By LILLIAN ROBERTS
Executive Director
District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO

Nationwide, wherever I look, public services and public service workers are under attack. Pay, benefits and pensions are under direct assault and are endangered by the Republican drive to slash public services and tear up the social safety net.

After reducing business taxes and cutting employee benefits, a conservative governor forced Detroit into bankruptcy, which his economic czar tried to use as a sword to cut city workers' pensions. In Wisconsin, a right-wing governor backed by billionaire businessmen took away public employees' collective bargaining rights. Ohio voters repealed a similar undemocratic move after our 1.6 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and other unions mobilized 17,000 volunteers in a statewide referendum.

The trend is different here in New York City. We turned things around after suffering for 12 years under an out-of-touch billionaire mayor who handed public services to private profiteers while he denied pay increases to 300,000 municipal employees. City workers and retirees made thousands of phone calls, our Green Machine volunteers hit the streets and we elected a progressive city leadership team dedicated to fairness and committed to the working and poor people of our city. The result has been a dramatic shift:

• Mayor Bill de Blasio canceled scheduled layoffs and rejected contracting out planned by the previous administration.
• Comptroller Scott Stringer has rejected outsourcing deals and tightened the reins on information technology consultants.
• Public Advocate Letitia James is leading the charge to wipe out class distinctions in school cafeterias by making lunch free to all students.
• In labor relations, while our economic contract will be the toughest test, our local leaders are reporting a more positive management attitude in many agencies. Where the old regime answered reasonable proposals with "No! And if you don't like it you can sue us," today's response is more often, "Let's talk about it and see what we can work out together."

What made the difference? Politics. In our system, politics decides who gets what. The people we elect determine the quality of our lives, the health care we get, the education our children and grandchildren receive. As public employees, our pay, benefits, pensions, working conditions and even whether we have jobs at all are in the hands of the leaders we elect.

This year we are pressing City Hall and Albany for action on issues that are important to members, including agency funding, protection for disabled workers, improved revenue collection to fund public services and ending the 1-in-3 rule that lets management discriminate or play favorites instead of promoting people in order from civil service lists. What we achieve will depend on our political strength - and that depends on you.

We can either have officials who cut services and lay off the workers who provide them or we can do what it takes to elect leaders who support working families and public services.

To elect the kind of leaders we need, we have to do two things: volunteer and contribute. Political action volunteers get involved to get out the vote for candidates who care about our jobs, our families and our communities. If you can volunteer even a little time, you can make a big difference.

In politics, our people power goes up against the big bucks of corporations and the rich. I need you to do your part by joining PEOPLE, our union's Political Action Committee. I am urging every member to become a PEOPLE MVP and earn reward points for gift items by contributing $2 a week ($4 a paycheck).

To make your voice heard by volunteering or contributing, just call 212-815-1550. You can help make a better city.