Public Employee Press

Celebrating Asian heritage

DC 37 honors members whose native lands include half the world's population.

By GREGORY N. HEIRES


Hundreds of members, family and guests enjoyed the union's annual Asian heritage celebration May 14 at DC 37.

The celebration included hard-hitting political remarks and calls for community activism along with a delicious dinner and cultural presentations, which highlighted the great diversity of a global region of 4 billion people from more than 50 countries.

DC 37 Asian Heritage Committee Chair Maf Misbah Uddin noted that Asian-Americans, now 4.3 percent of the U.S. population, will reach 10 percent by mid-century.
Uddin said he hopes the increase in the Asian community's numbers will be matched by growing political and economic influence.

Insufficient investment

"I call upon you to become organized now because the fight before us demands it," said Uddin, after expressing outrage that the country is spending billions of dollars for wars without investing what's needed to help working families deal with an economic crisis at home. Uddin is treasurer of DC 37 and president of Accountants, Actuaries and Statisticians Local 1407. Bhagwatie Dwarika co-chairs the committee.

DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts backed Uddin's call for greater activism and urged Asian-American union activists to participate in voter-registration drives and support labor-friendly candidates in local, state and
national elections.

Margaret Chin, the first Asian woman elected to the City Council, attacked Mayor Michael Bloomberg's proposed budget for having "no heart." She criticized privatization, which she said threatens jobs of city workers.

Art exhibit

U.S. Congress member Joseph Crowley formally opened the committee's exhibit of the works of internationally acclaimed artist Khurshi A. Saleem. The exhibit also included paintings by DC 37 member Md. Tokon. General consuls, deputy general consuls and representatives from the New York City consulates of Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Thailand offered greetings. City Council member Robert Jackson also spoke.

The committee presented awards to Fatima Sham, commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs; Rana F. Chowdhury, secretary of the Bangladesh Society; Ashook Ramsaran, vice president of the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin; P.T. Thomas, president of the Rockland County Civil Service Employees Association, and Suchot Paleewong, a Thai community leader.

New York City Comptroller John Liu was the featured speaker April 24 at the Asian Heritage celebration of Data Processing Personnel Local 2627.

"We have to make sure that Mayor Bloomberg's budget is not balanced on the backs of city workers," said Liu, who blasted the mayor's allocation of more than $9 billion for contracting out. Contracting out "often winds up costing the taxpayers more than if they had just kept the work for city employees," he said. The event's masters of ceremony were members Terry Dunne and Charles Lee.

In addition to music and dance performances, the Local 2627 event included a Tai Ji exhibition.