How do these bargaining priorities (outlined above) actually fit into the contract? You can review those specific proposals here:

• Social Services Unit Contract (click here) proposals, applicable to:
  • Social Workers
  • Community Service Aide
  • Inspector (Consumer & Worker Protection)
  • Early Childhood Education Consultants
  • Mental Health Standards and Services Consultant
  • Market Agent
  • Sanitation Compliance Agent
  • Mental Health Workers
• Health Services Unit Contract (click here) proposals, applicable to:
  
  • Public Health Advisors
  • Public Health Sanitarians
  • Respiratory Therapists
  • Medical Record Specialists
  • Dental Assistants and Hygienists
  • Licensed Creative Arts Therapists
  • Health Care Program Planner or Analyst
  • Physician Assistants
  • Physical & Occupational Therapists & Assistants
  • Medicolegal Investigator (OCME)
  • Nutritionists
  • Rehabilitation Counselors
  • Utilization Review Analysts & Coordinators
  • Audiologists, Speech Pathologists & Clinicians
  • Environmental Health Technicians
  • Mental Health Assistants

The Unit Contracts do not determine the general increases to our base wages, also called "regular wages" on many of our pay stubs. Those general increases are determined by our Economic Contract. Our current Economic Contract was ratified in March 2023, and covers the period of time from May 26, 2021 to November 6, 2026. Our last general wage increase was 3.25% in May of 2025, and there are no additional general wage increases scheduled under the current contract, so your next increase in base wages will be determined by DC37's negotiations with Mayor Mamdani for our next Economic Contract.  

To review, there are three main contracts that apply to each of us (all available here):

• Citywide Contract: Addresses general working conditions and other non-wage matters such as holidays, time and leave accruals, eligibility for health insurance coverage and personnel practices. While it doesn't detail your base wage, it does detail how you earn overtime, shift differentials and holiday pay.
• Economic Contract: Determines the overall general wage increases for the majority of DC 37 members. It also includes a specific amount of money available for Unit Bargaining
• Unit Contracts: Wages, differentials and working conditions for designated groups of workers called “bargaining units”. Each unit contract defines items unique to the titles in the unit

DC37's Citywide Contract hasn't changed much over the past 20 years, but the Economic Contract is the primary focus of negotiations every few years. Our current Economic Contract was ratified in March 2023, and covers the period of time from May 26, 2021 to November 6, 2026. In addition to the annual raises to base pay (mostly 3% each year), this agreement also sets aside money for Unit Bargaining, found in Section 7:

Additional Compensation Funds

Effective May 26, 2023, or the applicable date of the Successor Separate Unit Agreement, each bargaining unit shall have available funds not to exceed 0.50% to purchase recurring benefits, mutually agreed to by the parties. The funds shall be based on the December 31, 2020 payroll, including spinoffs and pensions.

Like most DC37 members, all of our members in Local 768 are assigned to Bargaining Units based on your title:

Once the Economic Contracts are ratified, DC37's negotiators begin planning a process for Unit Bargaining. Each unit will bargain separately, including the Local Presidents representing members within that unit and sometimes a Bargaining Committee of members from that Local as well.

The amount of money was defined by the Economic Contract: "Each bargaining unit shall have available ... 0.50% ... based on the December 31, 2020 payroll". In other words, 0.50% of the amount of money that the City paid out to all of the members within a given Bargaining Unit. The actual dollar-amount will therefore depend on both the number of workers in a Bargaining Unit and their total pay. Here is how that breaks down for the three Bargaining Units that Local 768 members are in:

Local 768 has been preparing for Unit Bargaining over the past several years, starting with a training program in the Summer of 2023 (see an outline here), our first Bargaining Unit meetings in August 2023, where we began soliciting bargaining demands and then establishing our Bargaining Committees in early 2024. Throughout 2024 we conducted extensive surveying of our membership, with over 1,300 members submitting their thoughts and priorities. From there, our Bargaining Committees developed specific, practical and realistic proposals on how to accomplish our members' priorities through changes to our unit contracts.

In addition to the economic demands that clearly cost the City money (see examples from prior rounds of bargaining below), non-economic demands can also be discussed. However, the City is often not required to bargain over non-economic demands, but it can if their leaders wish to do so, or are pressured to do so. Unfortunately the people representing the City in formal negotiations are not people we really have access to; they are bureaucrats in the NYC Office of Labor Relations ur task is to make them want to take our demands seriously. 

Our strategy is simple: We say to every manager who will listen,

We know that you don't directly negotiate the contract, but you can support us by telling the executives above you that our demands are fair, reasonable and will help us provide quality service to New Yorkers across the city. 

Even though the money available in the Unit Bargaining process is limited & we may not win all our demands, we believe that together we can convince the City to seriously negotiate both the economic and the non-economic changes to our unit contracts that are important to us. 

The Economic Contract covering the period from 2017 - 2021 included an Additional Compensation Fund of 0.2% to be allocated through Unit Bargaining, which was finalized in Apr 2021. Here are the highlights that applied to Local 768 members:

• Health Services 2021 Additional Compensation Fund Agreement
  • Increased the amount of 1st year Recurring Increment Payments (RIP) for the entire bargaining unit to $554 / yr (up from $480) after completing 1 yr
  • Increased Uniform Allowance for Dental Asst/Dental Hygienist to $500 (up from $282)
  • Add Creative Arts Therapist Occupational Group’s Assignment Differential for DOC/Correctional Health ($2,439 / yr)
  • Add Admin Public Health Sanitarian to RIP
  • Add Admin Public health Sanitarian to APHS3 Longevity Differential
• Social Services 2021 Additional Compensation Fund Agreement
  • Increase the amount of the 10-year Recurring Increment Payment (RIP) for entire bargaining unit to $603 / yr (up from $521) after completing 10 yrs
  • Increase the employer contribution to the DC37 Annuity Plan to $794 / yr (up from $724) for all bargaining unit members
• Blue Collar 2020 Additional Compensation Fund Agreement
  • Created new Recurring Increment Payment of $167 for all non-supervisory titles after completing 5 yrs
  • Created new Recurring Increment Payment of $297 for all supervisory titles after completing 5 yrs

Economic Contract covered the period from 2010 - 2017 included an Additional Compensation Fund of 0.52% to be allocated through Unit Bargaining, which were finalized in Aug 2017. Here are the highlights that applied to Local 768 members:

• Health Services 2017 Additional Compensation Fund
  • Creating Assignment Differential of $600 / yr for Public Health Sanitarians and Associate Public Health Sanitarians who are regularly assigned field work and must carry and store work equipment
  • Added Creative Arts Therapists to the list of titles eligible for Recurring Increment Payments (Additional $480 after completing 1 yr, then $154 for each year thereafter up to 20 yrs)
  • A general wage increase of 0.3022%
• Social Services 2017 Additional Compensation Fund
  • Increase the employer contribution to the DC37 Annuity Plan to $724 / yr (up from $684) for all bargaining unit members
  • Created a Recurring Increment Payment of $500 for all bargaining unit members after completing 10 years of service
• Blue Collar 2017 Additional Compensation Fund
  • Added additional Recurring Increment Payments of $794 for all non-supervisory titles ($424 for supervisory titles) after completing 15 yrs of service