NYC Gazette

Brendan McGuire, Chief Counsel to the Mayor and City Hall: Good morning, everyone. Back again. I'm Brendan McGuire, chief counsel to the mayor and City Hall. Mayor Adams has said since day one that public safety is a major priority of this administration and public safety requires investing in the men and women who keep us safe every day in all of our uniformed agencies, and that's why we're so excited today to announce the tentative contract agreement. For more on that, I'll turn it over to our Mayor Eric Adams.

Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you. Thanks so much, Brendan, and really thank you to the men and women who are here part of our Public Safety Team. If it's on the supervisory roles in the police department, if it's the men and women who protect us in our jail system, we are really pleased with the series of contract negotiations and fulfilling the promise that we are not going to ignore those who are providing the services to the city. In February, and I think that people need to be clear on this, in February, we had 96 percent of our contracts that were expired going back years and unable to come to the table to come to a clear agreement, but I'm pretty sure many of the presidents of the union stated to themselves, "We have a blue collar mayor coming in so we're going to get a blue collar agreement and, finally, our guys and ladies are going to get the contract they deserve." We have now completed 75 percent of the union contracts and we are going to continue until we complete them all.

This administration will always stand up for working people and those who serve this city and today I'm proud to announce that the City of New York has reached a five-year tentative contract agreement with the Uniformed Officers Coalition, the coalition of 11 uniform unions representing the more than 32,000 city employees, including the NYPD, FDNY, DSNY, and the Department of Corrections. The agreement includes wage increases ranging from 3.25 percent to 4 percent over the contract period. It's fully covered by the funding set aside by our amazing budget team and our labor of Renee and her crew over there. They've been able to come up with a fair deal that's good for the members and good for taxpayers. We've set aside money in our labor reserve for Fiscal Year 2024 and we are in alignment with that of reaching both those goals. And this agreement underscores how important our uniformed officers are to our city's success. They are the bedrock that this city is built on that we must be safe.

The prerequisite to our prosperity, I said over and over again, is public safety and justice. With today's settlement, as I indicated, 75 percent of the city workforce is now under contract. And I want to say that again, 75 percent of the city's workforce is now under contract. And not only are we supporting the working people who keep our city safe and clean, but we're also providing them with the resources they need to support themselves and their families. For far too long, that has not been the match that these union leaders have had with these contract negotiations. But they have it now. This is a great deal for workers and fair to city taxpayers, and it wouldn't have happened without the hardworking partnership of all of these 11 union leaders, their boards, the presidents, and all those who are affiliated.

I want to thank the commissioner Office of Labor Relations, Renee "Get no sleep" Campion, Jacques Jiha, Brendan McGuire, and our entire contract negotiation team. And I want to really thank the good faith and support from these leaders of the unions and our entire city workforce across this entire city. They went through a lot over the last few years and we want to make sure that we are there for them and state that we support them and continue to stop the hemorrhaging of city employees and show the attractiveness of working in city government. I want to thank Commissioner Sewell, who's represented today by Deputy Commissioner Caban, Commissioner Kavanagh, Sanitation Commissioner Tisch, and Correction Commissioner Molina for helping to get this done and for their continued support.

As I always say, as a former member of the New York City Police Department who retired, I know how dedicated city first line workers are and we want to continue to give them the support they deserve. Congratulations to all that are involved. We're looking forward to the other final 25 percent of our union representation and we know we are going to get that done and get the ratifications that we need and now the leadership will put forward this to their membership. Thank you very much. Good job, folks.

McGuire: Thank you, mayor. And now for more detail on the agreement, I'll introduce our Labor Commissioner Renee Campion.

Commissioner Renee Campion, Office of Labor Relations: Thank you, Brendan. I'm very pleased and proud to have reached this agreement. It's very significant, it is, of course, pattern conforming, and all of the 11 union presidents that are here today worked extremely hard with me and my team to get this done. I want to thank the mayor, of course. I also want to thank the four commissioners of the Uniformed Agencies, Commissioner Sewell, Commissioner Kavanagh, Commissioner Tisch, and Commissioner Molina for their everlasting support along with their teams during these negotiations. I also want to just thank the entire City Hall leadership team. First, Deputy Mayor Wright, Deputy Mayor Phil Banks, Chief Advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Brendan, and Chief of Staff Camille Varlack. I'd also like to thank OMB Director Jacques Jiha and his team who are always standing with me side by side during all of these bargains.

