Public Employee Press

Edna Williams celebrated by DC 37

At an intimate ceremony for family and friends held at union headquarters Jan. 24, District Council 37 celebrated the life and contributions of labor leader Edna Williams, the president of Custodial Employees Local 1597 who died on Sept. 9, 2006.

Elected president in 1998, Ms. Williams represented 1,500 Custodial Assistants in the Department of City Administrative Services, the Human Resources Administration, CUNY and the New York Police Department. She was twice elected to the Council’s Executive Board where she served as a vice president since 2000.

Ms. Williams was fondly remembered for her upbeat and kind spirit, and for aiding in DC 37’s five lawsuits against the Giuliani administration’s attempt to replace civil servants with workfare participants. “The city has managed to create a “two-tiered work system” that puts civil servants and WEP workers at odds,” Ms. Williams told PEP in 2000.

“When 30 of her members were laid off from the Police Department, Edna Williams found jobs for them at the Department of City Administrative Services,” said Blue Collar Council Rep Edwin Badillo.

“She was one of the bravest people I knew,” said Local 1597 President Eric Latson. “No matter what, she didn’t back down, always stood her ground and meant what she said.”

Ms. Williams worked as a Custodial Assistant at Kingsborough College in 1979 and was elected shop steward in 1981, and local vice president in 1997. She also was a mother of 10 children and a member of CBTU, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.

—DSW