Public Employee Press

Professionals meet on future challenges

The DC 37 Professional Committee held a conference Nov. 8 where members discussed the challenges they will have to cope with in the future.

“We may have different job titles, but we are facing many of the same issues,” said Committee Chair Claude Fort, president of Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375.

The morning conference, “Professionals in the Work Place and the Challenges of the 21st Century,” was held at the Battery Gardens Restaurant on the Harbor in lower Manhattan and attended by almost 100 members of locals 375, 768 and 2627.

State Sen. Joseph Addabbo addressed conference participants on the plight of city workers.

“You are owed dignity and respect at the workplace,” he said, voicing strong opposition to use of the hand scanners that management wants to impose on Local 375 members. Addabbo also reiterated his support for lifting residency requirements on city employees.

A panel discussion among several labor activists included Ed Ott, executive director of the Central Labor Council, Michael Zweig, director of the Center for the Study of Working Class Life at Stony Brook University, Leonard Polletta, chair of the state Unemployment Insurance Appeal Board and Arthur Cheliotes, president of Communication Workers of America Local 1180. Ott put the blame for the nation’s current financial crisis squarely on the shoulders of business. “This is a failure of the private sector, they are the problem,” said Ott. He also emphasized the importance of building broad coalitions. “We are in a war, and labor can’t do it alone,” he said.

Zweig, who teaches economics, spoke about the need for union activism. He said, “The union with members that are not active is not a union.”

To follow up on the conference, Fort plans to reach out to union members, activist organizations and elected officials.

“It’s especially important now because of the city’s PlaNYC Green Initiative,” he said. “The private sector is preparing their people, and if we don’t get ready we’ll be left out.”