Public Employee Press

Power!
Local 1549's Jan. 29 conference explored how to strengthen the union in politics and the workplace

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Some 150 Local 1549 activists attended a conference on Jan. 24 at DC 37 headquarters to develop an agenda on how to better protect the jobs and benefits of members.

The advocacy and political action conference examined the challenges facing organized labor, which is under siege in state legislatures and the courts across the country.

Participants at the conference, "An Agenda for a Better New York," charted a decisive fightback strategy which the local will continue to build on in a series of town hall meetings in April and May.

The first half of the conference examined the political and economic landscape of the nation and the legislative priorities of the union.

Ralph Palladino, the local's 2nd vice president, described how inequality threatens the living standards of working people. He cited a study by Oxfam that found that 80 billionaires control 50 percent of the world's wealth.

Palladino explained that in the United States, Republicans and "corporate Democrats" control the federal government, adding that in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is attacking teachers, undermining unions and public education.

"Training is excellent, but it is not effective if you don't bring what you learn back to the membership, said Local 1549 Executive Vice President Alma Roper, while addressing the group of shop stewards, delegates, chapter chairs and chapter vice chairs. "The war on unions is strong. We are in a fight for the future of our children and our children's children. If we lose, we will be set back 100 years."

Natasha Isma, vice chair of Local 1549's Political Action Committee, described the union's campaign against the use of uniformed personnel for clerical work at the departments of corrections and sanitation and at the New York Police Dept. The local's priorities also include eliminating wasteful outsourcing and the employment of temporary workers side-by-side with civil servants.

Immigration reform

Local 1549 Recording Secretary Carmen Flores said the union must become an advocate for the millions of undocumented workers coming out of the shadows while President Barack Obama carries out immigration reform. She stressed that the city needs additional funding for child care, food stamps and public housing.

Julia Ferreras, who chairs the City Council Finance Committee, was the guest speaker. She praised union activists for their political involvement and work to protect public services.

Piggy backing on Ferreras' remarks, Local 1549 President Eddie Rodriguez said the strong conference turnout during a heavy snowstorm spoke to the participants' deep commitment to the union movement and public services.

Henry Garrido, DC 37's executive director, said a major challenge confronting the union is to change the negative image of public service workers and unions. Garrido noted that the demonization of public employee unions and government workers has intensified since the financial crisis of 2008. An example of the scurrilous attacks is the attempt of blame workers for the public pension crisis, which in fact was caused by the market downturn and underfunding.

Garrido said he was appalled when he traveled to Albany to hear the budget message of Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo's proposed budget supports charter schools at the expense of the public school system, allocates insufficient funding for infrastructure for the city and calls for privatizing schools classified as failing.

"We are going to be changing this union in ways that have never been done before," Garrido said, referring to his plan to encourage greater rank-and-file participation, deepen DC 37's community ties and political power, and make the union do a better job enforcing the contract and standing up to management.

"So, I want to know: Will you join me in making the union more responsive to its members?" Garrido said, eliciting cheers from the activists.

John English, New York State area director of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, which is DC 37's parent union, spoke about Gov. Scott Walker's crippling of the three AFSCME affiliates in Wisconsin by gutting the collective bargaining rights of public employees.

Membership at these affiliates plummeted from 65,000 to 15,000. Previously, workers enjoyed 12 sick days a year and two to six weeks of vacation. Now these benefits are reduced to 15 days for sick leave and vacation combined. Co-insurance for families has increased from $40 a month to $4,000 a year.

The latest and most dangerous threat is a case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association. In ruling, the court could throw out the fair share principle, which allows unions to collect dues for members' services.

Unions: a target for elimination

"They are coming after us," said Rodriguez, saying the anti-labor forces aim not only to undermine collective bargaining but also to destroy public employee pensions.

In the second half of the conference, Tracy Monahan, field education coordinator of AFSCME, and Lee Clarke, Local 1549's special assistant to the president, coordinated breakout sessions in which the activists split up into small groups, which came up with suggestions for action.

Suggestions included:

• holding government accountable for improving services
• encouraging coworkers to attend union meetings
• organizing new members
• improving the union's use of social media to provide information and mobilize members
• fighting against the use of temps doing civil service work
• publicizing the positive work of civil servants
• running more articles about members in Public Employee Press and
• increasing opportunities for training.

"We have managers trying to pit members against members," said Bessie Logan-Malloy, a shop steward at the Health and Hospitals Corp.

"We have seen public sector workers lose their jobs all over the country - and lose their pensions," Palladino said. "We need to be prepared to fight back, and that's what we are doing to today."

"We have to stand up," Clark said.