I want to thank each of the 11 union presidents, Paul DiGiacomo, president of the Detectives Endowment Association, Vinny Vallelong, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, Lou Turco, president of the Lieutenant's Benevolent Association, Chris Monahan of the Police Captains Endowment Association, Andy Ansbro, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, Jim McCarthy, Uniformed Fire Officers Association, Benny Boscio, president of the Correction Officers, Patrick Ferraiuolo, president of the Correction Captains, Joe Russo, president of the Assistant Deputy Wardens, Deputy Wardens & Deputy Wardens in Command, Joe Mannion, president of Sanitation Officers, and last but not least, Iggy Azzara, president of the Sanitation Chiefs. I just want to thank them all personally for all the work that they did in getting to this agreement together.

This is the second uniformed coalition deal that I've negotiated as Commissioner and this agreement that involves 11 unions is the largest coalition that the City of New York has settled in over 20 years. We've always had frank and honest talks and I appreciate each of them for all of that. I also want to finally thank my negotiating team, my first deputy, Dan Pollak, and my legal and research teams as well. This settlement, as I said, is pattern conforming. It is pattern conforming with the deal that we reached with the PBA over two months ago. Let me outline the terms. 

On the first day of the first year of each of the respective 11 contracts, there will be a 3.25 percent general wage increase. On the first day of the second year of the respective contracts, a 3.25 percent general wage increase that is compounded. First day of the third year of the respective contracts, 3.50 percent. First day of the fourth year, 3.50 percent and the first day of the fifth year of the contract, 4 percent. I note that all of the agreements have different terms. Some go back as far as August of 2020. Others have expired throughout '21, '22 and some up to expire in '23.

In addition, finally, there's a 0.21 percent economic benefit that is in all of these contracts that we are going to use to spend to address recruitment and retention issues. That will be negotiated separately with each individual union, as well as their individual unit terms. We've reached another milestone today and I look forward to, as the mayor said, reaching agreements with the other 25 percent of our union workforce.

McGuire: Thank you, Renee. As the mayor and Renee have indicated, today's agreement involves 11 separate unions. And while we would love to hear from the heads of the 11 in the spirit of agreement today, they have agreed to have 1 of the 11 leaders speak on their behalf. And so with that I'll introduce President Lou Turco of the Lieutenant Benevolent Association.

Lou Turco, President of the Lieutenants Benevolent Association: Good morning. Unfortunately I was picked to do this.

No, seriously, I wanted to take a moment and we have to acknowledge and thank some people behind the scenes with this. So first, the 10 groups behind me, the 10 other union presidents. We got together like Commissioner Campion said, this is the largest coalition that we had put together. And we worked together as a group. We all had our different views, we all talked about it respectfully and came to a point that we were able to go forward, and discuss a future with the contract during this round.

This is my third coalition as the union president of the LBA. And like Commissioner Campion said, this is the second between us two. I really have to take a moment to thank her and her team. I don't know how she does it. She's juggling eight balls in the air and it has to keep 'em all up in the air at the same time. And every time you call her, she answers her phone, she gets back to you, her team gets you. Now listen, we don't always agree and that's fine. But it's respectful. We get back. And the one thing in our business that's really important is truth and honesty. And she always kept to her word and that's all we're asking for. And she's always done that and her team. And I really appreciate Renee, everything you've done for us.

And this doesn't get done without the leadership from City Hall and the mayor. We sat down, like I said, this is my third coalition. And when you sit down, it reflects what City Hall feels about your unions, and what you do for a living. And it was clear right from the beginning that this was going to be a respectful, thoughtful contract to acknowledge the men and women that stand behind us.

