PEP, April 2008: Full plate at Council breakfast

"Over the years we have partnered with the City Council on items that have improved the quality of life for all New Yorkers." — Lillian Roberts, DC 37 Executive Director

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

Increasing the city’s revenues, lifting residency requirements, saving Off-Track Betting, expanding a pilot day care program and organizing parks conservancies topped DC 37’s political agenda Feb. 27 during its annual breakfast with City Council members.

“Residency is high on our agenda,” DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts told participants. As DC 37 and local leaders broke bread with the lawmakers at union headquarters, she and Council Speaker Christine Quinn were engaged in intense talks to resolve the residency issue, which affects some 45,000 DC 37 members.

“Every issue we bring to the City Council affects our members,” Roberts said. “We hope you will gain a better understanding by listening to us and continuing to work with us.”

With budget deficits replacing the surpluses of recent years, DC 37 shared its concerns about a range of challenging fiscal issues. The union is working with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the Council to recoup a fair share of the funds the city sends to Albany, said DC 37 Political Director Wanda Williams, and will need the Council’s help on issues where millions of dollars are at stake.

Even before its directors voted to close OTB in June, the union and Mayor Bloomberg urged the state to revise the formula for distributing OTB proceeds. City Council Resolution 1235, introduced by Finance Chair David Weprin, advocates amending the formula to give the city its fair share and save the jobs of 1,300 members of DC 37’s Local 2021.

“The current economic downturn means we are facing tough choices and calls for deeper collaboration between the Council members and DC 37,” Quinn said, to contend with substantial federal and state funding cuts without cutting vital city services in the future.

Williams said Albany collects 56 percent of its income taxes and 40 percent of its business taxes from the Big Apple and shortchanges the city by $11 billion annually. She urged the lawmakers to examine contracting out for potential cost savings.

Pointing to the Bellevue child care center as a model for affordable, quality day care in the Health and Hospitals Corp., the union urged the City Council to help expand the current pilot child care voucher program and the Cornell University study that could document the success of child care subsidies at improving job productivity and family life.

The proposed conversion of HIP and GHI to a single for-profit entity would affect a half-million city workers and retirees and 4 million people statewide. The merger could raise premiums and cost the city another $200 million a year, cautioned DC 37, which urged the Council to cap any health insurance rate increases.

The affordable housing crunch and the foreclosure crisis have hit working and middle-class neighborhoods in the outer boroughs hardest, and the City Council has drafted legislation to protect home-owners and preserve Mitchell-Lama housing, said Quinn. DC 37 began addressing the crisis with the development of its Municipal Employees Housing Program in 2006.

As DC 37 responds to AFSCME’s 21st century initiative, Organizing Director Edgar deJesus told local lawmakers, “A partnership between the Parks Conservancy and its workforce is a must. DC 37 is organizing the workers, and we want you to help us win them fair opportunities through a union.”

Labor and the City Council have enjoyed longstanding cooperation, Roberts said. “Over the years we have worked together as partners on items that have improved the quality of life for all — not just for our members, but all New Yorkers.”