State legislature overrides Pataki vetoes on budget to save 10,000

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg axed 2,000 municipal employees from the payroll in mid-May, including about 1,000 DC 37 members.

Another 10,000 layoffs appeared to be averted when state legislators passed a $93 billion alternate budget to stave off the mayor’s “doomsday” scenario.

In addition, the independent School Construction Authority laid off about 50 professional workers represented by Local 375 May 19, raising the 2003 layoff total there to more than 100.

Even in the face of the continuing layoffs, District Council 37 continued to fight back at City Hall — where a new budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 must be adopted in June — and in the state Capitol.

The Legislature acted two days after 700 DC 37 members went to Albany on May 6 to support the bipartisan fiscal plan. The lawmakers later overrode vetoes by Gov. George E. Pataki, who was still threatening a lawsuit to block the budget as PEP went to press.

“While we are happy that the bold action by the State Legislature will allow the city to avoid carrying out its ‘doomsday’ budget plan, we are very distressed by the decision of the Bloomberg administration to move ahead with the 1,000 layoffs,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

Roberts blasts Bloomberg
“The administration’s dedication to downsizing government is bad public policy, and it will hurt the families that count on the services our members provide,” Ms. Roberts said. “Tragically, the city is sending thousands of its dedicated employees to the unemployment line at a time when the economy is fragile and job prospects are poor.”

In more bad news, the Dept. of Education notified the union last month about its plan to let go 3,500 school employees — members of locals 372, 1251, 1407 and 2627 — in late June.

In last minute talks about the $600 million in benefits concessions sought by the city, the Municipal Labor Committee, an umbrella group of city unions, worked to avert the May layoffs. But the mayor turned down the unions’ proposal to help it achieve those savings.

The 1,000 layoffs of the DC 37 members were below the number targeted by the city when it formally notified the union about its downsizing plans in April. (By contract, the city must give the union a month’s notice of layoff plans; it must give workers two weeks’ notice.)

Since April, the union and city have held contractually required meetings that have prevented some layoffs. The sessions have led to transfers and to the discovery that some workers with relatively high seniority and others with permanent status were erroneously included on layoff lists.

Some layoffs reversed
Several hundred layoffs, primarily affecting Local 371 and Local 1549 members, were canceled at the Administration for Children’s Services, which had inappropriately targeted federally funded positions. Discussions helped reduce the layoffs of Custodial Assistants from 45 to 14 at the Dept. of Citywide Administrative Services.

In an all-out effort to overturn the layoffs, the union has filed several lawsuits and initiated a $500,000 media campaign. DC 37 has also set up a program to help laid off members cope with unemployment and to prepare to reenter the work force.

About 700 members traveled to Albany for the union’s annual lobby day on May 6, when they encouraged legislators to stick with their guns in the dramatic budget showdown with Gov. Pataki.

Later that week, legislators voted against Mr. Pataki’s veto of the $93 billion alternate budget. Then on May 21, legislators voted for $1.79 billion in state assistance to New York City for education and health care.

The Legislature’s budget restoration should eliminate the threat of the 10,000-layoff “doomsday” budget. One possible kink in the budget process could occur if Gov. Pataki succeeds in halting implementation of the state plan through court action or blocking expenditures.

Trouble ahead
The state budget package increases the state sales tax by .25 percent and raises the income tax on wealthy New Yorkers. The special aid package for New York City permits additional local sales and income tax increases. But the financial and job picture in the city remains bleak in many respects.

With 121 layoffs expected at the Queens Borough Public Library, Local 1321 members demonstrated May 15 to protest. The union was battling with the Dept. of Education over the looming layoffs there as PEP went to press.

As the City Council and the Bloomberg administration negotiate the fiscal year 2004 budget this month, District Council 37 leaders will continue to lobby for restorations and savings to avoid further layoffs. “We are not giving up in this fight,” said Ms. Roberts.