By GREGORY N. HEIRES

An independent monitor sent out mail ballots on July 1 for the CUNY contract vote.

The American Arbitration Association will tabulate the votes of DC 37 members who work at the City University of New York on July 18.

The tentative contract affects 12,000 workers who are represented by DC 37 union locals 375, 384, 983, 1407, 1597, 1797, 2054, and 2627. The DC 37 Constitution requires that an outside monitor oversee the vote on contracts that impact the members of more than one union local.

The tentative contract comes after members worked under an expired contract since 2009. For almost seven years, the workers continued to be covered by the terms of the expired contract, but they went without a raise for that period.

Anyone who does not receive a ballot within a week after the ballots were sent out should contact at AAA at 1-800-529-5218.

The union reached an agreement on the proposed economic agreement on June 10.

The 87-month contract calls for a 1 percent increase on May 1, 2011; 1 percent on May 1, 2012; 2.5 percent on May 1, 2013, 2 percent on May 1, 2014; 2 percent on May 1, 2015, and 1.5 percent on May 1, 2016. The raises are compounded, which means that the actual pocketbook value of the agreement is worth 0.41 percent more than the combined annual percentage increases. Members will receive retroactive payments to cover the raises.

Significantly, the agreement calls for a $200 welfare fund rate increase on Jan. 31, 2017. The $200 will be added — permanently — to the current $1,765 welfare fund contribution the city makes every year to cover the DC 37 benefits of each of its members and retirees.

Upon ratification, full-time workers will receive a $1,000 cash bonus, which will be adjusted for part-time workers.

During the talks, DC 37 successfully pressed CUNY to agree to extend the state’s new $15 an hour minimum wage to its employees. With the rate hikes of the contract and the minimum wage increases, many members will see their current pay boosted by as much as 25 percent by the end of 2018.

The DC 37 website features highlights of  the CUNY contract, including calculators that allow members to determine their new pay and a list of frequently asked questions about the economic agreement.