We're coming out of Covid, getting back to normal. What normal is in this world today, no one knows. But we're getting back to some normalcy. But during the Covid times, which isn't that long ago, the men and women we represent behind us had to come to work every day. Every day they had to come to work. I was a lieutenant during 9/11 and I had to go home at the end of the day, but I never worried about my family getting sick from the dust that I was breathing in. I just left my clothes in the driveway. And that was the end of it. When these men and women went home from work with Covid, the invisible virus, you had to worry about your family, your wife, your husband, your kids, your grandparents. And they went to work every day.

We don't have the option to work from home. Sanitation has to go to work every day and clean the streets, plow the streets. Fire has to go to work every day. They have to go into that burning building to get people out and put the fire out. Corrections has to go work every day into the correctional facilities and keep some very dangerous people inside so they don't go out and hurt New Yorkers. And then the NYPD has to go out every day and deal with people that are running around with guns and knives, and people that are having emotional distress, getting them to the hospital. We don't have the option to work from home.

And we are in a unique position today to have a mayor of the City of New York that has done this before. So when he says he understands, he truly does understand 'cause he wore the badge, he wore the bulletproof vest, he understands. So, again, this is a big moment for us, but this doesn't happen without the guardians from City Hall and the mayor. So I really want to appreciate the mayor. And we all do back here understand where this comes from and we thank you for this. Thank you.

Mayor Adams: How are you?

Question: Good. I was wondering are there any work flexibility agreements in this, which I think they've been a part of some of the other agreements you've announced.

Mayor Adams: Well that's a hard one. Outside the 12 hours and Renee, I don't know if you want to touch on that, but I think the president of the LBA said it best, they can't do this remotely. You can't put out a fire from home. You can't get a gun up the street from home. That's the uniqueness about the men and women that they represent. This is not a remote profession. This profession ensures that other people can do things remotely because they're there making sure the city is safe, clean, and free from destruction. So Renee, is there any flexibility you want to talk about?

Commissioner Campion: Sure. So just to sort of clarify, this is the uniform coalition agreement for the economic term. Each union will now come back to my office and negotiate their separate unit agreements. That will include my working with each of the uniformed agencies in talking about different non-economic discussions. And also, if they at any point want to move around any of the money that's already embedded in the contract. But the economic terms are set.

Question: Here, Post. So I have two questions. So regarding the SBA contract do former President Ed Mullins’ embezzling of hundreds of thousands of dollars negatively impact this contract negotiation and do the membership lose benefits?

Mayor Adams: No. And that case is going through the system. I think that has no indication of the great leadership that the SBA has, and the men and women who wear that sergeant shield, which when we talk about frontline those men and women are on the frontline of the frontline of being that frontline supervision. And so, I think when an individual does something wrong, it should not tarnish those who are carrying out their job every day. And in no way was that part of the contractual negotiations.

Question: Okay. So did the comptroller perform an audit on this?

Mayor Adams: Did the controller...?

Question: Perform an audit on this?

Mayor Adams: Of who? Of the SBA? His name is Brad Lander. I think you got to reach out to him and find out what actions he took.

Question: Was Commissioner Sewell involved in these negotiations and was she an important part of it? And if so, why isn't she here today?

Mayor Adams: All of our commissioners have feedback and input in these negotiations. Commissioner Sewell, it's her final two weeks. She has a lot to do and we had a great conversation this morning as she continues to complete her two weeks, and do the briefing that I need of what's going on. But she's represented here today by the first deputy commissioner.

Question: Sorry if you already mentioned this, but what is the overall cost of the contract and how does that breakdown across the unions?

Commissioner Campion: So the cost of the contract is already in the budget and the total cost is $4 billion.

Question: I guess this question is for EMS and I think a lot of it was covered under the DC 37 contract, but I wanted to ask, I know there was some concern for members because there is such a gap between the pay between EMS [inaudible], even within the fire department and fire department employees. So I want to ask if this contract helps them, or was that already settled with DC 37 and if there would at any point be a wage increase?

