NYC, Sanitation Union Reach Contract Agreement
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- The city and its sanitation workers have reached a tentative labor agreement affecting more than 6,000 workers, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.
The proposed contract with the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association would begin retroactively on Sept. 21, 2011 and expire on Jan. 19, 2019.
It would provide 11 percent in raises over about seven years. The agreement will save $3.4 billion in health care spending through 2018 and $1.3 billion in recurring savings every year after that.
The city and the union will work together to redesign the waste collection system to achieve the goal of zero garbage deposited in landfills by 2030.
Sanitation is the first of the big three city uniformed unions to reach a deal.
In all, 10 uniformed unions representing 80 percent of unionized workers will now be under contract, WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported. None of the unions had deals when he took office in January 2014.
"This agreement conforms to the pattern set by the previous nine uniformed services union contracts," de Blasio said. "There'll be a similar raise in benefits."
"This is a well-deserved day for the men and women of the Uniformed Sanitationmen's Association," union President Harry Nespoli said in a news release. "After nearly four years without a contract, it is a pleasure to deal with an administration that comes to the bargaining table with the goal of reaching a contract that meets the needs of our members."
Police, firefighters and correction officers are still without contracts. The police union is in arbitration.
"I wish them luck," Nespoli said during a news conference Tuesday. "They're all good negotiators."
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