PEP, March 2004: DC 37's new top team.

In a rare contest for leadership at District Council 37, Lillian Roberts emerged through the fray of union democracy as victor and executive director. As the first African American woman at the helm of the nation’s largest and most progressive union of municipal workers, Ms. Roberts’ Jan. 27 re-election is both historic and heroic.

Her humble beginnings as a struggling Nurse’s Aide and AFSCME organizer in Chicago during the 1960s fuel her fierce devotion to the movement. She promises to “fight to the death” to see that DC 37 succeeds.

“I promised the members a good union,” Ms. Roberts said. “I didn’t do it for the money. I ran for the members, to deliver a fair contract and to finish the job I was chosen to do.”

Rebuilding the union
Her frank statement underscores a commitment to repay the trust the union’s delegate body has placed in her beginning in 2002 when she returned to DC 37 as executive director. Her reputation as labor icon and courageous fighter resonated with the membership when they unanimously elected her to the arduous task of rebuilding DC 37 after the union was compromised by corruption and run by an appointed administrator.

“Now that the membership has spoken, we have to move on to negotiating a new contract,” Ms. Roberts said. “The mayor wants everything — increased productivity, benefit givebacks — but we have wants, too.”

She is pressing hard at the bargaining table for the members’ needs, but refuses to negotiate in the media: “I am not about to insult the mayor with my hand out, nor do I want to paint us into a corner,” she said.

The re-elected executive director’s goals for DC 37 are numerous: to deliver a fair contract; to expand civil service opportunities for city workers; to press management to move civil service lists, and to provide a career ladder by which DC 37 members can improve their lives. She inherited problems like civil service lists that were not being moved.

“The ugly reality is that too many city workers are one paycheck away from welfare,” Ms. Roberts said. And while the top officers on Ms. Roberts’ slate won, a majority of the Council’s Executive Board is local leaders from the opposition slate. Ms. Roberts, who has an open-door policy, has extended her hand, expecting “to work with mature and intelligent people who will move forward and work collectively for a fair contract and get the union back on track.”

Some say the sign of true leadership is the ability to make tough decisions. Ms. Roberts came under heavy criticism when she rejected a low-wage deal for former welfare recipients in the Parks Dept. “To shove WEPs into those underpaid dead-end jobs would have exploited the poor,” she explained. “It offered none of the benefits welfare recipients truly need, like job training, education and quality day care. There are much better ways to integrate the jobless into society,” she said, referring to the successful CETA jobs program she helped implement in the 1970s.

Spearheading meetings between local leaders and commissioners, Ms. Roberts is fighting for workers’ voices to be heard. “We’re making sure we’re part of the dialogue before changes take place that would ultimately hurt members and public services.”

Through her white papers, DC 37 exposed the city’s waste of tax dollars on a privatized, shadow workforce. As a result, the City Council restored $60 million to the budget, and hundreds of employees — including 200 provisional computer workers — were hired from the list to permanent civil service positions.

Still, DC 37 has serious contentions with agency management. The number of lawsuits and grievances won by the union or settled on favorable terms proves members are working beyond their job specs without the appropriate recognition, compensation and promotions, Ms. Roberts said.

And DC 37 remains on the front lines of social issues, such as Medicare reform, childcare, public education and affordable housing, with programs that open the door for union families trapped between poverty and the middle-class.

Get involved
Under Ms. Roberts’ leadership, DC 37 enjoyed its most successful legislative year to date in 2003 with more than 18 union bills passed by the state Legislature. “Whether Democratic or Republican, we want to elect leaders who put labor first,” said Ms. Roberts. “Our vote is not owned by any one party. We do an independent evaluation. We ask for accountability.”

The first step DC 37 members can take to protect their jobs is to get involved with their local, she said. The second is to become politically aware. The third is insisting on leadership united in its resolve to win.

“I will fight with all my strength for the members,” Ms. Roberts said. “We have to hold feet to the flame and deal in the real world.” Hers is a will of iron. “I am a reasonable woman — but I will be as tough as I have to be to get the job done.”

— Diane S. Williams

Veronica Montgomery-Costa
President

Veteran leader and organizer

“Our major focus is to change the leadership in the White House. This economy is hurting our members and millions of people throughout the country,” said Veronica Montgomery-Costa, who on Jan. 27was reelected to her position as president of District Council 37.

A change in the White House and in Albany and securing a fair contact for the members are all high on her busy agenda.

“We’re working very hard to get a fair contract for our members and get those people who were laid off rehired,” said the experienced labor leader.

Since 1999, she has headed Local 372, which represents 26,000 employees in the public schools. Local 372 includes many part-timers, who enjoy the best benefits of any part-time workers in the country.

The local represents School Aides, School Lunch Workers, Subtance Abuse Prevention and Intervention Specialists (SAPIS), Family Paraprofessionals, Community Coordinators, Health Service Aides and Loaders and Handlers in the Dept. of Education and School Crossing Guards in the Police Dept.

