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Oct
23

Seasons Change But CSBA Remains Here for You

By Saul Fishman
President, Civil Service Bar Association (CSBA)
From Newline, Fall 2024

It’s Autumn 2024. A bunch of us recently participated in the Labor Day Parade (see photos in this Newsline edition as well as on our CSBA (Attorney’s Facebook page). It’s now prime time for apple-picking, apple cinnamon donuts (sorry dieters) and pumpkin spice coffee. The leaves will be turning brilliant orange, red and yellow, and soon will be under foot. Maybe deep postseason baseball will return to New York (let’s hope).

What remains the same is the dedication of the CSBA staff to assist you however and whenever we can. We are here for consultation and advice on your contractual rights, and collectively have a lot of experience and a fair amount of contacts. Members can always email us at csbainfo@local237.org or call us at (212) 675-0519, and we will gladly respond quickly (reliably within one business day, usually sooner).

The benefit of an email to csbainfo@local237.org is that there are only four of us, all of whom are knowledgeable and discrete. Lee Gordon is our \Grievance Advocate/ Business Agent, and was a CSBA officer and member from ACS for many years. Aldona Vaiciunas has been the CSBA Grievance Coordinator and Office Administrator for well over twenty years, and is at least as knowledgeable as anyone here. Devin Rohena, our Receptionist/ Secretary, is our latest addition. He’s very polite, efficient, a quick learner and has a great attitude. Whatever he doesn’t know, he’ll find out and get back to you, or alternatively have the best available person contact you as soon as possible. And I’m Saul Fishman, trying to earn your trust each day for the past dozen years as CSBA President (and as CSBA Business Agent and Officer for a bunch of years before that).

Regardless of day of the week, time of day or night, grievance or arbitration schedule, vacation, illness, etc., one of us will read your message relatively soon and make sure that you are responded to courteously and professionally. Yes, the volume of emails, calls, consultations and grievances picks up from mid-September forward. Fear not. We are here for you!

P.S. Kindly advise us if there is an issue of concern in your shop. With approximately 40 agencies and 60 locations, we need your timely input. In addition to grievance and contract-related matters (referred to above), we take Health & Safety concerns very seriously.

Reserve the Date: the next CSBA General Membership Meeting will be held on Wednesday October 30th at 6PM. Kindly contact us a few days to a week ahead of time for member log-in information.

May
17

CSBA Election Results

The following individuals were duly elected as CSBA Officers, Class of 2027 on Tuesday May 14, 2024. As they ran unopposed, they were elected by one unanimous ballot cast by the Recording Secretary:

Saul Fishman (DOF), President; Lester Paverman (NYPD), First Vice President; Abbe Kalnick (ACS), Second Vice President; Kevin Hsi (HPD), Corresponding Secretary; Laura Sword (DEP), Recording Secretary; Michaele Bober (DSS), Treasurer.

Elected as Directors, Class of 2027 (unopposed) were Daniel Brickman (DOB), John Cannavo (NYCHA), Brigitte Rajacic (NYCHA), Robert Spiesman (DSS), Renee Storey (DOB), Bernard Tordesillas (DOF), and Vincent Verdi (NYPD).

Elected as Welfare Fund Trustee, Class of 2026, was Ka Ng (NYCHA).

Congratulations, all!

Apr
26

Tier 6 Pension Improvement approved in Albany

Governor Kathy Hochul has just signed legislation, following approval through both the NY State Senate and the NY State Assembly, which improves the formula to calculate Tier 6 pensions. Whereas Tier 6 is still not as favorable overall as Tier 4 and other earlier pensions, at least they are both now calculated based upon the average salaries of your three best consecutive years. This is indeed very welcome news for those of us hired since 2012!

We are pleased to announce that State Senator Robert Jackson, the Chair of the Civil Service and Pensions Committee, has agreed to address us at our virtual June 20th CSBA Annual Meeting about the changes, what we can expect next, and to answer any questions you may have.

Apr
9

Equity Funding Agreement Reached; RIPs Further Increased

CSBA has now finalized the last part of our current collective bargaining agreement, namely the 0.88% additional compensation for titles that are difficult to recruit and retain. Rather than let the city siphon these funds to help particular agencies recruit, we insisted that since we are definitely a difficult to recruit and retain title, all of our members must share in the money. Hence our Recurring Increment Payment (“RIP”) schedules have been enhanced retroactive to October 18, 2023. A copy of this fully-executed Equity Agreement dated April 8, 2024 can be found within the “CSBA Agreement” tab on this website. Please note that whenever we receive a contractual increase, these RIPs will automatically increase by the same percentage.

Feb
8

Hybrid Remote Work has started for most CSBA members

The large majority of our members are now able to work remotely for up to two days per week, much as we did, productively, from home five days a week during the worst eighteen months of the pandemic. There are still a very few mayoral agencies, however, which still have not announced a start date despite our collective bargaining agreement and our continued outreach to the Mayor’s Office of Labor Relations (“OLR”) and individually to the agencies. This delay is harming morale, productivity and agencies’ ability to retain and attract talented employees including Agency Attorneys. Ultimately, the public suffers when this happens via longer delays and poorer work quality caused by needless vacancies and less experienced new colleagues (eventually if and when they are hired).

