Public Employee Press

Mail and Media
Letters to the editor

Use the right icon

Enclosed is a handout from the Whitney Museum of American Art showing icons for people with various disabilities.

The DC 37 At Your Service page of PEP shows a wheelchair icon beside “Members with Disabilities” information.

Since the information is for hearing-impaired members, could you please change the icon to the universal symbol for people with hearing disabilities?

—Margie Rubin
Retiree, Local 1549

Editor’s Note: Thanks for your suggestion. Take a look at page 24 of this issue of PEP.

Top 10 reasons for a city buyout this year

Top 10 Reasons Why a Buyout Makes Perfect Sense Now.

10. New York City and State are in grave fiscal times.
9. Who knows how much state aid will be cut for our city?
8. Immediate cut in operating costs.
7. A buyout reduces personnel, forcing agencies to be more efficient.
6. The attrition rate is way down; older folks are simply not retiring in this economy.
5. The buyout Mayor Bloomberg endorsed in 2002 saved the city millions of dollars.
4. New Jersey, New York State and other states have already offered buyouts as a cost-saving maneuver.
3. Older workers have the highest salaries; the longer they stay the higher their pension costs.
2. If you lay off thousands of workers, you must pay unemployment benefits while losing tax revenue.
And the number 1 reason to offer a buyout now is . . . the moral obligation to minimize the economic and social hardship of layoffs in this terrible economy!

—Mark Shoenfield
Local 2627



She’s proud of DC 37 and Lillian Roberts

It makes me so proud to be a member of District Council 37 and read in the Public Employee Press about how we are fighting back against Mayor Bloomberg’s vicious cuts in services for the public and his uncaring layoffs of city employees.

From Lifeguards to Librarians, the photographs in PEP show us as activists, fighting not only for ourselves but for the public, too.

No wonder new groups want to be part of our union, and I say WELCOME to our newest group, the finger-imaging workers. Now that you are in the union, we will fight to protect your jobs. I disagree with the letter to the editor that said the city should stop taking fingerprints of people who apply for welfare. We cannot support any action that would eliminate jobs, not in these tough times.

And I want to say it is wonderful that our union publishes the article by our treasurer that tells us where our dues go. Not many unions share financial information with members.

What makes me proudest about DC 37 is that it is led by a woman who started out as a Nurse’s Aide and now has the power to stand up to our billionaire mayor on behalf of 150,000 working people and retirees.

—Sarah Green
Local 1549



Praise for local prez

To the editor,

I am usually critical of a lot of things our union does, but praise is due to Local 2627 President Robert Ajaye. I really like the revamped Local Web site and his weekly YouTube reports, which are really informative, especially since many members can’t attend the local’s meetings due to family, work and other obligations.

Keep up the good work, Robert.


—Chris Inguanta
Local 2627