The number of city employees with a real voice at work just increased by 131 as two organizing efforts brought three new groups into the ranks of the municipal workers that DC 37 proudly represents.

The newest members are Pediatric Nurse Practitioners in Dept. of Health clinics, Transit Customer Service Specialists, Levels 1 and 2, and Associate Lab Technicians Level 2 at MABSTOA, the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority.

DC 37’s Local 436, the United Federation of Nurses and Epidemiologists, will represent the Nurse Practitioners.

When DC 37 showed that employees in the title work in Health Dept. clinics alongside Local 436’s Public Health Nurses, an impartial board at the Office of Collective Bargaining decided for DC 37 and against the New York State Nurses Association.

Although the local immediately gained only one new member, Local President Gloria Acevedo said, “We believe the rank and file numbers in the title will grow.”

After a long battle, Metropolitan Transportation Authority Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1655 overcame management resistance to win representation rights for the MABSTOA titles.

MABSTOA’s Customer Service Specialists work around the clock, dispensing MetroCard and travel information. The Lab Technicians are in the TA’s random drug testing program.

For more than a decade, only one-tenth of the MABSTOA workers were unionized. The differences between them and the members of DC 37’s Local 1655 were apparent. Management had a free-for-all with the nonunion workers.

“Whatever the TA wanted to do, they did,” said Local 1655 President Donald Afflick. The nonunion workers had no grievance or arbitration procedures. They found that they were written up more frequently and were fired at management’s will, said Shop Steward Gayle Felder.

Last year the group got serious and approached Local 1655. Organizing the group presented special challenges, because the workers were in various job levels, shifts and schedules, said DC 37 Rep Melroy Slowe, a principal organizer.

The Transit Authority contested everything, Mr. Afflick said, because they did not want to give the union automatic recognition.

“It’s a common tactic used to intimidate workers and maintain the status quo of non-representation,” he said. But Mr. Afflick and Mr. Slowe pushed every week, working closely with the DC 37’s Legal Department.

“Union representation has helped morale,” said Ms. Felder. “Now we’re happier, we attend meetings and we want to get involved in DC 37 activities.”

“We hope this signals a renewed spirit of organizing and unionism,” Mr. Afflick said. “We’re not about to give Transit — or any other agency — a free ride.”