City be warned: Further delay will force us to utilize all available means to obtain compliance with this common-sense, contractually agreed-to program!

Oct
12

Payment Dates Confirmed

Some of the benefits of our recently-ratified contract are about to be realized. OLR has confirmed that for most of us, the ratification bonus will be paid on November 9th. For NYCHA attorneys, the ratification bonus pay date is November 16th. Retroactive wage increases relating back to 4/18/2021, 4/18/2022 and 4/18/2023 are confirmed for November 24th, except for NYCHA employees, whose retro pay date is November 30th. Salary increases and RIP changes are also expected for November 24th (November 30th for NYCHA), although we are told that “there may be certain instances where changes must be manually completed at the agency level that may result in a delay.”

Although OLR has not yet provided the Deferred Compensation Plan calendar showing how far in advance one must arrange an additional one-time increase in money to be deferred to minimize an immediate tax consequence, a call directly to Deferred Compensation [212-306-7760] advised that October 26th is the last day for increased deferral out of the November 9th ratification bonus check, and November 9th is the last date to schedule increased deferral for the November 24th retroactive check. We were told that the above can be best accomplished by first registering on their website www.voya.com/nycdcp. Please note that CSBA does not provide tax advice, and that you may wish to consult with your tax professional regarding the benefits and potential drawbacks of taking any such action.

Sep
27

CSBA Contract Overwhelmingly Ratified!

On Wednesday September 27th, our members overwhelmingly ratified the terms of the CSBA 2021-2026 Collective Bargaining Agreement with the City of New York. The election was overseen by the American Arbitration Association, which certified the results, with more than 99% of those who cast a ballot voting in the affirmative. Thank you to the CSBA collective bargaining committee and to all who voted!

As soon as we receive information on payment dates and the rollout of the Remote Work pilot program for our titles, we will gladly pass it along. Needless to say, nothing is easy or quick with the City or with most agencies, but we will definitely be advocating for as rapid and equitable implementation as possible.

P.S.- Sometimes members hear or read about how their unit or agency plans to proceed before we do. Always feel free to contact us with such information or concerns via csbainfo@local237.org. Thanks again.

Aug
23

Contract ratification ballots being mailed on Aug. 29; ballots to be tallied on Sept. 27; special online member-only meeting on Sept. 6, 2023 at 6PM

We have now received the fully-executed Memorandum of Agreement memorializing the terms of the proposed new 2021-2026 collective bargaining agreement. Its ratification is up to you, as CSBA members in good standing. Ballots will be mailed to you by the American Arbitration on or shortly after August 29, and must be received no later than 9am September 27, the day that they will tally the ballots and certify the results. Please follow their instructions carefully!

A special online informational members-only meeting will be held on Wednesday September 6 at 6PM to discuss the proposed agreement, which our Board of Directors overwhelmingly recommends for approval. Please reach out to us at csbainfo@local237.org for log-in information. Again, this is a member-only event, as only members will be able to vote on the ratification of this contract. Please be on the lookout for a separate mailing from us at CSBA containing explanatory materials including the Memorandum of Agreement. This mailing should arrive ahead of the ballots from the American Arbitration Association. Thank you for your patience and support throughout this process.

Aug
4

Tentative Agreement Reached!

We have reached a collective bargaining agreement with the City, subject to member ratification. The duration is from (retroactively) April 18, 2021 through October 17, 2026 (5 years, 6 months total). The first four years (4/18/21 through 4/18/24) each have a 3.00% wage increase. The last year (4/18/25) has a 3.25% increase. RIPs increase whenever and at the same rate as wages. In addition, the 6, 12, 18 and 20-year RIPS will increase an additional $402 as of 4/18/23. Longevity will increase by 3.25% effective 4/18/25, and the Welfare Fund will receive an increase of $300 per year per member, allowing our Fund to continue to provide the benefits we have come to expect (which cost significantly more each year).

There’s more (details to follow), including a very similar Telework pilot program as DC 37 received. As soon as we receive the required Memorandum of Agreement from OLR, we will contact the American Arbitration Association to send you a copy of the MoA along with a ballot for a ratification vote.

Thanks as always for your patience and support. Watch your mailbox for two letters – one directly from us at CSBA explaining the above and the related process, and one from the American Arbitration Association containing the ballot for the ratification vote, which you should very promptly open and return as per their instructions!

Jul
11

Collective Bargaining Update

Our next bargaining session with the City (OLR, OMB, et al) is on Friday July 28th. Will keep you posted, and are definitely cognizant of everyone’s desire to wrap up negotiations ASAP in order to receive retroactive and prospective raises, a ratification bonus of $3,000 (for those on payroll on the date the contract gets ratified) and some ability to telework!

Please be advised that the delay until now has been the City’s failure to provide the costing information for, among other things, necessary RIP and Welfare Fund increases. OLR asserts that they are short on staff to calculate and verify costing for so many unions at once.