28 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JULY 2021
HEMPSTEAD TEACHERS
RALLY FOR
WAGE INCREASE
BY TERRELL BUSH
Members of the Hempstead Classroom
Teachers Association have been
rallying with staff, students, and
retirees, to demand increased wages
as they lined up outside Hempstead
School District headquarters.
The picketers have been regularly
gathering outside the administration
offices on Peninsula Boulevard
to urge the Board of Education and
Interim Superintendent Regina
Armstrong to come to some sort of
agreement that would align teachers’
salaries in Hempstead with teacher
salaries across the country. Members
of the teachers union have not had a
wage increase since 2010 and their
contracts expired in 2013.
“Eleven years and the teachers’ salary
has not changed,” Nicole Brown,
president of the teachers union and
fifth grade teacher at Jackson Annex
School in Hempstead, told the Press.
She said the teachers are the lowest
paid in Nassau County.
“You would think during the coronavirus
pandemic our contracts
would be restructured but nothing
changed,” she added. “Promises
were given to many of our teachers
across the school districts but those
promises were broken and with our
superintendent receiving a huge
raise, but then telling us there isn’t
enough money, is one of the main
reasons we’re standing here today.
You cannot put students first if you
put educators last.”
When also expressing the frustration
of teachers within the Hempstead
community, Steve Izzo, a special
education teacher and member of the
HCTA, stated, “From teachers having
to teach in classrooms, to teaching at
home and some days having to teach
both at the same time, was extremely
exhausting. “Could you imagine
working in the classroom and at the
same time teaching through a screen?
We do it because we love the kids but
it gets exhausting.”
Teachers rally outside Hempstead
School District headquarters.
In addition, teachers were not reimbursed
for their expenses, Izzo told
the Press.
As rush hour approached, teachers
held up their signs, which said, “Everyone
else got a raise, why not us?,”
“Teacher contract now! Stop stalling,”
“Teachers don’t need apples, we need
a fair living salary.”
Vehicles passed by, showing support
for teachers by honking their horns,
with people saying, “We support
you!”
Many teachers during the pandemic
risked their own health and safety
teaching in classrooms, bringing
schoolwork and resources to those
students who did not have the necessary
technology or Wi-Fi to participate
in online classes. The HCTA,
which started the rallies in May,
planned to continue picketing until
the district begins negotiations.
Government Waste
ExEcutivE DirEctor-Marc HErbst
Long isLanD contractors’
association
Every so often the government
commissions a study to expose
waste and inefficiencies in taxpayer
programs. The findings always
conveniently allow public
officials to express their shock
and astonishment. Interestingly,
though, they never seem to accept
any responsibility.
You may recall when the Reagan
Administration’s Grace
Commission revealed that the
U.S. Department of Defense was
spending $640 for toilet seats.
Cartoonists gleefully placed a
golden toilet seat around the Defense
Secretary’s neck, yet the
cabinet tried to deflect blame
elsewhere. More recently, in 2018,
the U.S. Air Force paid a contractor
$10,000 for a latrine cover
for a C-5 Galaxy cargo plane, designed
to protect the area from
corrosion. Not one public official
would stand up and defend
the cost of this toilet seat cover.
Both examples rightfully should
raise eyebrows and draw close
scrutiny for malfeasance, but we
must be attentive to the contributions
from the critics as well.
You can bet your last dollar
that once Congress approves its
multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure
program there will be many
public leaders feigning sticker
price shock at the cost of actual
projects. Sensationalized examples,
such as Alaska’s “bridgeto
nowhere,” are bound to sprout
up. Yet, no one ever talks about
the actual reasons project costs
may rise. Blame is usually unfairly
attributed to contractors
and unions, but here is my top
five countdown for how project
costs can inflate.
1. Labor Costs. T he g reatest
expense for any business,
whether with private or public
clients, is always labor. In public
works projects, prevailing wage
rates must be paid by union or
open shops. If a project budget is
proposed years in advance, the
annual wage increases are often
overlooked when the actual bids
are sought.
2. Material Costs. Again,
when a project is proposed, the
costs of material increases cannot
accurately be evaluated before
seeking bids. This past year,
the construction industry has
faced exorbitant material price
escalation and supply issues,
such as a 140% steel price increase
and similar cost rises for
PVC pipes and lumber.
3. Social Engineering
Costs. G overnment policy may
call for minority, women, and/or
veteran-owned subcontractors to
be included in bid offers. While a
prime contractor may self-perform
most of these functions at a
reduced cost, the mandated subcontractor
carries independent
additional overhead and other
expenses. In many cases, nearly
half a project will be performed
by mandated subcontractors at
a higher cost. These factors are
commonly overlooked in the municipal
pre-bid cost estimates.
4. Delay Costs. If you dine
at a restaurant and receive poor
service, you will pay your bill,
but you will unlikely return
there for another meal; this is
an intangible cost for the business.
Similarly, bad business
practices employed by municipalities
create these types of cost
implications. When a municipality
opens a bid and delays an
award, the bonding commitment
is frozen, prohibiting the firm to
pursue other potential projects
offered by other agencies. This
keeps the contractor’s employees
out of work and deprives other
municipalities from receiving
more competitive bids on their
projects. Similarly, delaying invoices
payment when contractors
must pay salaries and union
mandates is an additional obligation
for suppliers and subcontractors.
These business
practices will deter competitive
contractors’ ability to bid that
municipality’s future projects
and limit the pool of bidders on
future projects.
5. Risk Costs. Of the 50
states, New York is the only one
to have a “Scaffold Law.” Essentially
this requirement from
a bygone era, before workers
compensation programs were
enacted, holds all contractors
fully accountable for accidents
on the work site, regardless of
egregious worker negligence
or physical impairment. The
insurance coverage costs for
contractors in New York State
to cover the “Scaffold Law” are
exorbitant.
The next time you hear a public
official railing against the
cost of a municipal project price
tag, maybe you could ask what
they have done to minimize the
cost. Their efforts to minimize
the mandates and streamline
the process would truly be serving
the taxpayer.
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