFT-- Howard Schoor, Ilene Weinerman, Scott Kegelman, Sandra Frelix
Present for OLR-- Richard Yates, Jean Brewer, Victor Levy
Present for the City/Management-- David Goldin, Carol Post, Joanne Weiss
Present for CSBA-- Ilene Shifrin, Gloria Johnson, Ann Biebel, Harry Vee
Present for OATH—Charles McFaul, Roberto Velez

David Goldin provided an overview of planned governance changes at ECB toward the goal of addressing speculation, questions, and concerns that have arisen among ALJs about the future of ECB. He expressed a desire to begin meeting with groups of ALJs, with union representatives present upon request, in order to disseminate this information and “allow people to feel comfortable”.

Goldin presented background information on ECB as well as its current governance structure. He also described the findings of the recently conducted operational assessment which, in his words, “identified a governance strategy and where we want ECB to go”. In summary, the assessment sets forth a rationale for governance changes based upon perceived needs to increase professionalism, improve customer service, integrate technology, and facilitate ECB’s independence from other agencies for which it renders decisions.

During the discussion, Goldin outlined a three step plan for implementation:

At the next ECB Board meeting on January 17, 2008, the Commissioner of DEP will delegate her position to the Chief ALJ at OATH. This will result in the appointment of a new Executive Director within ECB. According to Goldin, there will be no other changes to ECB at that time.

In spring 2008, legislation (now being drafted) will be introduced at the City Council proposing one change to section 1404 of the City Charter. This change will transfer oversight of ECB from DEP to OATH. As described by Goldin, ECB’s personnel, responsibilities, locations, and assignments will continue.

The third step will be introduction of state legislation in fall 2008 to discontinue ECB and assign responsibility for its cases to a newly created division within OATH. Goldin again indicated that the same ALJs, procedures, and offices would remain, with the following exceptions—
(1) Appeals will be handled by ALJs rather than the Board, and
(2) The balance of full time and part time ALJs may be “reassessed”.

With regard to the second point above, Goldin stressed that his goal is to have the “best, most professionally skilled core of ALJs based on the people that are there now”. Toward this end, he acknowledged that while full timers may provide “greater flexibility”, he also recognizes that many ALJs currently working part time might not be available to accept full time positions. In addition, he indicated that the impact of the current 1000 hour cap would eventually need to be discussed.

Upon conclusion of the presentation, the meeting was opened to questions. Representatives from CSBA declined to ask any questions, stating they did not wish to do so in an open forum.

Below are excerpts of Management’s responses to specific questions raised by the UFT:

Regarding the issue of the DEP Commissioner’s delegation of authority to the Chief ALJ at OATH—Goldin was specific in stating that it is a “permanent divestiture of authority” aimed at getting DEP “out of the business of running ECB”. He cited as the legal basis section 1404 of the City Charter, which grants Board members the power to delegate their functions and responsibilities.

At the UFT’s request, Goldin agreed to provide a copy of the legal opinion on this matter.

Regarding possible choices for the new Executive Director—Goldin reported that certain individuals are under consideration, but he is not prepared to divulge the names at this time.

Regarding changes likely to take place in the daily functioning of ECB—Goldin identified various advantages that governance by OATH might provide, including new technology and more creative recruitment/training options.

Regarding the optimum balance of full time and part time ALJs—Goldin indicated that this would have to be “systematically studied” with the effects of changes such as electronic case management taken into account; hence, he does not have enough information now to provide specific numbers.

Regarding the need for state legislation to complete the transfer of authority to OATH—Goldin indicated that such legislation would be necessary to allow statutorily for hearing officers who are not five year appointees, as set forth in section 1049 of the City Charter.

At the conclusion of the meeting, OLR indicated a willingness to respond to further questions or hold additional meetings as the need arises.

An update

The Negotiating Committee has been meeting almost every week since mid-October, and we have been wrestling with the issues that will face us as we sit down with management to negotiate a contract. We put together a rough draft of what we saw as the most important elements to be included in the first contract, and last week we sat down with the UFT's team of negotiators that will be representing us. They went over our proposal in great detail and sent us back to refine our ideas and to consider some of the realities of hammering out a contract with the city. One of the biggest challenges is to avoid unforeseen consequences; we don't want to enshrine a principle in the contract only to realize later that it harms our position.

We are meeting with the UFT's team again in mid-December to present them with a clearer idea of what we want. On some of our demands, they think we might be trying to have our cake and eat it, too. Personally, I'm a big proponent of eating cake, but their point is well taken. Our goal is to improve our position, to keep the best parts of our job while making sure that the worst parts are eliminated and that no one gets left out. It's hard work, but I'm confident that it will be worth the effort in the end.

