Sanitation hearing Jan. 23

In the wake of another rejection of a new contract by its workers, the board of Oceanside Sanitary District #7 has scheduled a public hearing for Jan. 23, at 7 p.m., to hear testimony from the union, management and the public regarding the terms of the contract between the district and Teamsters Local #553, the union representing the workers. The Teamsters rejected a contract offer in October and, after intense negotiations, turned down another late last month.

The hearing, which is required by state law to determine the terms of a contract in cases where negotiations have failed, will focus only on the contract year 2011. The workers have been without a contract since 2010.

“The district engaged in extensive negotiations with the union and attempted to reach a fair, long-term contract, making over a dozen separate proposals,” said the attorney for the district board, Anthony Iovino. “When the parties could not reach agreement, they sought the help of the New York State Public Employee Relations Board. PERB provided a mediator, and when that failed, PERB provided an independent fact-finder.”

Iovino added, “The fact-finder heard testimony, analyzed documents provided by both parties and rendered his impartial report, which suggested terms of settlement. The district agreed to be bound by the findings and terms. The union rejected the report in its entirety.”

Iovino said that the district then met with the union’s representatives on several occasions and made two additional offers, one of which utilized a pay scale requested by the union’s negotiating committee. Both offers were rejected.

“The board has repeatedly stated that it wants to reach a fair agreement with the union, but all efforts have been thwarted,” Iovino said. “It has been left with no alternative but to proceed to impose a contract for the 2011 year, which it will do upon such terms as it deems appropriate after the public hearing.”

Under state law, the board may impose a contract for 2010. “Then we start negotiating all over again for subsequent years,” Iovino said.

The contract the workers have turned down was based on a series of non-binding recommendations included in a 16-page report issued by state fact-finder Eugene Ginsberg lin July, 2012. Among the recommendations was that district workers pay a percentage of their health care costs for the first time.

“It is reasonable for the district to propose employee contributions [to health insurance],” Ginsberg wrote in his report, with the percentage depending on their salaries, but the workers rejected the recommendation.

Union officials were not available for comment.

Any new contract will affect drivers, helpers and laborers. The district currently has 48 union employees.

The sanitary district serves 13,000 households in Oceanside and small portions of Baldwin and East Rockaway, as well as about 950 businesses. It has a budget of $8.65 million.

No venue has been finalized for the Jan. 23 hearing.