Public Employee Press

Members benefits and services restored as union HQ faces long recovery
Decentralized DC 37

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Left homeless by Hurricane Sandy like so many New Yorkers, DC 37 has recovered quickly, setting up nearly 20 satellite offices around the city to provide the services and benefits members depend on.

Flooding by the Oct. 29 superstorm crippled DC 37's headquarters at 125 Barclay St. in downtown Manhattan (see page 10). With months of repairs required, union leaders are working day and night to bring together many union functions at one temporary location.

In the days after the storm struck, the union dispatched field reps around the city to reach out to members who needed help. They set up shop in schools, public hospitals and offices of DC 37 locals and other unions, including AFSCME District Council 1707, which provided facilities for top officials and some headquarters staff.

Social Service Employees Union Local 371, for example, provided space for the DC 37 Professional Division. The Schools Division sent reps to public schools, and hospital reps worked from union chapter offices in the institutions.

"Members' benefits were a top priority, especially prescription drugs, which can be a matter of life or death," said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. (For details on Health and Security Plan benefits and Education Fund courses, see pages 12-13.)

The DC 37 Legal Dept. quickly resumed representing members in arbitration hearings and the Research and Negotiations Dept. established offices around Manhattan, where they built the union's case against Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's order to charge storm-caused absences to members' vacation balances.

As the presidential election approached, the Political Action Dept. used decentralized sites to coordinate a citywide get-out-the-vote drive. Attorneys with DC 37's Municipal Employees Legal Services worked from their homes to prepare court cases for members. Together with Social Workers from the Personal Service Unit, they have been meeting with clients at the union's health-care centers in Manhattan and Brooklyn, where members and retirees receive podiatry, dental and audiology services.

The Public Employee Press published a 12 page November/December 2012 issue with its editorial team working from their homes, using email, cell phones and home and laptop computers. Also without offices, Communications Dept. staff produced the union's television and radio shows.

"The union reinvented itself, from being an institution operating under one roof into a more nimble organization with a decentralized structure," Roberts said in mid-December. "I am proud that under the difficult circumstances we are providing benefits and services to members."

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