Recently re-elected DC 37 President Veronica Montgomery-Costa is a veteran labor activist who began organizing workers in the city’s public schools more than 30 years ago. Her outstanding skills as an organizer helped bring the Substance Abuse Prevention and Intervention Specialists into Local 372 in 1974.

She also played a major role in organizing the local’s School Crossing Guards and Community Coordinators. Recognizing her abilities, DC 37’s national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees sent her to Fort Wayne, Ind., to organize public hospital workers.

Montgomery-Costa served her local as a grievance rep, chapter chair and Executive Board member, and in 1986 she became assistant director of DC 37’s Schools Division.

In 1999 she was elected president of the 26,000-member local, which represents School Aides, School Lunch Workers, Family Paraprofessionals, Community Coordinators and SAPIS in the Dept. of Education and School Crossing Guards in the Police Dept.

One of Local 372’s most successful campaigns of recent years has been the “Earned Income Tax Credit Campaign.” Montgomery-Costa arranged for the Internal Revenue Service to train volunteers to help eligible members receive their tax credits and larger refunds. “It’s been very successful,” she said. “Members have gotten back as much as $5,000 and one woman showed up at a meeting waving a check for $6,800.”

Local 372 is in the vanguard against the proliferation of charter schools that are funded with money that should be used for the public school system. The local also fights against privatization of school services. “We have been successful in getting some private contracts terminated,” she said.

Montgomery-Costa began her fourth term as president of Local 372 when she was re-elected last year. She was first elected president of DC 37 in 2002 and was re-elected for the third time in January.

DC 37 President Cliff Koppelman was re-elected to his fourth term as secretary of DC 37 in January. He has decades of union experience and has served since 1996 as president of Court, County and Dept. of Probation Employees Local 1070.

“I like the work as secretary,” he said. “We’ve made some subtle changes in how the minutes are reported, in accord with our constitution. It’s an important responsibility to provide a complete and accurate official record of DC 37. The minutes also tell our history.”

When he’s not involved with his official duties, Koppelman loves to read on a variety of subjects, especially history. He nurtured this interest during his years in the U.S. Air Force, and traveled and lived for four years in the Far East and Germany, an experience that shaped and broadened his outlook.

“You use your experience and do what you can to protect the people you represent,” he said. He appreciates the recent vote of confidence and said, “I’m glad to be part of the team that is moving DC 37 and its membership into the future.”

He is confident that the union can weather the difficult economy and perilous job situation. “We’ve been through this before — in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. A forward-looking attitude and cooperative team spirit are very important as we face these hard times,” he said.

Koppelman lives in Brooklyn with his wife of over 40 years, Natalie. The Erasmus High School graduate grew up in East Flatbush and attended college.

He has studied judo, competed in auto racing, and brings that fighting spirit to the work he does on behalf of DC 37’s membership.

Koppelman is proud of the improvements Local 1070 has won for its members.

“The amount of time we spend on the job makes it especially important that members are not working in an environment that’s a danger to their health,” he said.

As the nation’s only Bangladeshi local union president, re-elected Treasurer Maf Misbah Uddin personifies the rich diversity of District Council 37.

His union work is driven by his commitment to social and economic justice. He attributes his idealism to his father, a leader from Bengal who was jailed with Mahatma Gandhi during the nonviolent movement against British colonialism.

Uddin became active in the union soon after joining the city workforce as an Actuary in 1988. He holds master’s degrees in mathematics, demography and actuarial science, and he has served as president of Accountants, Statisticians and Actuaries Local 1407 since 2000.

Now in his third term as treasurer, Uddin takes pride in his push to improve DC 37’s budgetary practices. As treasurer, he is in charge of a $38 million budget.

Uddin initiated a budget process that has improved transparency and includes working closely with the accounting and executive staff to analyze spending plans submitted by division and department heads. This change allows for better long-term planning.

Previously, the union lumped together operating and capital expenses, but the union now has a separate capital budget of about $1 million. An “obsolescence control” plan establishes a schedule for replacing capital equipment, such as photocopying and fax machines, as well as furniture and computers. The capital budget also covers other major information technology expenses, such as security and software upgrades.

As a union leader, Uddin has promoted immigrant rights and greater cultural diversity within the labor movement. He chairs the DC 37 Asian Heritage Committee and serves on the board of the AFL-CIO’s Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance, which works to organize more Asian workers and heighten their political influence. He is also the founder and president of the two-year-old Alliance of South Asian American Labor.