Robert Schirmer was sworn in as the newest Vice President on the DC 37 Executive Board after he won a runoff election at the Feb. 25 Delegates meeting. Schirmer’s position is one of five new spots created by a 2002 constitutional amendment that expanded the Executive Board from 20 to 25 vice presidents. Four won majority votes and were installed at the Jan. 28 Delegates Council.

DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts called for expanding the board “to broaden and strengthen our democracy within DC 37.” Mr. Schirmer is the president of Metropolitan Museum of Art Local 1503, which represents 700 security, maintenance and technical workers at the famed Fifth Avenue institution.

“I am honored to have support from my fellow unionists, and I am glad to be working with the DC 37 Executive Board,” he said. Mr. Schirmer chairs DC 37’s Laws and Rules Committee.

Mr. Schirmer began as a museum Security Officer in 1984 and was a union “spectator,” until co-workers convinced him to become a shop steward in 1992. In 1997, they elected him local president. As president, Mr. Schirmer has negotiated two local contracts and improved the pension system that covers his members. In November, he was elected treasurer of the Cultural Institutions Trust Fund.

He urges more DC 37 members to become active in the union. An advocate of ‘one member, one vote,’ Mr. Schirmer hopes that “members will soon be able to directly choose the people who will lead their union.”

“City workers are underpaid. We have responsible jobs and we just got hit with a property tax increase and a huge fare hike — it’s the cost of living in New York, and all the more reason our next contract should be retroactive,” Schirmer said.

“If we stand tall, stick together and don’t give in, we can win the increase we deserve,” he added.