Public Employee Press

Union fights May layoffs as deep cuts loom in new budget

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

The city has notified the union about its plan to lay off nearly 200 DC 37 members in May, two months before it will adopt a new budget that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg says could result in as many as 19,000 layoffs.

All but 11 of the 178 layoff notices affect members at the Dept. of Health and Mental Hygiene.

“It is unconscionable that the city is taking this step before next year’s budget situation is clearer,” DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts said. “The city is expected to have a surplus of more than $2 billion this year. There’s no justification for these layoffs.”

The city plans to dismiss 167 employees on May 14 and 11 on May 28. Since receiving the layoff notices, union officials have been meeting with the city to explore alternatives and to make sure civil service rules and contract provisions, including seniority rights, are properly followed.

The hardest-hit workers are City Pest Control Aides, whose ranks stand to be decimated by 50 layoffs. Health Services Employees Local 768 has launched a campaign against the layoffs, which also target 22 Public Health Advisors, who are also members of the local.

Contracting out at fault

“Instead of reducing the number of high-paid contractors who duplicate the work of our members, the administration is attempting to use the city’s economic downturn as an excuse to weaken the labor movement through layoffs,” said Local 768 President Fitz Reid.

“DC 37 locals and other municipal unions need to reject this attack and seize the opportunity to work together,” Reid said. “Otherwise, the attacks will continue and we will face a relentless long-term assault on our health and pension benefits,” he said. Earlier this year, the city presented a proposal for $550 million in savings to the Municipal Labor Committee, which works on behalf of city unions on health and pension issues.

In recent weeks, DC 37 leaders and activists have fought against proposed layoffs and state and city budget cuts by lobbying and demonstrating in the city and in Albany and by testifying at hearings before the New York City Council.

In March, union leaders attended City Council budget hearings to describe the devastating impact that downsizing and spending cuts would have on city swimming pools and the summer recreation program, child health clinics, transitional jobs program, schools and park maintenance.

Future cuts

Bloomberg’s $65 billion preliminary budget for fiscal year 2011, which begins July 1, calls for 834 layoffs and the elimination of 3,452 positions.

But Bloomberg – in what may be a bit of political jockeying – has raised the possibility of 19,000 layoffs if Gov. David Paterson carries out his plan to cut education, and health-care and other assistance to the city by $1.3 billion. As it was clear that Albany legislators would miss the April 1 deadline for passing the state budget, the Bloomberg administration postponed releasing the city’s executive budget until May 8, hoping that the Albany plan would be enacted by then.

Meanwhile, as the city prepares to downsize the ranks of its permanent civil service workers, it has already been letting go many provisional employees. This is occurring as it responds to the Long Beach court decision, which requires municipalities to employ provisional workers for no longer than nine months, in accordance with civil service law. (See page 19.)

On March 31, the Dept. of Citywide Administrative Services reported that city agencies recently eliminated 1,937 provisional jobs. A few weeks ago, the Dept. of Finance delivered pink slips to more than 50 provisional workers, mostly clerical employees.

Library workers fight back

On April 14, hundreds of library workers and community activists joined several City Council members for a rally in City Hall Park to speak out against proposed state and city cuts. The city’s three library systems face nearly $75 million in cuts in the remainder of this year and next year under Paterson’s proposed budget and Bloomberg’s preliminary plan for 2011. In the worst-case scenario, the budget cuts would force the library systems to lay off 1,300 workers, according to management officials.

“Let’s keep the libraries open!” said Eileen Muller, president of Brooklyn Public Library Guild 1482, who was accompanied by the outgoing president of New York Public Library Guild Local 1930, Carol Thomas, and Cuthbert Dickenson, president of Local 374, which represents blue-collar workers at NYPL. “Say ‘No!’ to the cuts!”

A lot of DC 37 members who work in the libraries are participating in the Save NYC Libraries Postcard Campaign, which is organized by an informal professional and social network of librarians from public, school and business libraries throughout the city. Their goal is to send 2,000 postcards to Queens City Council members Jimmy Van Bromer, who plans to present them to his fellow legislators to demonstrate the depth of public outrage over the cuts.

In April, Roberts wrote City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn with suggestions for avoiding deep service cuts and layoffs. Specifically, Roberts pointed out that the city could save $1 billion through eliminating outside contractors and finding new sources of revenue.