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Q&A
Discussion on collective bargaining challenges for OATH judicial hearing officers
2:35:54
ยท
118 sec
Council Member Restler expresses concerns about the ongoing collective bargaining issues for judicial hearing officers and urges for a resolution. He highlights the unique situation of these officers and the challenges they face in negotiations.
- Restler emphasizes the need for OATH to provide basic supplies and resources for remote work.
- The discussion touches on the challenges of bargaining for a small group (390 judicial hearing officers) compared to larger unions like teachers.
- Restler encourages Commissioner Rahman to advocate for fair treatment of judicial hearing officers in negotiations with the Office of Labor Relations (OLR).
Lincoln Restler
2:35:54
I'm just not familiar with any other employee in city government that has a required remote component.
2:36:05
And I don't see how it's not the city's obligation to provide the supplies or resources for them to be able to do their job.
2:36:12
It just doesn't make sense to me.
2:36:14
And so my understanding is this issue has been going on for years.
2:36:19
We still don't have a resolution.
2:36:20
We've heard from many angry judicial hearing officers.
2:36:24
I appreciate you are engaging with them as their manager and giving them a chance to ask questions and engage constructively.
2:36:30
It's the role of every commissioner across the city to do that on a consistent basis.
2:36:35
But I hope in your capacity as the leader of the agency you can encourage OLR to be reasonable that these judicial hearing officers deserve some basic support for the supplies they're required to do to provide an essential job in city government.
2:36:54
So hopefully we will see this resolved and resolved soon.
2:36:59
My basic understanding is that they get lost in a world that there's a million teachers.
2:37:06
And so when things get bargained, there are much bigger fish.
2:37:13
The biggest fish in the city, right?
2:37:15
Sorry, not a million teachers, a hundred thousand teachers.
2:37:17
I've got to I expanded our workforce slightly.
2:37:19
But we've got a hundred thousand teachers.
2:37:21
It's a lot of people.
2:37:22
And how many judicial hearing officers are there?
Asim Rahman
2:37:25
There's a roster of about 390.
Lincoln Restler
2:37:28
Okay.
2:37:28
So we've a hundred thousand teachers and 300 and something thousand of these guys.
2:37:31
They get lost in sauce.
2:37:34
But it's important and they deserve it.
2:37:36
And I hope that you can encourage OLR to do the right thing by this important component of your workforce.
Asim Rahman
2:37:42
Thank you.
Lincoln Restler
2:37:42
With that, thank you very much for joining us today.
2:37:44
Was a thoughtful conversation.
2:37:45
We appreciate your hard work and the hard work of everybody at Oath.
Asim Rahman
2:37:48
Thank you to the council for your support and engagement.
2:37:50
We appreciate it.
2:37:51
Have a good afternoon.
Lincoln Restler
2:37:51
Have a great day.