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Public Employee Press
Anniversary museum shows DC 37 history
In the gallery on the ground floor of union headquarters,
an eyeglass-wearing mannequin spent October sitting at an old-fashioned
typewriter and welcoming visitors to an exhibit on DC 37s history
The Workforce That Shaped New York City was part of the yearlong
celebration of DC 37s 65th anniversary. The display included hundreds
of artifacts, memorabilia and photos donated by the locals that built
the citys largest municipal union.
The mannequin exemplified the thousands of Local 1549 clerical-administrative
employees who worked in every city agency in the 1960s and 1970s. A coin-operated
parking meter from the 1950s stood next to a contemporary solar-powered
computerized model both maintained by members of Local 1455. Vintage
telephones, police radios and a court stenographers machine from
the 1940s offered a glimpse at how members have done their jobs since
DC 37 was founded in 1944.
Framed charters, starting with the document signed by General President
Arnold S. Zander for Laborers Local 924 on June 18, 1945, documented the
unions growth, and buttons and photos highlighted the causes members
have supported over the decades and the battles the union led. A 1967
shot depicts 25,000 city employees filling the old Madison Square Garden
to protest the anti-strike Taylor Law. The economic warfare of the 1970s
shows on the faces of picketing blue-collar strikers fighting Gov. Rockefellers
attack on pension legislation and Local 420 members striking to stop hospital
layoffs.
The display captured the inspiring story of DC 37s 65 years from
the founders through Executive Director Lillian Roberts and 2009s
youthful next wave organizers. The 65th Anniversary Committee
produced the exhibit with James McCray and Program Director Frances M.
Curtis.
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