By ALFREDO ALVARADO

"We saved these jobs when folks said it couldn't be done," said DC 37 Administrator Lee Saunders Jan. 23 at a jubilant victory celebration at Harlem's AME Metropolitan Church.

"We are the green fighting machine," Saunders said. "We will be treated with dignity and respect or we will fight back."

The jobs that were saved belonged to 91 per diem hospital workers from the Health and Hospitals Corporation's Northern Manhattan Health Network, which includes Harlem, Metropolitan and Lincoln hospitals.

Community leaders, religious leaders and new City Council member Helen Foster joined hundreds of union members in celebrating the victory and pledging to battle future HHC cutbacks.

Arbitrator orders talks

The threatened layoffs were put on hold in December after the union filed a group grievance and an arbitrator ordered HHC and the city to meet with the union to discuss alternatives to firing the members.

At a meeting Jan. 17, management and union negotiators worked out a compromise to save the jobs. The employees are members of Municipal Hospital Employees Local 420 and Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549.

Under the agreement, not one union member will be laid off. Instead, the Local 420 group will be reassigned to other HHC facilities. The clerical-administrative jobs will be protected by reducing the number of employees that are supplied by an outside contractor.

"This is a total victory for the union," said DC 37 Deputy Administrator Dennis Sullivan. "In addition to saving these members from impending layoffs, we protected our longstanding right to 30 days' notice and we preserved the vital principle that members should never lose their jobs unless every possible alternative is explored first," he said.

Local 1549 activists and staff provided union leaders with information on HHC's use of temporary employment agencies, and their research work played an important role in the union victory, said Local President Eddie Rodriguez.

"This is a very significant victory for us, because we were able to reduce the amount of contracting out and the use of office temps by HHC," said Mr. Rodriguez.

Local 420 President James Butler explained the plan Jan. 22 at a special meeting with his threatened members.

Unity stops layoffs

"By sticking together, we stopped these layoffs. With the budget problems we face, we have to maintain unity to keep the union strong for future battles," said Mr. Butler.

"Cutting jobs is not a meaningful way to build HHC," said DC 37 Hospitals Division Director Pat Brooks at the meeting.

The layoff threat began late last year. Just before Christmas, HHC handed out pink slips announcing that the employees would be laid off on Dec. 28. The layoffs however, violated the 30-day notice requirement and the union immediately filed a step 3 grievance.

At the Dec. 21 arbitration on the group grievance, Senior Assistant General Counsel Mary J. O'Connell represented the union, and Mr. Sullivan and Associate Research and Negotiations Director Evelyn Seinfeld testified.

DC 37 won that battle and paved the way for the January victory when - one day before Christmas - arbitrator Maurice C. Benewitz ordered HHC to halt the firings and meet with the union.
Although HHC reissued the pink slips, this time with 30 days' notice, the threat was ended when the required discussions were held on Jan. 17.

Speaking at the Jan. 24 rally, Local 420 member Lynette Fields called on other members to be more active in their locals. A Central Supply Assistant at Harlem Hospital, Ms. Fields said, "The union can't do it without us, and we can't win without a strong union."