Public Employee Press

Know your union leaders
“Protecting the dedicated men and woman who make this city run has been my life’s work.”
—Lillian Roberts, DC 37 Executive Director

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

DC 37’s 300-member Delegate Council placed its confidence in Executive Director Lillian Roberts and her Members First slate, re-electing them for a fourth term on Jan. 26.

“It is a great honor and a privilege to lead our city’s largest public employee union,” said Roberts. “Protecting the dedicated men and women who provide the vital services that make this city run has been my life’s work.”

The former Chicago Nurse’s Aide began that work 45 years ago as a tenacious organizer of hospital workers and is still a staunch fighter for District Council 37’s 125,000 members and 50,000 retirees.

Strong leadership

As the union approaches a new round of contract bargaining, Roberts and the council’s re-elected top officers — President Veronica Montgomery-Costa, Secretary Cliff Koppelman and Treasurer Maf Misbah Uddin — and the Executive Board will work closely together to provide strong leadership.

As PEP goes to press, Roberts is working to resolve the issues locals have raised before the contractual Salary Review Panel, win raises for prevailing-rate workers and negotiate new contracts for members in the City University system.

With Roberts at the helm, DC 37’s Green Machine boosted its clout as a political force in New York City in the November elections by winning victories for almost all the candidates the union supported and making the mayoral race closer than anyone anticipated. “We have built an army of activists who are not afraid to stand up for the needs of our members as we shape the destiny of this great and mighty union,” she said.

DC 37 helped elect Comptroller John Liu, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and 98 percent of the City Council. Roberts said, “I believe these citywide officials and the new City Council will play an aggressive role in working closely with us to combat the waste of our tax dollars through excessive contracting out and to oppose harmful cuts and layoffs in health, education, social services and other vital government services.”

As members face the worst economic conditions in New York State since the Great Depression, Roberts is again leading the fight to make the city and state governments respect their public employees and act with fiscal responsibility despite harsh economic constraints.

“We will continue to sound the call until our members win economic justice and equity,” said Lillian Roberts, who has steadfastly exposed the city’s waste of $9 billion on consultants and outside contracts in a series of white paper reports.

Public accountability

Under her leadership, DC 37 recently established a committee of city and state government watchdogs to monitor excessive and wasteful spending and won state legislation to monitor contracting out by hundreds of authorities, which until now have largely escaped public accountability. The bill was sponsored by Democratic Sen. Diane Savino of Brooklyn and Staten Island and Westchester Democratic Assembly member Richard Brodsky and signed into law by Gov. David Paterson, over Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s objections.

“Cuts and layoffs exact a devastating human toll and a substantial loss of tax revenue that will only weaken our city and our communities,” she said. “November’s close mayoral race sends a message that our destinies are tied together and we must all work together to recover from this terrible recession. This city cannot ignore the needs of the working-class and middle-class families who built it and the poor and infirm, who also have a rightful place in the sun.”