By LILLIAN ROBERTS
Executive Director
District Council 37, AFSCME

I recently spent a few days in Albany, meeting with lawmakers from both parties and the leaders of the State Senate and Assembly. I was there - together with the heads of five other AFSCME councils - to push for our 2002 legislative agenda.

We were part of a powerful political force. Our national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, represents more than 430,000 public sector workers in New York State. That lets us speak with a loud voice. The legislators were eager to hear from us and from AFSCME President Gerald McEntee, who came up from Washington, D.C., for the meetings.

We stressed pension reforms, welfare reform, reinstatement of the commuter tax, renewal of rent regulations and more. While it is too early to predict the outcome of these battles, there is no doubt that your union is being heard in the state capital.

While I was upstate, I was very pleased to meet with a group of our union members who carry a heavy responsibility. In the five boroughs, we seldom hear about the more than 500 watershed workers who protect and maintain the supply of pure water for 8 million New Yorkers. Spread over an area of 2,000 square miles that reaches far into the Catskill Mountains, they include mainly research workers in Local 154, scientists in Local 375, Watershed Maintainers in Local 376, supervisors in Local 1322 and clerical-administrative staff in Local 1549.

Their work has become even tougher during the current drought and since Sept. 11, because of the danger of a terrorist attack. They are proud of their work under difficult conditions, but they told me of another serious hazard to their jobs: contracting out.

In recent years, starting with simple jobs like mowing grass and spreading like a disease, privatization has eaten up about 100 union jobs. The huge Ashokan Reservoir used to have 100 Maintainers; today there are only 30. In some areas, garbage collection has fallen into profit-making hands. Maintaining the roads around the reservoirs, plowing snow and installing guard rails to keep people and cars from falling in have been slowly but steadily contracted out.

Members ask whether the city has enough workers left to be flexible in a potential emergency. Others wonder if the city is getting its money's worth - or is this work handed out to curry political favor?

I want my union sisters and brothers to know that DC 37 is fighting back against privatization. Our goal is to protect public services, protect our jobs and help balance the city budget by stopping the incredible waste that so often goes hand-in-hand with contracting out.

Solidarity against privatization
We know that every time there has been a head-to-head comparison of municipal employees and private firms, our members have come out on top as more cost-effective. Now we are moving beyond defensive battles to press for contracting IN and saving money for our city.

On April 24 and 25, Local 375 rallied against contracting out the design work on the 2nd Ave. Subway. I was proud to see the solidarity shown by the members and leaders of other locals and other unions who joined them in these protests.

Our members say they can do the work for about $350 million, but the MTA plans to pay a private firm $600 million for the same job.

Is it any wonder that our public budgets are out of whack when the taxpayers' money - our money, because most of our members live in the city - is thrown down the drain of contracting out?

We cannot accept service cutbacks or job losses while city government is riddled with waste.
Union employees do the work, so they know best where the waste is. DC 37 members are responding to my request to write up the overspending in their agencies and send the information to the union.

In May, I will be submitting our ideas on how to close the budget gap to Mayor Bloomberg. Contracting out during a fiscal crunch is like letting a faucet run needlessly during a drought. Ending this municipal tragedy will be high on our list.