By GREGORY N. HEIRES

An estimated 30,000 DC 37 members participated April 29 in an animated rally at City Hall to protest thousands of looming layoffs and deep budget cuts that would gut public services.

The demonstrators crowded into City Hall Park and filled sidewalks along Broadway for 10 blocks.

Their powerful message resonated in Albany, where legislators were considering an alternative budget plan that would cancel most of Gov. Pataki’s health and education cuts and provide the city with fiscal relief to forestall the deepest cutbacks since the 1970s fiscal crisis.

“This fight is not just about city employees of New York,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts, who led the rally.

“This is about the quality of life of all New Yorkers. We are here to tell the mayor it’s time to ask those who have become rich off the lifeblood of our city to give a little back.”

Wearing colorful union T-shirts, DC 37 members carried banners from local unions and held up placards with such messages as “Keep New York City Working!” “Preserve the City’s Health,” “Laying Off People Doesn’t Compute” and “We Are Fighting for the Public Health and Safety of New Yorkers.”

Ms. Roberts spoke from a podium on a large stage, where she was accompanied by 23 City Council members and dozens of leaders from DC 37’s 56 locals and other labor unions.

Speakers called upon Mayor Bloomberg to lobby more vigorously for state and federal assistance to help the city close its $3.8 billion budget gap. They said the huge deficit resulted from past tax giveaways to businesses and the wealthy, the nationwide economic downturn, the busting of the Stock Market bubble and the September 11 terrorist attacks.

They blasted Gov. Pataki for pressing for a budget that would deprive New York City of hundreds of millions of dollars in assistance for health and education programs.

“We will not step aside while Mayor Bloomberg tries to lay off the biggest number of city workers in a decade,” said Gerald W. McEntee, president of DC 37’s national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The demonstrators broke out into a wild applause as Mr. McEntee turned to Ms. Roberts and handed her a $200,000 check to help DC 37 in its fight against the layoffs and budget cuts. Under the best-case scenario, Mr. Bloomberg’s proposed fiscal year 2004 budget calls for more than 5,000 layoffs. Another “doomsday” scenario would target an additional 10,000 municipal employees.

“The mayor talks about a ‘doomsday’ budget,” Mr. McEntee said. “We say to the mayor, ‘If you try to put in a doomsday budget, that will be doomsday for you.’” Other AFSCME speakers included Danny Donahue, president of the Civil Service Employees Association, which represents state workers, Raglan George, executive director of AFSCME 1707, which represents day-care center and other workers, and Jose La Luz, AFSCME eastern regional director.

DC 37 President Veronica Montgomery-Costa charged that the mayor’s budget would “tear apart” the city.

Ms. Montgomery-Costa, who is also president of Dept. of Education Employees Local 372, noted that the jobs of more than 3,000 school workers are at risk. A colossal contingent of Local 372 members cheered on Ms. Montgomery-Costa as she said the city should eliminate highly paid consultants to get the budget under control.

Thousands of members of Locals 371, 375, 420 and 1549 helped build the rally to huge proportions, and intense organizing efforts by small and medium-sized locals put the event over the top as the largest demonstration in DC 37’s history.

“They are saying either you give up your benefits or there will be layoffs,” said teachers union President Randi Weingarten, who heads the Municipal Labor Committee, an umbrella group of city employee unions. “Is that a choice?” she asked, and the crowd thundered “No!”

Ted Jacobson, secretary of New York City Central Labor Council, spoke on behalf of the group’s president, Brian M. McLaughlin. Mr. McLaughlin could not attend the rally because he is a state Assembly member and was involved in key budget discussions in Albany that day. City Council Majority Leader Leroy Comrie introduced the council members on the podium and addressed the throng on behalf of Speaker Gifford Miller, who also was in Albany.

During a break in the speeches of labor leaders and local politicians, DC 37 Political Action and Legislation Director Wanda Williams held up letters of support from U.S. Senators Hillary Clinton and Charles E. Schumer and several state legislators.
Before the march, the union had reached out to community and religious organizations, and many joined the battle for budget fairness. Thousands participated in a “feeder” march organized by United for Peace and Justice, but police dispersed the anti-war group as it made its way to City Hall Park.

The group’s leader, Leslie Cagan, charged that by laying off workers, Mr. Bloomberg would “cut out the heart of the city.” Ms. Cagan expressed her outrage that local schools are “falling apart” while government devotes vast resources to armaments.

Ms. Roberts commended the union’s field staff and local union leaders and shop stewards for mobilizing members for the march. Rank-and-file activists at the demonstration said they believed Mr. Bloomberg’s plan for layoffs and service cuts would unfairly balance the budget on the back of workers, who aren’t responsible for the years of public policy decisions that have squeezed the revenues of municipalities.

“With less staff, you will no longer have quality care,” said Local 420 member Susan Stephen, a Nurse’s Aide at Coler Hospital, describing the impact of the cuts on public hospitals.

“We can’t accept the unacceptable,” said Local 1549 member Jimmie Mitchell, a Clerical Associate II. “We haven’t had a living wage increase in years.”

“We have all worked very hard to get where we are to maintain services and support ourselves,” said Local 372 member Vernon Baines, a drug counselor. “Now the mayor wants to tear it up. It seems like everything is falling apart.”