Public Employee Press

DC 37 groups meet with new commissioners

At meetings in late May, local and DC 37 leaders and staff opened dialogues with two new commissioners and expressed deep concern that the underfunding and understaffing imposed in recent years had harmed the functioning of the Finance Dept., which brings in revenue to fund public services and pay city workers, and the Dept. of Records and Information Services, which houses the records of city government.

DORIS Commissioner Pauline Toole met with union leaders May 25 in the department's library at 31 Chambers St., and Finance Commissioner Jacques Jiha was welcomed to DC 37 headquarters May 27 by Executive Director Lillian Roberts, Associate Director Henry Garrido, Treasurer and Local 1407 President Maf Misbah Uddin and other local leaders.

"Finance is one of the most important agencies," Roberts said. The unionists suggested ways for the agency to save money and generate more revenue.

Not many years ago, the department had up to 600 tax auditors, but today there are fewer than 400, Uddin pointed out.

Senior Analyst David Moog of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept. suggested that new tax auditors should be hired before many current senior auditors decide to retire, so that the new employees can benefit from the experience of the longtime staff.

Pointing to the millions of dollars wasted and stolen in the scandal involving the contracted-out CityTime payroll project, Electronic Data Processing Personnel Local 2627 President Robert Ajaye stressed the importance of keeping work in-house.

"Unlike the consultants and contractors, our members are experienced civil servants with more than enough ideas to get things done more efficiently and well under budget," Ajaye said.

Jiha promised that the department would become more service-oriented and in the near future institute structural changes to improve its functioning.

At the May 25 session with Toole, the unionists expressed their concerns about understaffing and members' workplace protections and learned of her vision for rebuilding DORIS after the drastic defunding of the Bloomberg years. She indicated that she aims to address the downsizing at DORIS, where the staff has dwindled over several years from over 100 employees to 37 and announced that the agency would soon launch a project to digitize and move 200,000 cubic feet of archives stored in a warehouse.

"We cannot move forward without working with you. This is a partnership. We are in this together," Toole said. Roberts indicated that the union would support the department's effort to seek improved funding.

"We share a lot of what you are saying," said Juan Fernandez, president of Amalgamated Professional Employees Local 154, which represents the largest group of DC 37 members at DORIS. Noting that downsizing has left DORIS with only one Librarian, Fernandez pointed out that vacancies could be filled right away from an existing civil service list.
Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549 President Eddie Rodriguez pressed Toole to be more specific about staffing, but she said discussing her staffing targets was premature.

The union delegation included a group from Local 371: Vice President of Grievances Darek Robinson, Delegate Jeffrey Wilson and Associate Director of Research and Negotiations Vela Sutton.