Public Employee Press

At City Council
Locals press city for fairer funding

With the mayor's executive budget due in early May and a final fiscal plan to be crafted in talks with the City Council by June 30, DC 37 locals weighed in on issues affecting members at a series of council committee hearings.

Four local leaders who represent professional, clerical and blue collar workers at the city's three public library systems brought continuing staff shortages to the attention of the Cultural Affairs Committee on March 11.

They showed that the since 2008, two of the three systems have lost more than 33 percent of their staff while the Brooklyn libraries have been cut by 24 percent.

Presidents Cuthbert Dickenson (Local 374), John Hyslop (1321), Eileen Muller (1482) and Val Colon (1930) addressed the committee. They called for the new budget to include funds for increasing staff in order to address the shortage and urged the City Council and Mayor Bill de Blasio to stabilize library finances by enacting the baseline funding bill introduced by City Council Majority Leader Jimmy Van Bramer.

"To provide the services the public expects, we need the City Council and Mayor de Blasio to increase our budget," said Muller.

The reduced staffing raises serious security concerns, said Hyslop. The South Hollis, Queens, branch, which often has to deal with unruly teenagers, has only three full-time employees and one part-timer. "A branch this size should have seven full-time public service staff and a security guard," he said.

Safety issues are also a concern at Manhattan branches, said Colon. "Our staff is frequently told to open sites with just two staff members, creating safety issues for them and the people who use the library," he explained.

More staff is also needed at the Police Dept., Local 1549 2nd Vice President Ralph Palladino told the Public Safety and Criminal Justice committees at hearings March 12 and 27. The union leader recommended hiring additional workers to answer the 911 emergency phones and called for the Police Dept. to replace uniformed officers doing desk jobs with clerical workers. "Civilianization would save taxpayers millions of dollars and improve public safety," he said.

Additional School Aides, School Crossing Guards and SAPIS counselors were on the top of the list for Local 372 President Santos Crespo Jr., who spoke out March 20 at the City Council Education Committee.

Since 2008, he told the committee, DOE has cut over 200 SAPIS drug counselors, leaving more than 1,400 schools with under 300 SAPIS to serve 1.1 million students, and the number of School Aides has fallen by 2,000, creating safety issues for students in lunchrooms, hallways and school yards. "We need more personnel to adequately address these concerns," he said.