Public Employee Press

DC 37's next executive director
Organizer and strategist Henry Garrido

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

DC 37 Associate Director Henry Garrido, who will become the head of the union Dec. 31, says his progressive political outlook came from his mother, Isidra Diaz, a garment worker.

He remembers her saying, "Let's go to the union," when she came home after suffering indignities and abuses on the factory floor from threatening bosses. The garment workers' union gave her protection and a voice, leading Garrido to understand the importance of the labor movement at a young age.

As a youngster, Garrido traveled back and forth between his mother's home in Queens and his extended family's home in the Dominican Republic. His uncle there worked in a factory where workers earned a fraction of the pay of U.S. workers, producing clothes for multinational companies like Banana Republic and Ralph Lauren.

His exposure to the poverty and exploitation of an underdeveloped country also shaped Garrido's politics, which as an adult would inspire him to become a union activist and leader.

Union activism

Garrido graduated at 15 from Fabio A. Mota High School in the Dominican Republic. He later enrolled in the City College of New York, where he earned a degree in architectural and environmental studies. Working while he studied, Garrido had done policy and auditing work for the Dept. of Education during the summers. In 1995 he joined the city labor force full-time as a School Lunch Assistant in DOE Employees Local 372.

A dispute over seniority rights brought him to DC 37, where his experience in the case sparked his interest in getting involved with the union. He joined the local's Latino Heritage Committee and soon became a Grievance Rep. A year later, DC 37 hired him as a Council Rep in the Schools Division.

When Lillian Roberts became executive director in 2002, Garrido quickly became intrigued with her plan to make fighting contracting out a top - and very public - concern. The campaign appealed to his interest in public policy and research so he volunteered to work with Associate Director Oliver Gray on what became known as the "white paper project." As the project grew and the team uncovered millions of dollars in wasteful city spending, Roberts began to call him "Detective Garrido."

In the next few years, the union released several white papers. They included "Massive Waste at a Time of Need," an overview of the skyrocketing cost of contracting out, "Public Health Under the Knife," a response to the Health and Hospital Corp.'s cutback plan, and "A Better Way to Balance the Budget in 2010."

The project included media outreach and political work with the City Council to draw public attention to contracting waste. DC 37 also arranged for a hearing at union headquarters before the city's Congressional delegation. Eventually, the city adopted some of the union's recommendations, including capturing neglected revenue through fees for cell phone antennas and billboards. Garrido's work on the white papers was one of the reasons Robert's named him as the union's second associate director.

Perhaps the greatest successes of the work involved exposing the millions of dollars of waste in the troubled upgrade of the emergency 911 system and the corrupt CityTime payroll automation project, which came in years late as its costs mushroomed from $70 million to over $700 million.

"One of my happiest days was when I received a call from the prosecutor's office about the CityTime convictions," Garrido said. Eight CityTime contractors were convicted of fraud.

Helping members

While Garrido enjoys working on public-policy matters, he said he never forgets that the core mission of the union involves helping members - fighting grievances, providing benefits and negotiating contracts. One of his proudest moments came when a member called to inform him that she had purchased her first home through the union's housing program.

More recently, Garrido, 42, has helped Roberts settle the new economic agreement, implemented a computerized grievance tracking system and led the union drive that signed up 14,000 agency-fee payers as members.

He looks forward to building on Roberts's legacy of union organizing and combating city waste and contracting out. As the new executive director, Garrido hopes to draw on what he learned in the Harvard University Trade Union Program, which helps union leaders develop strategies for organizing and responding to employers' attacks.

Soon to head the city's largest municipal union, Garrido understands the huge responsibility he will assume as he looks to mobilize the union while the labor movement - particularly in the public sector - is under attack nationwide (see 'WAR on LABOR').

"Unions have been reactive and on the defensive for too long," Garrido said. "We have to be more aggressive about carrying out our agenda. We need to take advantage of the crisis we face to rebuild the union movement."