Commissioner Campion: So we haven't started bargaining yet with the EMS locals. They are a local, two locals actually under DC 37. The contract that we settled in February for them did not actually directly impact them except to the extent of course it does set the pattern. But we will be bargaining with them and I look forward to those conversations.

Question: Hi Mr. Mayor, you mentioned talking to Commissioner Sewell this morning. Can you tell us what she said and what her reaction to this agreement was?

Mayor Adams: No. You guys know I don't talk about private conversations.

Question: The city has now negotiated several expensive contracts with unions.

Mayor Adams: Several?

Question: Expensive contracts with unions. Are there cuts expected to the city budget?

Mayor Adams: These are fair contracts, and I think far too long we've asked the men and women to make sure our families are safe without realizing that they have families, too. These are husbands and wives, and sons and daughters, and caregivers of... We just have really not understood that public protection is the foundation of our city. And I ran on that, I've made it clear that safety is everything, and I'm not going to just talk the talk. Any New Yorker that states they don't want to make sure a correction officer is paid a good salary to keep some of the dangerous people from harming themselves and others or the 10,000 guns that were removed off the streets of the City of New York, or how this city has continued to get cleaner and cleaner… This is how we enjoy the fabric of our city, so this is not an expensive contract. This is an investment in the infrastructure of our city. This is the backbone of our city right here that's standing with me. And whatever we have to do to keep them happy is what we need to do because I want to be happy and our citizens want to be happy. So this is not expensive, this is a great investment.

Okay, let's do it for you. Off-topic. Thanks, folks. Thanks. Thank you all. 

Question: I got two questions. The first one's on Commissioner Sewell. Are you or is anyone in the administration making kind of a behind the scenes push to keep her on as commissioner? And if so, what's that look like?

Mayor Adams: First, I did a lengthy on topic, off topic the other day talking about the commissioner. As of that day, that book is closed. There's no more conversations I'm having on that. I've answered all the questions I'm going to answer. I have a city to run. I was blessed to have a great commissioner who assisted in bringing down crime, and we're looking forward to the next chapter in the NYPD's very rich history. But I have no more questions on Commissioner Sewell that I'm going to answer.

Question: The other question I have is on migrants. You mentioned recently the prospect of housing migrants at Gracie Mansion and that there were some kind of legal issues to get hashed out. Do you have any clarity on what those issues are, how they can be kind of addressed?

Mayor Adams: I think that leading this challenge of the migrant problem is both substantive and symbolic. And as I always say, the good generals lead from the front. They don't send their troops into battle and ask, "How was the war?" They lead them into battle. And so the symbolism of saying, "Hey, I'm willing to put a homeless family in Gracie," is that symbolism? There seems to be some legal issues with that. The law department looked at it and we are never going to break the law. And so we'd be able to know what we can't do and what we can't do as a symbolism of saying, "I'm willing to open up the people's house to the people of the city."

Question: Hi, Mayor Adams.

Mayor Adams: Katie.

Question: I have a question about First Deputy Commissioner Caban. My colleague Greg Smith wrote a story about a CCRB substantiation, I'm sorry, you pronounce word, yeah, of the wrongful arrest he made and an accusation that, I guess it was, he said he'd get the broomstick, which had echoes of the Abner Louima case. So I wanted to get your take on it if you read the story. If you've talked about it. I know there's been some rumors that you could replace, I won't mention Sewell, but I want to get your take on that story and perhaps some concerns there.

Mayor Adams: I'm not familiar with that case. I know that Commissioner Caban is a professional. He served in some extremely difficult assignments in Brooklyn North during some very difficult periods of time. His long, rich history in the department, his family members. His dad was the transit cop during the time when it was hard being a transit cop. And I think that he's an optimum professional. And so I don't know the rumors that are flying around room nine. I don't what they're saying. But for the next few days we have a commissioner and when it's time to announce any new commissioner, we'll make sure that we give you the scoop after we tell the whole press corps. But I'm not familiar with that CCRB and I don't know when it happened, how long ago it happened, but it's imperative that we always are professional when we're out there.

