Larger unions pressing ahead
Recent settlements deemed no factor
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff, 3/9/2004
Boston's largest employee unions said yesterday they would not be influenced by recent settlements reached by smaller labor groups, and several made plans to turn up the heat on Mayor Thomas M. Menino in the days to come.


The Boston Police Patrolmen's Association will unveil an anti-Menino website today designed to mimic the official site of the Democratic National Convention, which will be held in Boston in July. The police union is holding a press conference this morning to roll out a "national recruitment campaign" to bring officers from around the country to picket outside the convention. On Thursday, the Boston Teachers Union is slated to launch a $40,000 cable television ad campaign, with spots in English and Spanish, aimed at building support for teachers' negotiations with the city. Tomorrow, the teachers are scheduled to vote on whether to hold a one-day strike, an action their union hasn't taken since 1993.Unions that form the Boston Unity Coalition met yesterday to renew their vows to stick together in the weeks and months ahead. They welcomed another union to their ranks, one representing school bus drivers and bus monitors. "The settlements are not creating any pressure on the other unions to settle," said Peter Wright, a spokesman for the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, which represents about 1,650 city workers. The coalition includes police officers, firefighters, teachers, and members of AFSCME and Service Employees International Union.

In the past week, Menino was able to show his first real progress in labor talks, with the city announcing tentative agreements with three bargaining units. Dennis DiMarzio, the city's chief operating officer, said he expects those agreements will make it easier to settle other contracts.

"These contracts that we've settled do send a message," DiMarzio said. "It has considerable impact. They represent the everyday person, just like the other ones. The only difference is those unions have come to the table and worked at the table, instead of posturing."

But even if the pending deals are approved by rank-and-file union members, roughly 16,000 of the city's 17,000 employees will remain without contracts. At this point, it's still not possible for other unions to judge how generous the city is being with its unions, because Boston and union officials are keeping details of the tentative agreements under tight wraps.

Under the terms of their agreement with the city, local leaders of the Salaried Employees of North America will not discuss their contract's provisions with the union's 700 members until a few hours before they're scheduled to vote on it March 24.

Leaders of the two bargaining units of the Boston Police Detectives Benevolent Society will share details with their executive board members tomorrow and with the general membership in advance of their scheduled vote next Monday. The detective union's president, Tom Montgomery, said that while it's impossible at this point to gauge his members' support for the pact, he believes it will be approved.

"We feel confident that it's a fair package," Montgomery said. "Otherwise, we wouldn't have brought it back."

But other labor leaders said they weren't so sure. Joseph G. Gillespie, president of the Boston Police Superior Officers Federation, said he would not be surprised if the detectives' pact is rejected, if the raises called for are similar to those proposed by the city for other unions.

"A memorandum of understanding is a long way from ratification," Gillespie said. "Hopefully it's not a financially inferior package. What other unions think is fair and equitable for their members may not be similar to what we consider fair and equitable for ours."

The teachers union will begin an advertising campaign tomorrow that highlights teachers' demand for smaller class sizes and for raises that keep pace with the rising cost of living in Boston. In an unusual move designed to reach a broad audience, Spanish-language ads will appear on some English-language stations.

Richard Stutman, the teachers union's president, said the settlements with small bargaining units will have no impact on the union's 7,000 members. "They haven't settled with any large union yet, and they haven't settled with anyone who's been active in the coalition," Stutman said. "On the substantial issues, we are not close. They haven't made us an offer that really merits our attention."

DiMarzio called on the BTU to abandon talk of a strike and join the city in settling the contract by the end of this month.

He said the proposed job action "hurts children and parents and could very well backfire on them."

"I really believe the best thing the BTU could do is to put aside the one-day strike and dedicate the month of March to getting a contract done," DiMarzio said.

Andrea Estes of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Rick Klein can be reached at rklein (at) globe.com.

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