New York City Council Staffers Cheer ‘Unimaginable’ Contract Wins

Members of the Association of Legislative Employees are set to ratify their first contract next week.

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By Bob Hennelly

The Association of Legislative Employees (ALE) representing nearly 400 City Council staffers has reached a tentative labor agreement with the legislative body, the union and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams announced Tuesday.

The potentially landmark deal comes after several years of a grass roots organizing drive amidst the George Floyd protests, the COVID pandemic and the Jan. 6th Insurrection. Council Member Aides within Members’ offices, Legislative Financial Analysts and Senior Legislative Financial Analysts within the Council Finance Division make up the bargaining unit.

It’s the largest such legislative bargaining unit in the country.

“Not that long ago it would have been unimaginable that employees of a legislative branch of government would unionize,” said Joshua Freeman, labor historian and professor emeritus at Queens College, CUNY during a phone interview.  “It’s not something that’s been on anybody’s radar and to see a tentative contract in place is a measure of how much the labor movement has broadened the conception of who should be in a union. More power to them.”

“I’m proud to reach this historic contract agreement with the Association of Legislative Employees, which establishes meaningful workplace protections for Council Member Aides and analyst positions within the Finance Division,” said Speaker Adams in a statement. “Since the start of this bargaining process, we sought to come to a meaningful and thoughtful agreement for a first contract to support these workers within a legislative body. This achievement honors the generations of public service provided by Council staff for decades.”

“The agreement we have reached with Speaker Adrienne Adams is historic,” said Daniel Kroop, ALE President, and Finance Division staff member. “We are overjoyed to deliver to our members a first contract with wins on wages, benefits, and job protections. We thank the Speaker and the whole body for working with us to start this new chapter. ALE members overcame enormous obstacles and achieved an industry-leading contract following almost a decade of organizing.”

“The Office of Labor Relations is proud to have assisted the Council and ALE in negotiating their first historic collective bargaining agreement, covering the largest legislative staff union in the country,” said New York City Office of Labor Relations Commissioner Renee Campion. “It is an agreement that is fair to both the ALE members as well as the taxpayers of the City of New York.”

The proposed deal is retroactive, beginning on January 4, 2021, for the Legislative Financial Analysts and Senior Legislative Financial Analysts, and back to August 13, 2021, for Council Member Aides. The contract expires on January 17, 2027 and  matches the pattern set by the DC37 contract with wage boosts of 3 percent for each of the first four years of the contract, and 3.25 percent in the final year. The agreement provides  for a ratification bonus of $3,000 for all ALE members in active employment.

The base salary  for Council Member Aides is boosted  to $55,000 with pay for Legislative Financial Analysts boosted to $60,420.  The base salary for Senior Legislative Financial Analysts will go to $76,320.

“The NYC Labor Movement congratulates the Association of Legislative Employees as well as Speaker Adams and the Office of Labor Relations for successfully negotiating a tentative agreement on the first ever union contract for NYC Council employees,” said New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO President Vincent Alvarez, in a statement. “The new agreement includes higher wages, benefits and important protections which will help the Council to better recruit and retain experienced, dedicated public servants. Every worker deserves a voice at work and meaningful representation in the workplace, including all those who work so diligently to support our City’s Councilmembers and provide critical services to their constituents and communities.”

The ALE members’ ratification vote is scheduled between April 9th to 12th.

The City Council staffers are totally outside the civil-service system and were considered “at will” employees who could be terminated at any time. And unlike with civil-service titles, the pay for jobs such as Legislative Assistant or Community Liaison could vary by tens of thousands of dollars and were set by individual Council Members with a wide variation.

In 2016, when under the leadership of Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, the Council boosted Members' salaries from $112,500 to $148,500, “aides to two Council members stood silently in the balcony of the Council chambers, wearing white t-shirts that read, ‘Paycheck to Paycheck, Pay Raises for All,’ ” according to the Gotham Gazette.

The union drive picked up steam after allegations that former Council Member Andy King sexually harassed a female staffer led to King’s expulsion in 2020. Similar charges against King in 2017 had been substantiated by the  Ethics Committee.

“As public service employees, we work every day to serve the people of New York City: to expand protections and opportunities, to ensure safety and stability, and to make our City a more equitable place,” 90 current and 26 former staffers wrote in an article posted in Medium at the time. “We are asking for these same protections that our Members and staff fight for every day to be extended to us. To not be harassed, retaliated against, threatened, or put in unsafe working conditions while we work to better the City of New York.”