TransitBenefit Program

You can save hundreds of dollars a year by using the NYC TransitBenefit Program. It allows you to pay for your subway and bus fares with pre-tax dollars. The program is flexible and it is simple to sign up for it. To find out more and to sign up, just click on the following link: LINK TO TRANSIT BENEFITS

We now have an e-mail address

If you want to reach the negotiating committee and you're not sure when you will see any of us at the office, you can send an e-mail to newyorkcityaljs+negotiations@gmail.com. Members of the committee will be checking that mailbox periodically and will try to get back to you promptly.

ALJ Negotiating Committee-- Election Results

In response to requests from some members, the Negotiating Committee has decided to release the vote totals from the Negotiating Committee election. The ballots were counted on October 18th:



Candidate Name-Vote Total


Scott Kegelman--122

Linda March--111

Jay Litwin--102

Ethan Finneran--89

Andrea Pfeiffer--86

Myra Michael--76

Sandra Frelix --76

Christopher Stephens--75

Neil Tolciss-- 64

Len Morton--61

Wayne Greene-- 60

Samuel Freund--48

Pat Cardoso--45

Tim Driscoll--30

Lisa Strax--26

Richard Smolian--20

Martin Jaffe-- 13

Summary of Meeting Between the UFT and OLR

UFT/OLR MEETING SUMMARY—October 23, 2007

Present for the Union: Howard Schoor, Ilene Weinerman, Ethan Finneran, Sandra Frelix, Scott Kegelman

Present for the City: David Goldin, Joanna Weiss

Present for OLR: Richard Yates, Jean Brewer, Victor Levy

David Goldin outlined a two part proposal for “governance changes” at ECB:

The long term proposal, projected to take place within a year, requires state legislation that would discontinue ECB and assign responsibility for ECB’s cases to OATH. Under this plan, a new division called the Violation Hearings Division would be created within OATH. Current ECB judges, administrators, and office locations would continue as part of OATH, but certain procedural changes (for example, in the appeals process) would occur.

The interim proposal requires City Council legislation and would leave ECB intact, but substitute the Chief ALJ of OATH as Chairperson of ECB, replacing the Commissioner of DEP. This would result in the appointment of a new Executive Director and Chief ALJ within ECB.

During his presentation, Goldin asserted that neither of these plans would result in changes to the terms and conditions of employment for per diem ALJs, and that “no one has contemplated the elimination of per diems”. According to him, at ECB there are now approximately 25 individuals in full time ALJ positions (some of which are supervisory/managerial in nature) and 200 hearing officers. He also indicated, however, that there has been discussion about the drawbacks to the heavy reliance on per diems and the possible benefits to increasing the number of full timers, which he identified as providing more flexible scheduling and more control over training options.

Below are excerpts of Management’s responses to specific issues raised by the Union:

Regarding the Union’s request for a copy of a July memo that sets forth Goldin’s original proposal for changes at ECB—OLR replied that it was “an internal memo, not intended for dissemination and not for public consumption”.

Regarding the number of per diems who will work at ECB-- Goldin replied “it’s not our plan to reduce the number of ALJs on the roster or move from per diem to full time. This has to do with ECB governance, it is not designed to change the numbers”.

Regarding the future mix of part time and full time positions—OLR replied that “there is no change in the near term, whether we have a plan or concept or thought bubble over future staffing is not ripe for discussion here”.

Regarding the impact of this plan on TLC and DOHMH—Goldin replied that his proposal affects only ECB and that there is no thought to extending it to the other agencies due to the differences between ECB and the other tribunals. According to him, unlike ECB, TLC and DOHMH are primarily in the business of regulating licensees.

Regarding unionized employees at OATH—OLR replied that there are none as OATH employees are classified as exempt. They hold a different title, and no conversion to that title is seen for the short term. “In the long term, anything is possible, but if it came to that we would bring everyone in and tell you if there was a plan afoot”.

The meeting concluded with the following statements:

From OLR— “In summary, not much is going to happen. Those working now will see no significant change. Someday it might be a big thing, for now nothing is going on. The UFT is the sole, certified representative. At OLR we deal with certified bargaining agents”.

From the Union: “This group came to us for representation, we didn’t come to them. We will put the full power of the UFT behind them. I ask and urge you to bring us into the process. We will support, aid, and help you, as long as we are part of the process”.

Update from Howard Schoor, UFT Brooklyn Borough Representative

October 26, 2007


Dear ALJ Members:

It has been a busy month for our newly formed chapter.

The ballots in the election to determine our negotiating committee representatives were counted on October 18th. As a result of the voting, the following ALJs have been elected to serve on the negotiating committee—Ethan Finneran (ECB/DOH), Sandra Frelix (TLC), Scott Kegelman (TLC/ECB), Jay Litwin (ECB/DOH), Linda March (ECB/TLC), Myra Michael (ECB/DOH), Andrea Pfeiffer (ECB/DOH), Christopher Stevens (ECB/DOH), and Neil Tolciss (ECB).

