Public Employee Press

DC 37 VP Edna Williams dies

Edna Williams, president of Custodial Assistant Employees Local 1597, passed away on Sept. 9 after suffering a heart attack the week before. Williams, 70, had been a vice president and Executive Board member of DC 37 since 2000.

As a Custodial Assistant at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, she knew firsthand how hard her members worked and the strains and stresses of low pay in their daily lives.

She arrived at the CUNY campus in 1979, began to represent her co-workers as a shop steward in 1980 and won election as vice president of the 1,700-member local in October 1997 and president in March 1999.

Under her leadership, the local cut union dues for part-timers, used lawsuits to stop Workfare participants from taking members’ jobs, and won agreements with city agencies to hire more custodial workers. Wages, health care and childcare issues were at the top of her agenda.

As someone who was used to struggling from paycheck to paycheck as she raised her 10 children, Williams was deeply committed to helping members in their struggle for economic equality. She saw the union that was such a big part of her life as the principal force in that struggle.

On June 3, 2005, the NAACP presented Ms. Williams with an award for her contributions to improving economic equality for everyone.