Public Employee Press


RESURGENCE:
Members speak out for DC 37 at the Labor Day Parade

By MIKE LEE

IN DEFIANCE OF THE SWELTERING HOT late summer weather, thousands of New York City union members, including a large, raucous contingent of DC 37 leaders and activists, turned out in force and thundered up Fifth Avenue at the Labor Day Parade on Saturday, Sept. 10.

This parade came at a pivotal moment in labor history. Because of the tightening presidential race, as well as vital U.S. Senate elections nationwide, the city's unions joining together as one has never been more important. DC 37 stepped forward, showing New York City our growing strength.

In a year that began when the fate of the labor movement was held in balance until the the U.S. Supreme Court rendered a split decision in anti-union Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association case, New York City unions are experiencing a resurgence of organizing and activism, such as the union's successful and ongoing DC 37/AFSCME Strong and Never Quit campaigns.

The DC 37/AFSCME Strong campaign has helped to build a stronger union by spreading the union's message as it recruits members to become grassroots activists, conducts one-on-one meetings with members, and signs up thousands of agency-fee payers to union membership.

The DC 37/AFSCME Strong campaign played a pivotal role during the long struggle to bring the City University of New York to the negotiating table. The mobilization enabled the union to hammer out an agreement on June 10.

This victory gave the 12,000 DC 37 members working at CUNY a 10.41 percent compounded total wage increase over the term of the 87-month contract. Importantly, it also provided for substantial raises for the thousands of low-wage CUNY workers by extending the recently enacted statewide $15 minimum wage to these workers.

The union mobilization for the contract involved intensive lobbying of legislators and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, including an online petition drive, and a large rally in front of the governor's office in Midtown Manhattan. The DC 37 Organizing Dept. also trained a core of activists with DC 37's CUNY locals that helped to encourage more CUNY workers to join in the contract battle.

CUNY members say why the union is vital

The union scored another victory in settling a contract with the city for EMS locals and also had key wins in this years' state and city budgets. The importance of finally winning a contract at CUNY was not lost on these members. At the parade, frontline worker activists spoke strongly of why they participated and the central role our union has in their lives.

"I am here to show solidarity with the union," said Local 384's Enid Martinez. Martinez, a shop steward who works at CUNY's Lehman College as a College Office Assistant, added. "I know we are under attack in many ways and it is important to support DC 37 and my fellow members."

Custodial Assistant Employees Local 1597 member Roxana Galindez gave her reasons for joining DC 37 in the parade. Galindez, a Custodial Assistant at Queens College, was active in the CUNY contract fight. "I am here because we finally got our contract - and our fifteen dollars," she said. "We waited for seven years, and I want to say a ‘thank you' to the union for the work they did in getting us this contract."

Jim Ryan, a Local 2627 member and a Systems Administrator at York College, said, "After I began at CUNY, I saw the inequities in the workplace and eventually I was elected a shop steward. I look out for my guys."

Mayor shows support for DC 37

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio proudly marched with Henry Garrido, DC 37 executive director and this year's Labor Day Parade chair, behind the DC 37 Never Quit banner. They were joined at the front by DC 37 leaders and members, including a group of CUNY workers represented by DC 37 locals, some marching in the parade for the first time.

As the union's contingent marched by the Trump Tower, owned by the notorious real estate magnate and Republican nominee for president, the marchers stopped. Led by Garrido, DC 37 members showed their contempt and outrage at the billionaire bigot, chanting, "Stop Trump" and "No Donald Trump!"

During the parade, other DC 37 members spoke out about why they chose to march in support of the union.

Hallie Light, a Local 768 member and an Early Childhood Education Consultant with the Dept. of Health's Bureau of Child Care, said, "Labor Day to me is part of a long, proud tradition in this country, fighting for workers' rights, fighting for a living wage, fighting for a safe, decent working conditions and for affordable health care."

NYC Board of Education Employees Local 1251 Recording Secretary Patricia Ann Simmons, a Clerical Associate Level 4 in Flushing, Queens, pointed out the union's central role in standing up for and protecting public workers.

"Union! We need it! We need our rights and this union to protect our jobs, because management can be monsters," she said. "You can put that in the book."