Public Employee Press

Local 1655's 50th Anniversary
Unsung heroes and heroines of the MTA

By JANE LaTOUR

Guests from DC 37 and other locals joined members and leaders of Metropolitan Transportation Authority Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1655 Jan. 30 at a gala celebration of the local’s 50th anniversary.

Local President Jonathan Gray called attention to the members’ many years of service to the agency and the people of New York City. He discussed the labor and racial legacies the local has built on, citing as an example the struggles of the Pullman Porters, who bore beatings, intimidation and decades of hardship as they struggled to organize their union. When the porters won nationwide representation rights in 1935, their leader, A. Philip Randolph, sent a telegram that summed up their achievement: “First victory of Negro workers over great industrial corporation.”

Gray noted that the local’s history of struggle and progress began with the fight for the right to organize and bargain collectively. Clerical employees at the Transit Authority joined DC 37’s drive for collective bargaining for city employees, first as a chapter and then as a local chartered on Feb. 10, 1960. The local thrived and expanded to the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority, where they concluded their first contract in 1979.

Looking backward

“We were part of the early history with Jerry Wurf and the other founders of this union,” said Gray. “Last year we celebrated DC 37’s 65th anniversary and today we mark our own 50th anniversary.” At the 30th anniversary, former DC 37 Executive Director Stanley Hill called the local’s members the agency’s “unsung heroes and heroines.”

The Jan. 30 affair honored Donald Afflick, who began as a shop steward and served as local president from 1982 to 2003. Afflick also chaired DC 37’s Political Action Committee and served on its Executive Board for many years. Retired now, Afflick continues as the president of the New York Chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.

The celebration also honored the members of Local 1655 for their dedicated work on behalf of the public and other MTA employees. “We are the individuals you meet when you enter MTA buildings and offices. We are the individuals who make sure those important papers for health, retirement and other purposes are processed,” said the program.

As the MTA planned layoffs and service cuts, Gray recalled the struggles of the Pullman Porters who organized their union during the Great Depression. “We recall their tremendous courage in the face of adversity. We stand on their shoulders,” he said.