PEP, May 2005: Fighting city budget cuts

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

You say, “To-may-to.” I say, “To-mah-to.” The mayor calls his 2006 budget reductions “doing more with less.” DC 37 leaders call it cuts, plain and simple.

As the city budget for the 2006 fiscal year inched toward the June 30 deadline, DC 37 local leaders testified in City Council committees for the restoration of $600 million in proposed budget cuts. The funds support city agencies and union workers who deliver vital services such as public health care, education, libraries, cultural centers and more.

On Mar. 14, library officials told the Cultural Affairs Committee that last year’s budget enhancements allowed them to expand services. But they heard different stories about the city’s three library systems from DC 37 local presidents Cuthbert Dickenson and Lynn Taylor (New York), Eileen Muller (Brooklyn) and John Socha (Queens). The mayor’s preliminary budget would eliminate 200 jobs and cut the workweek to three days at some Broooklyn branches, Muller explained.

“Libraries are short-staffed, workers are overextended, and bathrooms are filthy because there is no custodial help,” said Taylor. “We are understaffed,” said Dickerson, Local 374 president. “Our numbers have been cut by 40 percent and we are overworked. There’s not enough labor power.” Council member Domenic Recchia, Jr. blasted management: “Do you expect us to do it all and restore the mayor’s cuts? What are you doing about the cuts?”

“An endangered species can never be replaced. We cannot be cut for their sake,” said Anthony Bigone, president of New York Zoological Society Local 1501, whose members first detected the deadly West Nile virus.

The proposed budget takes $35 million from cultural institutions, but still management parroted, “We can do more with less.” Recchia accused them of “working staff to death by increasing hours without hiring or asking for restorations.”

At other committee hearings, Local 1457 Vice President Darek Robinson testified about the chaotic conditions at city youth detention centers, where, he said, “Counselors work consecutive double shifts plagued with staff shortages, malfunctioning security doors, broken security cameras and the constant threat of child abuse charges.”

On broad budget issues, Local 1549 2nd Vice President Ralph Palladino called on the city to, “Save millions of dollars by ending excessive contracting out and corporate welfare, raising the corporate income tax and taxing the wealthy so they pay their fair share.”

DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts pointed out to the City Council, “The Police Dept. has failed to implement the union’s landmark civilianization decision, which could save $100 million annually. Instead, the mayor proposes a $67 million cut that would eliminate 192 civilian jobs.”

Testifying for clerical staff at the NYPD, Local 1549 Executive Vice President Lenora Gates said, “There are still able-bodied Officers doing our members’ jobs at 2 to 3 times the salary.”

Roberts also called for budget restorations to Medicaid and the Health and Hospitals Corp., partly to make up other health-care cuts. “As the city’s economy improves, revenue increases,” Roberts said. “The essential services our members deliver must be maintained, and we have asked the City Council to restore funds to do that.”