CIVIC CENTER — Mayor Bill de Blasio locked down another labor deal Wednesday, this one with the city’s second largest union, District Council 37.
“This union is the glue that holds the city together in many ways,” de Blasio said during a press conference at City Hall. “This is once again an example of what respect and cooperation makes possible.”
The deal follows what has become a pattern of agreements based on the contract given to the city’s teachers union earlier in the year.
The 100,000 members of DC 37, who have been without a contract since 2010, will receive a cumulative 10 percent in raises, beginning with a 1 percent retroactive raise for 2011 and extending into 2016 when raises increase to 3 percent. DC 37 represents a wide range of employees, from office workers to parks workers.
According to the mayor’s office, the total cost of the agreement over the next four years will reach $1.75 billion. After health care savings being sought by the city, the mayor’s office said the deal will ultimately cost $995 million.
The agreement is within the costs assumed by the city in the recently passed budget, de Blasio said.
The deal also includes the creation of a joint committee that will look to recruit, retain and promote minorities and women in DC 37 jobs. Both sides also promised to look for more cost savings in the workforce and seek improvements for provisional employees.
“We bargained hard, as did the administration [and this] is a fair deal for our members in a tough economic climate,” DC 37’s executive director Lillian Roberts said in a statement.
The agreement with DC 37, combined with UFT and other unions, means that about 60 percent of the city’s workforce has received new contracts, according to the mayor.
