The 450 unionized employees locked out on April 19 by 20 Ys and Jewish community centers in the Greater New York area will return to their jobs Wednesday, following the Shavuot holidays, after approving a new two-year contract, a spokesman for District Council 1707 said today.
But a strike by the same union against seven Jewish social agencies, also affiliated with the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, continued, with no break in sight, the spokesman said. Officials at the Ys, centers and social service agencies could not be reached for comment, either because of the holiday or because of the strike.
Some 1200 workers at the Altro Health and Rehabilitation Services, Jewish Association for Services to the Aged, Jewish Board of Guardians, Jewish Community Services of Long Island, Jewish Child Care Association, Jewish Family Service and Louise Wise Services, rejected a tentative new pact at a meeting on April 28 and struck the seven agencies.
The Ys and centers serve an estimated 50,000 children and older persons. The seven struck agencies serve more than 100,000 people, including orphans, senior citizens and emotionally disturbed individuals in residential and non-residential centers in New York City, Nassau and Westchester.
CITES TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT
The spokesman for District Council 1707 of the Community and Social Agency Employees Union said the agreement for the Y workers provided for annual increases of $400 each for clerical and maintenance workers at the Ys and $300 annually for professionals. But the union spokesman asserted that management had agreed to accept the Council’s demand that 65 workers, who are funded separately, be included in the contract and receive the same wage gains and other benefits as the other workers.
Management negotiators had demanded that the 65 workers, funded under Title XX of the Social Security Act, be covered in a separate contract. The union spokesman said the Y workers would not have accepted the management proposal for a separate agreement for the 65 workers. The Y workers ratified the new agreement last Thursday, made a token appearance at the Y agencies Friday, and will return to full work schedules on Wednesday, according to the spokesman.
The Council said about 1200 members are on strike against the seven social work agencies, including social workers, psychologists, counselors, child care workers, teachers, clerical and maintenance staff. There has been at least one bargaining meeting between the Council and the Federation of Casework Agencies, an employer group, at the request of state mediator Sol Kreitman, but no progress was made. The union spokesman said there had been no real bargaining since the start of the strike in April.
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