By JANE LaTOUR

Many fiscal observers believe a huge wave of layoffs is imminent. Their only question is how big it will be. While the mayor’s warnings may be read as a gambit to get the attention of the municipal unions, projected budget shortfalls keep increasing.

But District Council 37 is fighting back.

In response to the greatest threat to city workers since the 1970s, when more than 50,000 public employees lost their jobs, DC 37 is engaged in a multi-pronged fightback strategy, which is described in this section of PEP.

A massive rally April 29 at City Hall will put members’ “people power” behind union leaders as they mount political pressure on the Bloomberg administration to cut wasteful outside contracts instead of city employees.

DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts is committed to fighting for every job. “Even one layoff is outrageous while the city wastes billions through contracting out,” she said.

The task appears monumental.

“The numbers are staggering. You’re going to hear every possible negative thing within the next few weeks,” said DC 37 Research and Negotiations Director Dennis Sullivan on March 11. Addressing a membership meeting of Clerical-Administrative Local 1549, he urged them to stand strong and join the April 29 demonstration.

On March 12 the mayor received layoff lists — generally of job titles, not names of individuals — from his commissioners. These were originally described as a contingency plan in the event that negotiations with the Municipal Labor Committee fail to provide the $600 million in savings he had requested.

But three days later — with tax revenues dipping and state aid looking less probable — the mayor announced that significant layoffs were expected even with the $600 million in concessions. “As you keep cutting, unfortunately they are more likely,” said Mr. Bloomberg. “A very big percentage of what the city spends is on its labor force.”

Evelyn Seinfeld, associate director of the Research and Negotiations Dept., briefed the Bargaining Caucus on the current layoff situation and the union’s progress in moving endangered members into other municipal jobs.

In January and February, 426 members lost their jobs, mainly in the Dept. of Education and the School Construction Authority. In March the city was planning to eliminate 61 workers in the Dept. of Youth and Community Development who provide critical services to the city’s large immigrant population. With a layoff date of March 28 looming, DC 37 was working with Local 1549 and SSEU Local 371 to secure transfers to other city agencies for the members. DC 37 is confronting the current and potential layoffs with a wide range of efforts, including exposing government waste (see “The MTA Consultant Complex,” pages 20-21), legal actions and lobbying in Albany and City Hall (page 6), and campaigns at individual agencies (pages 5, 8-9).

Every union member can make a difference in the fight against layoffs by rallying at City Hall, April 29, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.