Public Employee Press

OTB members keep fighting By DIANE S. WILLIAMS with ALFREDO ALVARADO

With placards in hand, 200 angry members of Local 2021 arrived in Albany Jan. 5 with a message for the legislators responsible for shuttering New York City Off-Track Betting Corp. and destroying 1,000 jobs.

"We are going to be heard. We are not going down like this. We're going to keep fighting," said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. "Public employees are not the problem. The city wants to make us the scapegoat, but that's not going to work."

As lawmakers left the hall after Gov. Andrew Cuomo's State of the State speech, the laid-off OTB workers greeted them with loud chants of "Save OTB!" The loudest protests hit Senate Republican Leader Dean Skelos, who voted against the plan to save OTB.

"The impact is much greater than they expected. They should admit that they made a big mistake," said Political Action Director Wanda Williams. She and DC 37 leaders joined state AFL-CIO president Denis Hughes, Teamsters Local 858 President Barry Yomtov, and Local 2021 Vice President Paulette Sher at the rally.

Layoffs hurt families

"We cannot give up. This fight has only just begun," said State Senate Racing Committee Chair Eric Adams, who has stood solidly with the union.

OTB Cashier Andrea Maldonado said she fears returning to welfare. "I want to work. I do not want welfare. I can't be happy, but I have to hold on to hope," she said through tears. "I thought I would have this job for life."

Many in OTB's laid-off workforce are too young to retire. They have worked for decades and paid state and city taxes. In this struggling economy, they fear being forced onto welfare if state legislators fail to save OTB.

"This layoff affects my entire family," said Betting Clerk Kim Love. "I paid for my sister's and my grandmother's blood pressure and asthma medications from my OTB salary," she said. "Only God can provide for me now."

"Senate failed us"

At OTB's peak, employees handled $1.3 billion in bets, sending a steady stream of revenue into state and city coffers but leaving little for OTB, which had to file for bankruptcy. Legislation that the state Senate failed to pass in December would have reorganized OTB, let OTB pay its creditors, protected 500 employees and provided severance money and early retirement for others.

"With no job how will I pay my rent and support my child?' asked Local 2021 Motor Vehicle Operator David Rodriguez. " I have to sell my car. All I see is a rough future ahead."

In December, DC 37 filed a lawsuit to protect retirees' health benefits, but on Jan. 12 the judge failed to grant the union's request for an order to preserve the benefits. "DC 37 will appeal this decision and will continue to fight for Local 2021 members and retirees on this important issue," said General Counsel Mary O'Connell. "OTB employees will not be forgotten."

DC 37 continues to fight

"We continue to fight in Albany," Roberts said. "Our members have been caught between the politics of Democrats and Republicans. Because the legislators were not talking to each other across the aisle, 1,000 OTB employees lost their jobs."

She said inaction on the part of Republicans in Albany had "wreaked havoc on our members' lives and hurt taxpayers and small business owners in New York City. We are all losers because of this."

In the days following the Jan. 5 rally, Roberts and other labor leaders met with state Democratic and Republican leaders, who acknowledged that the OTB's shutdown should never have happened. "They say they want to make it right and we are waiting to see how the governor will respond and how we can get back to having a profitable OTB," Roberts said. "At this point, both parties agree, it's up to the governor to make OTB viable again."