Local 259 Leads Victory for Auto Technicians Across New York State
Today, New York Governor Kathy Hochul will sign Assembly Bill A4066B (Burgos)/Senate Bill 5085C (Kennedy) into law. This law requires car dealer franchisors to fully compensate franchised car dealers for warranty service agreements.
As a result, New York State will ensure that technicians employed at dealerships will finally earn equal pay for equal work.
With the support of fellow members from Regions 9 and 9A, UAW Local 259 led the fight for the passage of this legislation that supports the highly skilled, knowledgeable, and experienced technicians who serve as the backbone of dealerships across New York.
The bill will abolish the two-tiered compensation system imposed by the highly profitable vehicle manufacturers. Until now, the manufacturers have been permitted by law to pay less than fair market labor time allowances to technicians for diagnostic and warranty/recall repairs they perform, because the law previously offered no definition for what “reasonable compensation” meant.
New York State will now define “reasonable compensation” to mean the labor time allowances published in the retail labor time guides utilized by dealerships for non-warranty diagnostic and repairs. It will also require vehicle manufacturers to fully fund warranty diagnostic and repairs at dealerships, which enables the dealerships to pay the equitable labor time allowances to technicians.
This change is monumental and will add $900 million to New York’s taxable wage base, putting money in New Yorkers' pockets instead of multinational corporations' bank accounts. As a result, New York State will effectively increase the weekly earnings for both union and non-union technicians.
Special recognition to Local 259 members Carlos Gonzalez, Daniel Kunz, Paul Scaperotta, Estaban Sanchez, Will Ganshaw, Tim Gray, Bill Glynn, Krystine Ahearne, Saif Ahmed, Roger Sterk, Sebastian Ragonesi, Paul Tubito, and Pat McGrath for traveling to Albany to lobby the Assembly and Senate.
And many thanks and much solidarity to our UAW Region 9 siblings and particularly Locals 686, 774, 897 and 1097. This legislation would not be possible without them.