Public Employee Press

Building Political Power at City Hall
DC 37 leaders and City Council members work to defeat proposed city and state budget cuts.

Pancakes and politics were on the menu Feb. 18 as District Council 37 held its annual City Council breakfast at the union hall.

“We want to thank City Council for their hard work restoring $600 million to the budget last year and their hearings on the White Papers,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

“We believe if the mayor has the money to promise a tax refund, he should have the money to give our members raises. And we are counting on you to support us.”

Union leaders, including 26 local presidents and board members from many locals, met with City Council members to garner support on issues that affect the lives — and livelihoods — of DC 37’s 121,000 active members and its retirees. DC 37 alerted Council members to its ongoing battles: the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, which calls for reformulation of state aid to the city’s 1.1 million school children; the fight to protect public hospitals from proposed Medicaid cuts, and the need for increased state and federal aid.

“This union’s suggestions led to city savings of millions of dollars. DC 37 saved the city from a fiscal crisis and has partnered with the City Council every step of the way,” said council member David Weprin, who represented Speaker Gifford Miller as the keynote speaker.

Although New York City sends a whopping $6.3 billion to Washington annually and $3.5 billion to Albany, Mr. Weprin said, “We’ve been shortchanged on aid and we are still waiting for the promised 9/11 relief.” He faulted the mayor for seeking only $700 million from the feds and $400 million from the state. “If the governor and mayor will not make a case for us,” he said, “we will make our case at the Republican convention in August.”

That reluctance at the top to fight for a fair share and the attempt to privatize the tow-pound — a revenue generating operation — could spell disaster when Council members vote on the mayor’s budget. DC 37 and its political allies will also fight to reverse the mayor’s cuts in programs such as AIDS services, youth jobs, senior programs, cultural institutions and libraries.

“Tax corporations, not civil servants,” Political Director Wanda Williams said as she outlined the union’s position on the proposed budget for the year beginning in July. Instead, she said, the mayor should raise almost $7 billion a year by restoring the commuter and stock transfer taxes, equalizing business taxes, which have not gone up in 40 years, and taxing exempt insurance companies.

DC 37 also let politicians know it opposes two bills. One would privatize the NYPD tow pounds, displacing 406 DC 37 members and opening opportunities for corruption. The other would revoke the hard-earned pensions of convicted felons.

As labor leaders strategized with City Council members for the coming budget battle, Ms. Williams called on the group to consider how the proposed fiscal plan would affect neighborhood economies, public services, municipal workers and individuals.

— Diane S. Williams