Sisters and brothers, we are under attack.

Our jobs, our pay and our benefits are all in the gravest danger we have faced since the mid-1970s, when more than 50,000 city employees lost their jobs. Our public schools, our public health system and all the services that our communities depend on face crippling cutbacks.

The combined effects of the proposed federal, state and city budgets would tear billions of dollars out of the public institutions that sustain working and poor families in New York City.

And the mayor’s bargaining demands would take hundreds of millions of dollars out of our pockets and devastate the health benefits that our families desperately need. Working people simply cannot afford today’s insane medical costs without the help the union provides, but the city wants to pull $200 per member out of our union benefits.

Skyrocketing pharmaceutical costs are already eating up the funds that back our prescription drug cards, and high fees for routine services are putting intense pressure on our dental coverage.

For retirees, although their medical needs are often greater, the mayor would cut benefit funding in half and completely eliminate their hard-won Medicare Part B reimbursements.

The city demands would eliminate pay for holidays and chop pay for overtime and night work. These are just other names for pay cuts. They would take money from our pockets and food from our families’ tables.

The truth is, we don’t have anything to give.

Most of our members earn from $18,000 to $29,000 a year. The city just enacted the largest property tax increase in history. The average homeowner will have to pay another $342 a year, and we know landlords will pass along the cost to every renter. The 50-cent increase in the subway fare is unfair for the low-income workers who will bear the brunt of the cost.

We may not be rich, but we are no fools. We understand the terrible impact the recession, the 911 tragedy and Rudy Giuliani’s overspending have had on the city’s economy and the 2003 municipal budget.

That’s why we have shown the mayor serious alternatives to cutting people’s pay, destroying their health benefits and wiping out their jobs. In our White Papers we have identified hundreds of millions of dollars that could be saved by reducing the use of consultants and contracting out. While a few agencies have adopted our proposals, the lack of a broad-scale response from our chief executive has been disgraceful.

With our pay, our benefits and our jobs under the gun, our backs are to the wall. We are fighting back with every means at our disposal — at the bargaining table and in the courts, the Legislature and the City Council. We are building community coalitions and involving our political allies.

I recently met with U.S. Senators Clinton and Schumer in Washington, because our city desperately needs federal assistance. In Albany, we have been talking with leaders of both parties. At hearings in Albany and New York City, we will continue pressing to cut waste instead of workers.

All these efforts will bear fruit, but time is growing short. Now we need to move this struggle into the streets.

Rally at City Hall, April 29, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Our shop stewards and political activists showed they were ready March 13 at a mass meeting. I was quite moved when 1,000 voices responded in unison as DC 37 President Veronica Montgomery-Costa recited a simple pledge: “I understand that if I want a better work life and a better contract, I have to be part of the solution. I believe the members are the union, and the key to a good contract is active and involved members.”

We have to show the mayor and the governor that we are united in saying NO to their pay and benefit cuts. We need to show them that we will fight back against layoffs and for a fair contract. It is time for a mighty show of force, because that is the kind of language they understand.

I am asking every member to join us in a huge rally at City Hall from 5:30 to 7:30 on Tuesday, April 29. If you want to protect public services, stop layoffs, safeguard benefits and win a decent contract, come and bring your family and friends. With our jobs, our pay and our benefits at stake, I know you will all be with me.