PEP, March 2010: AFSCME to Albany: No cuts

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

More than 500 DC 37 members joined an army of AFSCME activists at the annual Albany Lobby Day Feb. 8 to tell legislators that layoffs and funding cuts are not the way out of the budget crisis gripping New York.

“We deserve respect and resources, not ridicule and right-wing attacks!” boomed AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee. “We fight for working families and the middle class. These are tough times, but there are better choices to balance the budget, raise revenue and protect services.”

The six New York State councils of DC 37’s national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, sent busloads of members to Albany to tell politicians to fix the budget. They called on the lawmakers to examine sources of revenue — such as the uncollected $1 billion in taxes on reservation cigarette sales, a reinstated stock transfer tax and an end to the state’s $16 billion tax giveaway to bond traders — and urged them to rein in irresponsible city and state spending on contractors and consultants.

“Our careers are under attack. Contracting out hampers promotions and takes jobs away from working families,” DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts told the grassroots lobbyists. “It has to stop!”

McEntee pointed out that politicians, editorial boards and fiscal conservatives target and scapegoat public employees. To counter the attack, he presented a $300,000 check to the council leaders for the Protect Public Services media campaign to raise public understanding of the stakes in the budget battle.

Cuts hurt

“Slashing the budget is the wrong choice for education and public services,” said state AFL-CIO leader Denis Hughes. “The economic crisis is a direct result of manipulation by Wall Street renegades who have been rewarded with multimillion-dollar bonuses.”

“Hard times call for hard decisions, but we should be looking for ways to protect the middle class and struggling New Yorkers,” said Democratic Senate Majority Leader John Sampson.

“We see the same political shenanigans,” McEntee said. “To win favor with the rich and powerful, the governor demolishes public services with contractors and exploits temporary workers in a reckless race to the bottom.” And Mayor Bloomberg is still spending over $9 billion on consultants and no-bid contracts while laying off city workers.

“We have to be thoughtful and responsible when we make cuts,” said Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. “Cutting Social Security, tuition assistance and school lunch programs would save the state very little but would devastate working families. We need shared sacrifice and cuts that respect public employees and the jobs they do.”

“We have been doing less with less for too long,” said Sen. Diane Savino, a former SSEU Local 371 leader. “We are not going to let the governor and the mayor blame us for the mistakes of the ‘Masters of the Universe’ on Wall Street. Public employees are the solution, not the problem!”