Public Employee Press

Roberts slate sweeps vote

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

The Delegates Council voted overwhelmingly Jan. 26 to re-elect District Council 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts to a fourth term at the helm of the city’s largest union of municipal employees.

“I am deeply grateful to the members of this great union for their faith in me,” said Roberts. “Protecting the dedicated men and women who provide the services that make this city run has been my life’s work.”

Roberts won the third contested election for the top leadership post in the union’s 66-year history by nearly three-to-one. She received 80,854 votes to defeat Civil Service Technical Guild Local 375 President Claude Fort, who got 31,275 votes; there were 10,785 blank ballots.

Her running mates, the union’s other three top executive officers, were re-elected unopposed at the Nov. 24 Delegates Council meeting. They are President Veronica Montgomery-Costa, who is also the president of Board of Education Employees Local 372 and an AFSCME International vice president; Secretary Cliff Koppelman, the president of Court, County and Dept. of Probation Employees Local 1070, and Treasurer Maf Misbah Uddin, the president of Accountants, Statisticians and Actuaries Local 1407.

Delegates elect VPs

The Executive Board vice presidents from the five locals that each represent more than 5 percent of DC 37’s membership were also chosen at the November meeting. They are Faye Moore, president of Social Services Employees Union Local 371; Santos Crespo, executive vice president of Local 372; Michelle Keller, Local 375 delegate; Carmen Charles, president of Hospital Employees Local 420; and Eddie Rodriguez, president of Clerical-Administrative Local 1549, who also serves as an AFSCME International vice president.

At the Jan 26 meeting, the delegates from the 50 locals that each include less than 5 percent of DC 37’s membership also elected the entire Members First slate of 20 Executive Board vice presidents. (See box below for list.)

The 300-member Delegates Council, the union’s highest governing body, represents the members of DC 37’s 55 locals. The top officers and vice presidents were elected to three-year terms. The American Arbitration Association conducted the voting under the supervision of the DC 37 Election Committee, which is chaired by Deborah Lane of Local 384 and includes Joe Puleo of Local 983 and Paulette Sher of Local 2021.

Although 2010 promises to be one of the most challenging years since 2002, when Roberts first was elected to run the flagship union of the 1.5 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Roberts laid out a bold agenda for DC 37. She told the delegates she would lead the fight to avert the mayor’s threatened layoffs, renegotiate the economic agreement that expires in March, and reduce contracting out and privatization of public services.

In January, the mayor announced in Albany that as many as 18,500 city workers could be laid off if the governor draconian cuts are adopted (see page 20). Gov. David Paterson’s plan as presented would disproportionately affect New York City. “Before he talks about layoffs of any city workers,” Roberts said, “the mayor has to look at the billions of dollars being wasted by contracting out services our members can do for less.”

Under Roberts’ leadership, DC 37 has exposed the massive waste of $9 billion in tax dollars on outside contracts and pressed for government transparency, fiscal responsibility and fairness. Roberts led the union to substantial wage increases in two economic pacts, developed the Municipal Employees Housing Program, a major affordable housing initiative, and won a two-year battle to lift residency regulations for members.