Public Employee Press

Roberts slate sweeps vote

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Union delegates overwhelmingly elected DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts to a third term Jan. 23 as they voted in her entire Members First slate of candidates for the DC 37 Executive Board.

Roberts defeated Local 371 President Charles Ensley by a vote of 83,486 to 37,503; his Unity slate previously held many positions on the board.

“I want to thank the members of this great union for their faith in me,” Roberts said after the election, which was run by the independent American Arbitration Association.

“This union has been my life’s work. It is an honor and a privilege to lead it. I always have and I always will put the members and services to the members first.”

Under DC 37’s governing system, delegates from all locals elect the four top officers. Delegates from the locals that include at least 5 percent of DC 37’s members vote on their own vice presidents, and the remaining locals together elect 20 vice presidents to the board.

DC 37 President Veronica Montgomery-Costa, president of Local 372, Treasurer Maf Misbah Uddin, president of Local 1407, and Secretary Clifford Koppelman, president of Local 1070, were nominated without opposition at the November Delegates Council meeting.

VPs from 5 percent locals
The board vice presidents elected at that meeting from the 5 percent locals are Faye Moore of Local 371, Santos Crespo (372), Claude Fort (375), Carmen Charles (420) and Eddie Rodriguez (1549).
In the Jan. 23 election for vice presidential positions on the Executive Board, 46,251 votes were cast. The victorious Members First slate candidates (see box) received from 27,227 to 25,073 votes, while the Unity candidates got from 17,212 to 20,398.

Local 1549 Executive Vice President Lenora Gates chairs the DC 37 Elections Committee, which presided over the voting. Committee members are Deborah Lane (Local 384), Phyllis McLean (957), Joseph Napolitano (1320) and Joe Puleo (983).

“With the support of the members, we are once again fulfilling our promise as a proud, powerful union,” said Roberts, who has served five years as executive director. “I hope to achieve even greater solidarity and less dissention as we move forward together.”

At a post-election news conference, Roberts said she viewed her re-election and the victory of her slate as indications that members were happy with the latest contract and initiatives such as the union’s new affordable housing program and its fight for child care.

The vote, she said, also showed that members wanted to see an end to infighting at the union.
Roberts said she looked forward in her new term to negotiating the next contract, improving the civil service system and working with the city to open up career opportunities for members who have improved their education.

“And I will be fighting for all the members of this union, including, of course, those who didn’t vote for me. This election was all about unity,” Roberts said, “Now we are going to be a much stronger union.”