In a sense, Local 154 mirrors its parent union, District Council 37, which has the most diverse membership of any major municipal union in the country.

Local 154 represents a wide range of jobs, including Research Assistants, Title Examiners, law school clerical and professional employees, Human Rights Specialists, Departmental Librarians, Mental Health Specialists and Claims Examiners.

“Our strength is our diversity,” said Local 154 President Barry Jamison in his keynote talk March 15 as nearly 200 members and guests celebrated the local’s 45th anniversary. The planning committee chose “Local 154’s Odyssey Continues” as the theme.

As Mr. Jamison explained, in the late 1950s, when DC 37 was growing rapidly, Local 154 played a critical role as a funnel through which thousands of workers were organized and ?eventually assigned to separate locals. In those years, the local represented Sewage Treatment Workers, Homemakers, Deputy Sheriffs, clerical workers, Furniture Maintainers, Traffic Service Maintainers, Housing Authority Accountants and Board of Education Store Service Employees.

In its founding charter, the local was called New York City Miscellaneous Employees. Understandably unhappy about the unflattering connotation of “miscellaneous,” the local’s leaders changed the name four decades later to NYC Amalgamated Professional Employees.

Twenty titles at more than 30 agencies
Today, the membership includes more than 30 titles at 25 city agencies, as well as the private New York Law School, whose workers voted to join DC 37 in 1996.

Besides Mr. Jamison, speakers at the event included DC 37 Administrator Lee Saunders and Professional Division Director Stephanie Velez. The local honored Rep Rhonda Johnson, Assistant Director Moira Dolan of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept., former Rep Lillian Hope, now deceased, and Irving Baron and Joseph Barriteau, both former reps and directors of the Professional Division. Former Local 154 President José Serrano also addressed the audience.

In his talk, Mr. Jamison recounted recent highlights of the local, which has grown from 300 members in 1990 to 600 today. In recent years, Local 154 has added three chapters, established an award-winning newsletter (“The Professional Touch”), won $60,000 in grievances, obtained additional salary compensation beyond annual pay increases and seen its president elected to the DC 37 Executive Board.

“We have continued to have a truly diverse membership, professionally and socially,” Mr. Jamison said.

“Our accomplishments are a result of the broad scope of ideas and talents we bring to the table. Tonight, we celebrate all that we have achieved and that all that we will achieve in the next 45 years.”