By LILLIAN ROBERTS
Executive Director
District Council 37, AFSCME

This past year our council celebrated 60 years of protecting and caring for its members. This momentous achievement would not have been possible without the blood, sweat and tears of our everyday heroes whose public service keeps this city running.

Throughout its proud history, District Council 37 has stood for more than simply its 121,000 members and 50,000 retirees. We have stood for equality in the workplace, for protecting our civil rights and for fair taxation. We have fought for health care for the uninsured, better education for our children and a decent quality of life for all. We have defended public hospitals and libraries from privatization and devastating budget cuts, not just to protect our members but because it’s the right thing to do.

Ultimately, our identity lies in what we do for our members. A great part of our success can be found in the departments that provide services to members and locals. Our Legal, Research and Negotiations and Political Action departments, our Health and Security Plan and Education Fund, the Public Employee Press and our field operation are a few of the ways DC 37 provides invaluable services to members. Locals must proceed with extreme caution when they go outside to purchase services these departments perform. Let me explain why.

In the story, “Fighting for Members” (page 19), you will read about the distinguished record of our Legal Dept., which has pioneered in many areas of labor law. In landmark court cases, our lawyers have protected the rights of minorities, women, immigrants and workers in all municipal agencies. You can be confident that we have a first rate law office at DC 37 — the envy of many — which does not bill you by the hour or the case to protect your civil service rights.

Whether it is a disciplinary case to save one worker’s job, a struggle to stop the sale of public hospitals and the loss of thousands of jobs along with vital services for the communities where our members live, or an effort to prevent funding cuts in essential services and facilities — we have the leaders and lawyers to wage an effective battle.

To preserve and protect our most valuable rights, they need your assistance. Every victory is the result of careful planning. Not every case brings together the elements of success. You may have heard grandma say, “You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear.” If you want our lawyers to successfully challenge an agency or a city law, select your best case or situation; if you don’t, a loss can be so costly that it affects many locals and thousands of members.

Experience, skill and strength
Their record of victories shows that our lawyers know how to take on racial or gender discrimination in pay or promotions, combat illegal disciplinary transfers, force the city to give civil service exams, battle contracting out and bring back members’ jobs that have been taken by others. And when they go to court or arbitration hearings, they put the power of DC 37’s 121,000 members behind each individual member they represent.

Our Legal Dept. is part of an extensive network of DC 37 resources. Union lawyers can call on our Research and Negotiations and Political Action departments at any time. If the issue is a grievance about a contract violation, our lawyers probably helped draft the agreement — working closely with local leaders, bargaining committee members and negotiators.

Over the decades, the Legal Dept. has been directly involved with developments in the civil service, pension and collective bargaining laws that govern the city and its workers. These laws are unique — and quite different from the private sector — but they are the basis of our rights and our contractual grievance procedures. Nobody doubts that “practice makes perfect.” The specialized background of our DC 37 attorneys wins many cases for our members.

Union attorneys take a broad view. They carefully filter out the weak cases that could both lose for the individual and hurt many other members and locals. Such bad precedents can prevent future court victories and thwart union efforts to correct the problem through negotiations or legislation.

The on-target experience, the breadth of vision and the institutional memory of the lawyers in our DC 37 Legal Dept. are second to none.