A Harlem native and 28-year-veteran of Local 372, Ms. Montgomery-Costa first demonstrated her organizing ability in 1974 when she helped bring her SAPIS co-workers into Local 372. She was also instrumental in organizing the School Crossing Guards and Community Coordinators. DC 37’s national union, AFSCME, chose her to help organize public hospital workers in Fort Wayne, Ind. She served Local 372 as a grievance rep, chapter chair and Executive Board member from 1977 until 1982, when she became a DC 37 Rep, working with all job titles in the local.

Ms. Montgomery-Costa served her co- workers at DC 37 as vice president of the Federation of Field Representatives, a staff union, from 1982 to 1986, when she became assistant director of the Schools Division. As assistant director she was responsible for negotiating with management at all levels, including school administrators, district and central Dept. of Education labor relations officials, and chancellors.

As president of DC 37, she plans to continue waging the battle against privatization. “We’ve been successful in getting some private contracts ended,” she stated. Making sure that the members are well informed and active in the union is also essential. “We need to continue to educate the members on how the council works, so that they can be
involved and make intelligent decisions.”

— Alfredo Alvarado

Maf Misbah Uddin
Treasurer

Union members’ fiscal watchdog

As the newly elected treasurer of DC 37, Maf Misbah Uddin will oversee nearly $400 million of union members’ money each year — more than the annual budget of some small countries.

“This is a very big responsibility and a very complex job,” said Mr. Uddin, who serves as the union’s chief number cruncher and fiscal watchdog.

“Finance is the single most important area in any organization,” he said. “It is where problems may develop. Leaders can only survive in the end if they keep their financial house in order, which is my goal as treasurer.”

Mr. Uddin will monitor DC 37’s operating budget — now $34 million — and the Benefits Trust Fund, which has reserves of about $160 million and allocates more than $200 million each year for benefits.

As a city Actuary and the former president of the Parkchester South Condominium complex in the Bronx, Mr. Uddin said he has the experience and professional expertise needed to oversee fiscal practices at DC 37. He holds master’s degrees in demography, actuarial science and mathematics.

When he served as its president, Parkchester South had a budget of $45 million, about $10 million more than the union’s annual operating expenses. Mr. Uddin has worked for the state retirement system and the city Office of the Actuary, where he analyzed and evaluated pension reserves.

As DC 37 treasurer, he plans to work closely with Executive Director Lillian Roberts, other top leaders and staff to improve the union’s administrative and fiscal practices.

His goals include establishing a needed bidding process, assisting local unions with financial reporting requirements, eliminating wasteful spending, reviewing financial information and raising professional standards of union staff. Soon, he hopes to produce a balanced budget for fiscal year 2004 and a plan to reduce the union’s deficit.

“I feel very humble, but I am also very confident about living up to our responsibilities,” said Mr. Uddin, who is president of Accountants, Actuaries and Statisticians Local 1407 and the first Bangladeshi immigrant to head a U.S. municipal union local. “The members have entrusted me to help fulfill their expectation that improving fiscal management will help the union provide better services. I’m looking forward to meeting this challenge.”

— Gregory N. Heires

Clifford Koppelman
Secretary

Protecting jobs since 1970

Born in Brooklyn, Clifford Koppelman lives there today with his wife of 38 years, Natalie. As a young man, Mr. Koppelman joined the Air Force and spent four years in Germany and the Far East. In 1958, the government of Taiwan gave him an award in recognition of his service to the country.

Back in New York City, he attended school to learn court reporting. He started work for the court system in 1969 and within a year his co-workers elected him to chair Local 1070’s Court Reporter Chapter.

“It’s been a fight to protect our jobs from the day I started,” he said. “In the court system, the battle has always been the same — to stop management from replacing humans with electronic recording devices. I’ve been involved since 1970 in fighting that battle.” In 1996, he was elected president of Local 1070, which represents state employees in the court system and city employees in the Probation Dept. and the offices of district attorneys and public administrators.

He’s especially proud of the many improvements he has won for the members of Local 1070, such as his involvement 15 years ago in creating an education and training program for the Dept. of Probation. Leading the successful lobbying effort that resulted in a tremendous increase in the number of Court Interpreters for all languages is another milestone in his union career.

A more recent innovation was the creation of a Local 1070 safety and health committee. “Over a period of time, the members would call with specific complaints. We established a safety and health committee that is very active in responding to issues as soon as possible. They work with DC 37’s Safety and Health Dept. to get technical assistance in rectifying the problems,” he explained.

Mr. Koppelman has served the union in many capacities that prepared him for his new role as one of DC 37’s top officers. He’s been a chief steward, a delegate, an active member of several DC 37 committees, a lobbyist and a vice president on the DC 37 Executive Board.

As the newly elected secretary of District Council 37, he looks forward to bringing his years of experience to bear on the immediate issues facing the union. “I’ve spent my whole life with our union, putting members and their families first,” he said.

— Jane LaTour