Question: So I'm going to ask you a slightly more general public safety question.

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question: Without mentioning any names. I was wondering, when you set up the org chart, when you started your government, how did you think about the roles of police commissioner and the deputy mayor for public safety and maybe any interplay or if you expected different things from them? Could you talk a little bit more about just the thought process more generally behind the two?

Mayor Adams: What I discovered, and I want to go back to what I keep saying over and over again, that I don't think it has really resonated with a lot of people. I am one of the few mayors, if any, that has actually been in city agencies. And the biggest challenge in city agencies is the fact that there are too many silos. So we have a public safety apparatus, parks police, Department of Correction, NYPD, homeless service police, hospital police. We have all of these pieces that when we have major incidents, we are unable to mobilize the full complement of public safety. So I wanted a deputy mayor of public safety that would look at all of those entities and when need be, to make sure that we are in alignment with the day-to-day plan and execution. It's a great idea. I had a former chief of department who understood law enforcement and he came in and he's doing an amazing job. And there's so many things that happened behind the scene that's crucial for the functionality of how we use our public safety apparatus.

And it has worked well for the city. Crime is down. New technology is being introduced. The partnerships we are having with corporate America to come in and assist us in public safety. When you start looking at some of the things that we are doing because we have that deputy mayor of public safety, it is just really commendable. It was a brilliant, brilliant idea on a person who thought about it. Oh, that was me. So it was just a real win.

Question: Yeah. So there was a case Tuesday that is somewhat similar to the Jordan Neely, Daniel Penny case. A man on the subway stabbed another possibly emotionally disturbed man who was harassing passengers, getting violent with passengers. He was immediately arrested. His lawyer is claiming possible racism or a double standard because he's saying, "Well, why aren't the police investigating more before arresting his client?" 

Meanwhile, Daniel Penny was out almost two weeks before he was arrested. Can you comment on that? Do you have any thoughts on that? Do you think there was a double standard or race at play? Any thoughts on that? Do you think there was a double standard or race at play? This man who was arrested and who is now claiming self-defense is black versus Daniel Penny who is white.

Mayor Adams: The wheels of justice grind slowly but exceedingly fine, as Dr. King once said, in some way or another. That process is beyond my control. We have a criminal justice system. I really respect our criminal justice system. It doesn't always get the results that I want personally, but it is a system, and that system is going to run its course. And it is very challenging to look at case A and say, "Why did this happen here," and case B, "Why didn't it happen here?" That is extremely challenging to do. And from a distance, that is how people respond and understand. I understand that. But if our criminal justice system operated on that, that would be frightening for me.

Question: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, earlier—

Mayor Adams: Yes.

Question:  ... In the week it was reported that you were looking to suspend the 90-day rule for executive action, and then also thinking about vetoing the package of council bills to expand city thefts. Are those two that you're considering doing still?

Mayor Adams: We did not put out an advisory of doing either of those items. The amazing, kind hearted, gentle, loving, caring Fabien Levy will let you know when we're going to make any of those announcements. So, once we make that decision, we'll let you know how we're going to flow.

Question: So, a question about housing migrants. Have you asked Governor Hochul to use SUNY campuses to house migrants?

Mayor Adams: Everything is on the table. We've had multiple conversations, and wherever we can get space, we are looking at. But again, I want to emphasize this is not sustainable. This can't be a game of, "Let's see if we can find space this week." This problem must be resolved, we must have federal intervention, real immigration reforms from Congress, we need to allow the migrant asylum seekers to work, which is just beyond comprehension why we're not doing this now. 

But any plan that is, "Hey, let's cross our fingers and hope we can find space," is a flawed plan. But we do want the state to do their share. We saw that in White Plains, in Albany, two different groups of governance. Those two locales are saying, "Let's step up. Let's do our part." While at the same time, we have other municipalities that benefit from New York City trying to find creative ways to be discriminatory. But this is a state and federal problem. It's not a New York City only problem.

Question: Have you asked at all?

Mayor Adams: We asked for every space that's possible. 

Original source can be found here.