Public Employee Press

New leaders named in Research and Negotiations

DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts on Jan. 3 named two veteran negotiators to lead the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept.

New Director Evelyn Seinfeld was promoted from associate director to replace Dennis Sullivan, who retired last year, and David Paskin was promoted from senior assistant director to the associate director position.

"Their combined 60 years of experience in research work and collective bargaining will be valuable for our members as we struggle to protect our benefits and win a contract in these tough political and economic times," Roberts said.

With a master's degree in library science from Queens College, Seinfeld worked at the Brooklyn Public Library and served as a shop steward in Brooklyn Library Guild Local 1482. She came to DC 37 as a research librarian in 1975, became assistant department director in 1981 and associate director in 1991. She worked alongside Sullivan on economic bargaining and citywide bargaining.

Over the years, Seinfeld has become one of the leading experts on civil service in the city. Last year, the DC 37 Civil Service Committee honored her for her dedication to helping the union address civil service issues.

Paskin received his master's degree in labor history from Rutgers University and worked in the Education Dept. of United Auto Workers District 65 before coming to DC 37 in 1987.

Before working for unions, Paskin was the project historian for the documentary films "Tighten Your Belt, Bite the Bullet," which compared the fiscal crises of New York City and Cleveland in the 1970s, and "The Good Fight: The Lincoln Brigade and the Spanish Civil War."

"We face an unprecedented wholesale attack on unions and civil service," Seinfeld said. "In the 1970s, we worked together with city leaders, banks and business to solve the fiscal crisis. Now it seems that they just want to kill us off."

"My goal is to do whatever I can to help the union protect the jobs and benefits of our members as we seek a contract and fight the dismantlement of the civil service system," Seinfeld said. "Hopefully we will emerge from this dark period as a stronger union."

According to Seinfeld and Paskin, public employee unions are now the key force in the struggle to prevent the further deterioration of the disappearing middle class in the United States.