Public Employee Press

50,000 march in labor parade
Taking pride in public service

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Choosing a public service union, District Council 37, to lead its annual parade for the first time on Sept. 12, the Central Labor Council moved New York City employees to renew their pride in government service.

The spirited event also pointed to the growing importance of public-sector unions in the labor movement and their political leadership in steering the country away from decades of conservative economic policies — privatization, deregulation, downsizing, free trade and job export — that contribute to falling income for tens of millions of working families.

For the first time since the era of John F. Kennedy, after years in which public employees’ jobs were degraded, President Barack Obama has cued the nation to respect public service.

“Government is not the solution, government is the problem,” President Ronald Reagan famously proclaimed three decades ago. Obama said he aims “to make government and public service cool again.”

Nationwide, as the economy struggles to bounce back from the worst downturn since the Great Depression, public employees face layoffs, furloughs, wage cuts and freezes. But without the federal government’s $787 billion stimulus package, the situation would be much worse. The Obama administration estimates the stimulus has saved or created 600,000 to 1.1 million jobs.

“People are starting to feel better about public service, and Obama is trying to do everything he can to get money to the public sector,” said Asa Rubenstein of New York Public Library Guild Local 1930.

“We are encouraged that the federal government is putting the brakes on privatization,” said Kerry Korpi, director of research at DC 37’s parent union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

Local 1549 member Eugene Williams, a Lincoln Hospital Clerical Associate, said he is encouraged by the positive tone of the administration. “But it will take a long time to turn around public opinion on government,” he said.

Danny Messina, the blue-collar representative on the executive board of Queens Library Guild Local 1321, said public-sector unions are playing an important role in helping the country dig out of the recession by protecting jobs and providing crucial services to the unemployed.

With a third of the country’s government employees covered by union contracts — compared with the private sector, where only seven out of 100 workers are now in unions — public-employee unions have become a dominant force in the labor movement. The number of unionized public employees grew from 14 million in 1973 to 21 million in 2008.

The civil rights movement and political upheaval of the 1960s, as well as the well-publicized strikes and huge gains of New York City teachers, transit workers and social service workers, sparked the upsurge in organizing among U.S. public employees.