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Public
Employee Press City unions set
up committee to represent school workers With
huge state and local cuts to the public schools looming, unions that represent
public school employees are uniting to preserve services, protect jobs and work
with the Dept. of Education.
In January, the Municipal Labor Committee,
the 300,000-member umbrella group of city unions, established an education sub-committee
to deal with school issues.
Labor leaders hope the committee will facilitate
discussions between the unions and DOE as the city faces the deepest proposed
state funding cuts in two decades.
Gov. David A. Patersons proposed
budget would slash school aid by $1.1 billion including a $469 million
hit on New York City and, as PEP went to press, education advocates anticipated
further deep reductions in the city financial plan, which was scheduled for release
Jan. 26.
Michael Mulgrew, president of the United Federation of Teachers
and chair of the new MLC/DOE Subcommittee, wrote Schools Chancellor Joel Klein,
informing him of the new grouping. Mulgrew cited the mayors call for more
collaboration and innovation to help us face a difficult future, and said,
We couldnt agree more and the unions, the frontline provider of services,
must be a vital part of this effort. He asked Klein to meet with the subcommittee
as soon as possible.
This will give us a collective voice and strengthen
our ability to protect services and jobs in the public school system, said
DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, a member of the committee. With
the bleak budget picture out there, the unions and DOE need to work together to
do what we can to look out for the future of our schoolchildren.
DC
37 President Veronica Montgomery-Costa, who is president of Board of Education
Employees Local 372 and will also serve on the committee, echoed Roberts
sentiments.
All the members of the education sub-committee have a
vested interest in working together to come up with solid proposals and solutions
in the face of budget cuts, school closings and the possible proliferation of
charter schools, she said. By standing together, the municipal unions
that represent employees in the public schools should be in a better position
to defend their members and the work they do.
Altogether, municipal
unions represent 135,000 employees in the citys public school system. Besides
Roberts and Montgomery-Costa, the other DC 37 members of the subcommittee are
Local 376 President Gene DeMartino, Local 1251 President Henry Lane, and Local
154 President Juan Fernandez.
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