AGENCY TESTIMONY
Office of Labor Relations outlines efforts to improve recruitment and retention in NYC workforce
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Daniel Pollock, First Deputy Commissioner of the Office of Labor Relations, testified about the city's efforts to improve recruitment and retention in the municipal workforce through collective bargaining. He highlighted significant wage increases, new equity funding initiatives, and flexible work pilots as key strategies to address staffing challenges.
- The current round of bargaining (2021-2026) includes 16.21% wage increases over 5 years, the largest in over a decade
- A new equity funding initiative allows up to 1% additional funding for units with demonstrable recruitment and retention issues
- Flexible work pilots, including remote work and compressed work week options, have been implemented across eligible agencies
Daniel Pollock
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Good afternoon, Chair De La Rosa and members of the committee.
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My name is Daniel Pollock, and I'm the 1st deputy commissioner of the Office of Labor Relations.
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Today, I will briefly outline our efforts through collective bargaining to improve recruitment and retention in the city workforce.
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Coming out of the COVID pandemic and the nationwide recruitment and retention challenges commonly called the great resignation, recruitment and retention was a focus of the administration in the current round of bargaining.
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1st and foremost, the 5 year pattern in this round, which we refer to as the 2021 to 2026 round of bargaining, include the most significant wage increases in more than a decade, totaling 16.21% over the 5 year term.
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Since our first agreement with DC 37 in February of 2023, we have settled contracts with a 138 bargaining units, covering over 98% of unionized city employees.
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Negotiations with the remaining units are ongoing.
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We also introduced a new initiative in this round to tackle areas with significant recruitment retention challenges.
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For eligible units with demonstrable recruitment retention issues, the union could allocate up to 0.5% of funding through a contract extension or similar means, with the city matching this funding by an additional 0.5%.
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This feature recognizes that recruitment and retention issues are a joint problem for management and labor, and that we can work together to address those issues through collaboration and negotiation.
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This equity funding has facilitated permanent lifeguard salary increases, a retention bonus program for 911 operators, it accelerated top pay salary schedules for special officers and school safety agents, and a new salary structure for probation officers.
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These are just some of the provisions we have reached agreement on in this round to enhance recruitment and retention.
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Our agreement with DC 37, signed on to by numerous other unions as well, also included a flexible work pilot.
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Through that pilot and the ongoing work of a labor management committee established by the DC 37 agreement, we created a remote work pilot and have rolled out remote work at every eligibles to the agency.
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We've also established a compressed work week pilot, which has been implemented at many agencies.
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The flexible work pilot runs through May 31, 2025, and as that deadline approaches, we will continue our ongoing discussions with DC 37 to evaluate the pilot and plan our next steps.
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Thank you for the opportunity to testify, and I'm happy to take any questions.