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Public Employee Press
Local leaders meet new
DOT commissioner To boost the spirit of cooperation between
labor and management, DC 37 leaders met with recently appointed Transportation
Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan at the union Sept. 17.
We welcome
you to the house of labor, our house, said Executive Director Lillian Roberts.
Roberts stressed the importance of respect for the work members do, pay parity
with the private sector and retaining public employees instead of privatizing
city services.
Thousands of members Participating
in the breakfast meeting were local presidents representing more than 2,500 members
in Blue Collar Division locals 376, 983, 1087, 1455, 1505, 1506 and 1157 as well
as DC 37 locals 154, 375 and 2627.
Also at the session were DC 37 General
Counsel Eddie Demmings, Research and Negotiations Director Dennis Sullivan and
division directors José Sierra and Stephanie Velez.
Each day DOT
employees safely move millions of New Yorkers and commuters over 790 bridges and
thousands of miles of city streets marked by 1 million signs. DC 37 represents
more than half of DOTs workforce.
Partnership is key,
Sadik-Khan told the unionists. Transportation touches peoples lives
every day.
The commissioner, a lawyer by training, said she hopes
to bring new energy to the agency, reach out to deans of colleges to raise
the number of city engineers, and recruit and retain them as civil servants.
The
city and DOT must tackle the mayors congestion pricing plan and the steady
decline in state and federal aid.
Commish invited
to work sites Union leaders urged the commissioner to recognize
their wealth of experience and know-how by consulting with them before launching
initiatives or outsourcing projects.
Several of the local presidents
at the meeting invited the commissioner to tour work sites to see firsthand the
jobs their members do.
Weve enjoyed good relations with DOT
and even when bumps in the road do arise, we resolve them by keeping the lines
of communication open, said Sullivan.
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