Our first committee meeting took place on Monday, October 22nd. During this meeting, there was discussion as to whether the composition of the committee was adequate to achieve our goal and promise of proportionately representing each of the three agencies. Toward that end, the committee has offered positions as non-voting alternates to Len Morton (ECB/TLC) and Wayne Greene (ECB/DOH), the nominees who received the next highest vote totals in the election.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the ALJs who previously served on the organizing committee, as well as the nominees and those who will now serve on the negotiating committee. Your support, as well as that of the entire membership, will be crucial to our upcoming contract campaign. We expect to begin formulating our bargaining demands at an upcoming committee meeting next week. If anyone has not completed our bargaining survey or has further ideas concerning our bargaining priorities, please feel free to communicate your thoughts to one of the committee members as soon as possible.

One of our goals as we move forward with the negotiation process is to provide a means for you, our members, to keep abreast of our progress and significant events affecting the chapter. In addition to informational mailings, the committee is considering various other means of keeping everyone informed, including a chapter website that we hope will be up and running shortly.

On another topic, an important first dialogue with the City’s Office of Labor Relations (OLR) took place on October 23rd in response to the UFT’s request for a meeting to clarify the long-rumored plans to restructure ECB. During this meeting, Administrative Justice Coordinator David Goldin outlined a two part proposal for governance changes at ECB, which in the long term would result in discontinuance of the agency and assignment of ECB’s caseload to a new division within OATH. He also responded to questions from the Union and several of your negotiating committee representatives on a variety of issues. Details of the proposal and notes from the meeting are included in this mailing.

On October 25th, a visible contingent of approximately twenty ALJs and UFT representatives made its presence felt at the ECB Board Meeting in order to hear David Goldin’s first public presentation of his proposal. Suffice to say that his plan was less than warmly embraced by several outspoken members of the Board, which ultimately would be dissolved upon elimination of the agency. Mr. Goldin was questioned about his lack of communication with ECB employees over the last few months regarding the impending changes, and cited the UFT’s representation petition and subsequent union election as reasons that he had been unable to have “conversations about the terms and conditions” for ALJs. He also indicated that he expects a draft of the City Council legislation, which is required for the interim phase of his proposal, to be completed within the next week or so.

The UFT will continue to closely monitor developments on all fronts and take any actions appropriate as your certified bargaining representative to protect your rights. You can be assured that you will have the full power of the UFT behind you as we begin this next phase of our work together.


In Solidarity,


Howard Schoor
Brooklyn Borough Representative



CC: Randi Weingarten, UFT President

Negotiating Committee meets with UFT negotiators

On Monday night, the negotiating committee met with three of the UFT's top negotiators who will be representing us at the table when talks begin with the city to reach a contract. They repeated some important concepts that we have heard before, especially that this process will not happen overnight, and that the union has only so much control over how long it takes. The length of this process will depend upon the positions that the union and the city take and the level of cooperation between the parties, and while they cannot give us an exact time frame, think months, not weeks. They asked us to put together a list of demands that we have for the city so that we can formulate proposed language for a contract. Since we have already tabulated the results from this summer's survey, we were able to discuss the top priorities with the negotiating team in general terms. We have scheduled another meeting with the negotiators, before Thanksgiving, to present our specific demands, and we have also scheduled two more meetings before then to discuss amongst ourselves the priorities of our colleagues and how they should be set forth in a contract.

Throughout this process, the negotiating committee has to weigh the virtues of open communication with the risk of letting the other side know too much about what our desires and priorities are. This website is open to the public, and even if we were to restrict access, I doubt that its contents would stay secret for long. The committee has decided to tell the membership as much as it can without jeopardizing our bargaining stance. I hope that you will understand that when we are being reticent, it is only to help get a better contract for all of us.

I am optimistic that the UFT will get us a significantly better deal than what we have now. The negotiators were eager to listen to us, and they answered questions that some of us have had for a long time. They said that we will be with them at the negotiating table, and I am looking forward to this.

Introduction

I have started this blog at the suggestion of our friends at the UFT who have found that having an independent website can be an effective way of getting news out to the membership quickly and cheaply. For now, the negotiating committee and the UFT will be posting news as it happens. In the future, we might add features such as comments (i.e., readers offering their feedback) as well as Web 2.0 features like an RSS feed. If you don't know what that is, don't worry, it won't hurt you. This blog is not meant to replace the standard methods of communication, just enhance them. Keep checking back, as we should be posting news regularly as the process of negotiating a contract continues.

Christopher Stephens