PorkChopSandwiches
09-06-2011, 03:53 PM
A city sewer worker made more last year than the police commissioner, the schools chancellor and the mayor - combined.
Senior engineer Gerald Mistretta's pay was $771,841 - and six of his co-workers raked in nearly as much - thanks to a wage settlement with the city.
His bottom line for the fiscal year that ended in June included a base salary of $109,850 a year, $173,000 in overtime - and nearly half a million dollars in back pay.
The Brooklyn father of three said the one-shot windfall - which made him the top earner among city employees last year - made up for 16 years he went without a raise.
"I know it looks like a whole lot of money," Mistretta told the Daily News. "But people don't realize the hardships we went through.
"It was a very difficult period. We have families, and colleges to pay for, and mortgages."
Mistretta and other sewer workers labored without a contract since 1995 because of a dispute over their base salaries. A deal struck in 2009 after years of litigation gave them retroactive hikes.
Six other senior Department of Environmental Protection workers made more than $700,000; 13 made in the $600,000 range, and 47 earned in the $400,000 or $500,000 range.
About a thousand more got lesser payments.
Mistretta said his lump-sum payment meant he got soaked on taxes - and now his paychecks are back to normal.
"We would have gladly taken a contract back in 1993 or 1994," he said. "Imagine in 2009 still making what you made in 1993?"
Local 1320 President James Tucciarelli said the city has no one to blame but itself for the huge payouts.
"You can't hire skilled trade people to do the jobs ... and then string them out for eight or 13 years without a pay increase and then not expect to see exorbitant back pay numbers," he said. "They were deep in debt. Any back pay that they got is already gone."
DEP spokesman Michael Saucier said, "It was important to reach this agreement so these dedicated and highly skilled employees could focus on their important jobs."
Sewer workers weren't the only city employees to cash in on labor disputes.
Radio repair mechanics, mostly in the Fire Department, won a settlement last year after city Controller John Liu found they made less than private-sector peers.
The ruling catapulted 150 working stiffs to the upper echelons of city wage earners.
Richard Bazant, who has worked for the FDNY since 1995, said his base pay is about $80,000 - but last year he got $364,815 because of the deal.
He was surprised the settlement cash didn't go further.
"Taxation is brutal," he said, adding that he would have done better if the money had been parceled out from 2002 to 2008, the period the settlement covers.
Still, for the father of three from Queens, the payout let him pay his daughter's college bills and put a down payment on a house.
Bazant was one of 13 radio repair mechanics who made more than $300,000 last year - more than the police commissioner or schools chancellor. And 26 got in the $200,000 range.
FDNY mechanic Humberto Nunez broke the $400,000 mark - what President Obama earns - with his salary, OT and the settlement.
"I do think we deserve it," Bazant said. "We served the city very well."
Senior engineer Gerald Mistretta's pay was $771,841 - and six of his co-workers raked in nearly as much - thanks to a wage settlement with the city.
His bottom line for the fiscal year that ended in June included a base salary of $109,850 a year, $173,000 in overtime - and nearly half a million dollars in back pay.
The Brooklyn father of three said the one-shot windfall - which made him the top earner among city employees last year - made up for 16 years he went without a raise.
"I know it looks like a whole lot of money," Mistretta told the Daily News. "But people don't realize the hardships we went through.
"It was a very difficult period. We have families, and colleges to pay for, and mortgages."
Mistretta and other sewer workers labored without a contract since 1995 because of a dispute over their base salaries. A deal struck in 2009 after years of litigation gave them retroactive hikes.
Six other senior Department of Environmental Protection workers made more than $700,000; 13 made in the $600,000 range, and 47 earned in the $400,000 or $500,000 range.
About a thousand more got lesser payments.
Mistretta said his lump-sum payment meant he got soaked on taxes - and now his paychecks are back to normal.
"We would have gladly taken a contract back in 1993 or 1994," he said. "Imagine in 2009 still making what you made in 1993?"
Local 1320 President James Tucciarelli said the city has no one to blame but itself for the huge payouts.
"You can't hire skilled trade people to do the jobs ... and then string them out for eight or 13 years without a pay increase and then not expect to see exorbitant back pay numbers," he said. "They were deep in debt. Any back pay that they got is already gone."
DEP spokesman Michael Saucier said, "It was important to reach this agreement so these dedicated and highly skilled employees could focus on their important jobs."
Sewer workers weren't the only city employees to cash in on labor disputes.
Radio repair mechanics, mostly in the Fire Department, won a settlement last year after city Controller John Liu found they made less than private-sector peers.
The ruling catapulted 150 working stiffs to the upper echelons of city wage earners.
Richard Bazant, who has worked for the FDNY since 1995, said his base pay is about $80,000 - but last year he got $364,815 because of the deal.
He was surprised the settlement cash didn't go further.
"Taxation is brutal," he said, adding that he would have done better if the money had been parceled out from 2002 to 2008, the period the settlement covers.
Still, for the father of three from Queens, the payout let him pay his daughter's college bills and put a down payment on a house.
Bazant was one of 13 radio repair mechanics who made more than $300,000 last year - more than the police commissioner or schools chancellor. And 26 got in the $200,000 range.
FDNY mechanic Humberto Nunez broke the $400,000 mark - what President Obama earns - with his salary, OT and the settlement.
"I do think we deserve it," Bazant said. "We served the city very well."