PEP, March 2014: Mail and Media

Mail and Media

Pre-K of the past holds lessons for today

Former Professional Division Director Irving Baron and Local 299 President Jackie Rowe-Adams sent this letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is pushing for a universal pre-kindergarten program:

Your pursuit of a pre-school program is to be commended.

Are you aware that the Playground Directors in the NYC Dept. of Parks and Recreation were considered to have the best pre-schools in the country many administrations ago?

Long ago, under Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, recreation was a priority and most playgrounds had a male and female Playground Director. Today you are inheriting a broken Recreation Dept. You have an opportunity to fix it.

All city departments in recent administrations have been working under austere budgets, and recreation was cut more than most. Parks changed the titles, then they reduced education requirements so they could pay lower wages.

The old time Playground Directors who ran the pre-schools were certified Red Cross instructors, keeping playground accidents and lawsuits against the city to a minimum. They also ran full recreation programs for youths and senior citizens.

Pre-school sessions were held in the a.m. and again in the p.m. Participants entered these programs as children and came out as young adults.

Yesterday's playgrounds were outdoor community centers. Today's are an extension of the street with facilities.

Should you wish we could put you in touch with our retired Playground Directors so they can elaborate on their programs.

The following letter appeared recently in the Daily News:

Your columnist Josh Greenman seems all giddy that the mayor has not budgeted raises for city workers. He seems to be complaining that our wages and benefits are better than private-sector workers.

He should try living in New York City on the $30,000-a-year average salary that my union members get. We have earned the raises already, since under Mayor Bloomberg we have done "more with less." That is called increased productivity but without increased pay!

We don't want a "race to the bottom" with private employees. We think all workers deserve decent pay.

— Ralph Palladino
2nd Vice President, Local 1549

AWOL? No way!

I have been working for 27 years at Bellevue Hospital in the Biomedical Engineering Department. The week of Hurricane Sandy, I was coded 06 on the time sheet, that's AWOL. That means a week with no pay. Is this how the city helps its employees?

The city could take my days from my vacation days. I need to get my full paycheck. Sandy was not my fault.

I live three subway stations from Coney Island. We lost telephone and cell service in my area, plus I could not get in touch with anyone at Bellevue, because phones had either a busy signal, a recorded message or no answer.

— Piervito Pinto
Local 375

Editor's note: Local 375 President Claude Fort informed PEP that this problem was straightened out by Grievance Rep Elena More and Chapter President Khursheed Siddiqi.