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PEP May 2014
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Public Employee Press

Fighting for justice
Somos El Futuro conference

By ALFREDO ALVARADO

Bill de Blasio became the first mayor of New York City in 20 years to attend the annual Somos El Futuro Conference March 22, when he gave the keynote address at the weekend meeting's traditional Saturday morning labor breakfast sponsored by the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement.

The Somos El Futuro (We are the future) conference brings Latino activists statewide together in Albany to discuss issues with elected political leaders.

"It's been 20 years since our mayor attended this important conference, and that's 20 years too long," de Blasio said.

De Blasio laid out his "Tale of Two Cities" - the wealthy and the rest of us - narrative and his plans to reverse growing inequality. "We want a city that values not just wealth, but work and puts workers first," he said. The mayor also praised the election of Melissa Mark-Viverito as City Council Speaker.

"It was time for a citywide Latino leader. I look forward to working with her and the rest of the City Council to move our agenda forward," he said. Mark-Viverito spoke next and stressed her support for the values of the labor movement and working people.

"We will continue to fight for social and economic justice for all New Yorkers," she said, pointing to the recent passage of a law requiring businesses to provide paid sick leave as an example of the City Council's commitment to fighting for better working conditions. She called for regulation of the carwash industry, where 1,000 mainly immigrant workers won a $2.2 million settlement for back pay that they had been cheated out of.

Workshops focused on issues important to the labor and community activists at the March 21-23 conference. A panel discussion on the civil service system included DC 37 Associate Director Henry Garrido, state Senator Diane Savino, a former officer of SSEU Local 371, and Local 375 member Ed Rosario. Garrido explained the historical importance of civil service as "a pathway to the middle-class," and called for the city to offer more exams and strengthen the system by doing away with private contractors in work that can be done by public service employees. "Contracting out not only undermines the civil service system but is a violation of the system," he charged.

Rosario reminded participants that it was city workers who responded to help thousands of distressed New Yorkers during Superstorm Sandy. "Time and time again it is the civil servants who come to the rescue in times of crisis," said Rosario.

State Assembly member Felix Ortiz, who chairs the Puerto Rican and Hispanic Task Force that sponsors the conference, hosted a reception for participants. He honored several longtime community and labor leaders, including Garrido, SSEU Local 371 Executive Vice-President Yolanda Pumarejo and DC 37 Political Director Wanda Williams.

























 
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