Public Employee Press

Mayor defies labor, parents, City Council
Bloomberg fires 642 in schools
Members and City Council blast mayor over layoffs

By ALFREDO ALVARADO



Defying overwhelming opposition from organized parents, labor and the City Council, on Oct. 7 Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg fired 642 Dept. of Education employees. Almost all were members of Local 372.

"The mayor laid off nearly 700 of the city's lowest-paid workers - mainly black and Latina women, many of them single parents - for no valid fiscal reason," said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

The mass firing was the single largest agency layoff since the man who calls himself "the education mayor" took office.

The local will now take the fight to the New York State Supreme Court by filing a lawsuit against the layoffs and will keep pressing in the political arena for funds to restore the jobs.

"This fight is not over," said Roberts. "These workers are part of the DC 37 family, and we will stick by them."

In battling the layoffs, DC 37 and Local 372 organized a wave of protests with local political leaders in all boroughs, culminating in a massive demonstration Oct. 4 at City Hall. Thousands of Local 372 and DC 37 members were joined by supporters from more than a dozen unions, the City Council and state Legislature and hundreds of activists from the Occupy Wall Street movement.

AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer Lee A. Saunders joined Roberts and Local 372 President Santos Crespo on the rally podium and expressed his outrage at the layoffs.

"I'm mad as hell and you should be too!" said Saunders. "This mayor has squandered billions of dollars on his cronies. Somebody has got to stand up for these school employees, and that someone is us!"

AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, is DC 37's 1.6 million-member parent union.

"The Dept. of Education is advertising on its Web site for people to do the same jobs our members are losing," said Crespo. "And they're looking to approve long-range contracts in the millions of dollars. It just doesn't compute."

Assembly member Deborah J. Glick spoke at the rally, charging that the layoffs were unnecessary. "This is about destroying working families and privatizing every aspect of government," she said.

On Oct. 7, the last day of work for the 642 members, the union held a news conference on the steps of City Hall. Roberts, Crespo, union members and supporters denounced the layoffs.

Congress member Nydia M. Velazquez blasted the mayor and the Dept. of Education. "We have fought hard in Washington to bring money to the schools," said Velazquez, who represents the 12th Congressional District. "The mayor is wrong. He wants control of the schools but he doesn't want to be accountable."

"These workers are a fundamental part of a sound education," said Comptroller John Liu. "We don't need to do this and we can't afford to do this."

Despite 12 years of experience with the DOE, Parent Coordinator Regina Dudley was fired from her job at the Brooklyn School for Global Studies. "They hired a Community Aide the day after they fired me," she said at the press conference. Dudley has two sons at home who depend on her.

Mayor's political games

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer suggested that the layoffs were nothing more than political retribution. "This isn't about the budget," said Stringer. "This is about political payback and going after DC 37."

The widespread anger against Bloomberg and DOE Chancellor Dennis Walcott echoed in the halls of government Oct. 11 as the City Council Finance and Education committees held a joint hearing on the Bloomberg administration's lack of transparency regarding the layoffs. The plan to fire the workers was never included in the mayor's budget proposal, which the City Council debated and modified in June.

"Nowhere were we told these School Aides were in danger of losing their jobs. If we knew, we would have done something about it," said Finance Committee Chair Domenic M. Recchia Jr., angrily shaking his finger at Walcott.

"I'm outraged, because it feels like the children are just pawns in a game," said Education Committee Chair Robert Jackson. "And the layoffs clearly show that the schools in the poorest neighborhoods are getting hit the hardest," he added.


Children and workers: "Collateral damage"

"These jobs weren't on the table; if they were we would have fought for them," said Council member Margaret Chin. "These are good union jobs; you have to do everything possible to save these jobs."

Instead of including the layoff plan in the budget, Bloomberg reduced school funding and Walcott tried to blame the firings on school principals.

"I find it hard to believe that principals would want to give up School Aides," said Council member Daniel Dromm, who worked for 25 years as a public school teacher.

After Walcott testified, Roberts and Crespo addressed the hearing with their concerns. "After we made a number of proposals that would have closed the budget deficit, the DOE basically refused to negotiate in good faith," said Crespo.

Roberts charged that the firings made schoolchildren and employees into "collateral damage in a calculated, political maneuver" by the mayor.