Public Employee Press

Snapshots

Union celebrates its Caribbean legacy

DC 37 celebrated the culture and heritage of 28 island nations at the kickoff of Caribbean Heritage Month June 3.

Committee Chairs Carmen Charles, president of Hospitals Employees Local 420, and Fitz Reid, president of Health Services Employees Local 768, hosted the ribbon cutting where over 100 union members and retirees enjoyed the lilting sounds of pan steel drums and traditional West Indian favorites like patties, peppery cod fritters and jerk.

The event welcomed special guest Barbados Consul General Dr. Donna Hunter-Cox. Expatriates from English-speaking Caribbean countries comprise 20 percent of the city's population, according to a 2013 census.

— DSW

Local 1549 ACS workers honored

DC 37's Quality of Work Life Dept. held their employee recognition month celebration May 29 at union headquarters.

The event was held to honor the dedication and hard work the members of NYC Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1549 working for the Administration for Children's Services.

Public Advocate Letitia James joined the celebration and thanked the members for their service to the city's most vulnerable children.

— AA

Union honors scholarship winners

The DC 37 Education Committee held their annual scholarship event on June 5, celebrating the academic achievements of five high school graduates from the five boroughs.

DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido used the occasion to demand that the City University of New York system return to free tuition for New York City students, paid for by a plan to end the corporate welfare policies of the city, in which millions of dollars in tax breaks are handed out to business interests - many of whom fail or renege on their promises to bring jobs to the community.

Pictured is Local 375 Vice President and DC 37 Education Committee chair Michelle Keller-Ng, with Stuyvesant High School graduate and Memorial Scholarship winner Yi Wei Da, who plans to attend SUNY Stony Brook.

— ML

DC 37 supports libraries at read-in

On June 10, DC 37 activists joined New York City library leaders and advocates, along with several City Council members at the annual 24 Hour Read-in, held this year at City Hall Park.

This year's event called attention to the demands for an additional funding to the city budget for library services, infrastructure improvements and repairs, expanded programs for patrons and the hiring of new library workers.

Participants at the event, which began in the late afternoon on June 9 and ended the following day, included New York Public Library President Anthony W. Marx, Brooklyn Library President Linda E. Johnson and Queens Library Interim President Bridget Quinn-Carey.

Majority Leader and Chair of the Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations Committee Jimmy Van Bramer and Council member and Chair of the Select Committee on Libraries Costa Constantinides spent their shift reading responses written by library patrons supporting New York's three library systems' campaign for more investment in next year's budget.

— ML

Union's Librarian Ken Nash retires

Ken Nash, who since 1978 was the librarian for the union's Bernie Rifkin Solidarity Library, has retired. Nash was responsible for maintaining the library's more than 10,000 volumes. This collection features books focusing on the often-neglected history of the labor and civil rights movement, as well as audiotapes and CDs and other visual media.

The library has been an essential resource for students from the union campus of the College of New Rochelle School of New Resources, by providing texts and supplemental reading material for the students. Nash has also seen to it that current best sellers be available in the library, maintaining for decades an updated collection for library patrons.

Nash also coordinated a successful series of author's talks. Prominent among the many guests to visit DC 37 to discuss their work were the actors and civil rights activists Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, and Congress member John Lewis.

In addition to his library duties, Nash co-hosted with Rudy Orozco of the Communications Dept., the union's bi-weekly radio program on WYNE-FM 91.5 and regularly contributed film and book reviews to Public Employee Press. He also produces and hosts Building Bridges: The Community and Labor Report, a weekly radio program on WBAI-FM 99.5, which he co-hosts with activist and attorney Mimi Rosenberg.

The Brooklyn native plans to keep on contributing book and film reviews for PEP and will be teaching a labor history course in the fall at the College of New Rochelle. "It's been an honor to work with Ken all of these years," said Library Program Supervisor Rodrigo Restrepo.

— AA

Latino Leadership Institute honors Henry Garrido and other DC 37 leaders

The Latino Leadership Institute at their 4th annual fundraiser honored DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido, Local 372 President Shaun D. Francois I, and SSEU Local 371 member Aurea Mangual. The institute's event took place on June 4 at DC 37 headquarters.

The mission of the Latino Leadership Institute, established in 1999, is to increase the participation of Latinos and minorities in the democratic process by offering courses on public speaking, fundraising techniques, voter registration and organizing strategies.

Among the first students were Francois I and City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. One of Francois' teachers was former NYC Council member and State Assembly member Adam Clayton Powell IV.

"That was the great thing about the institute; the workshops where led by people that had lots of experience in government," Francois said.

Mangual is a veteran member of DC 37's Green Machine, the union's team of volunteers who participate in get out-the-vote campaigns. She works in the Bronx Borough President's Office as a Community Coordinator.

Also attending the fundraiser were Congress member Charles Rangel, Assembly member Keith Wright and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer. Brewer praised the institute for its work. "The institute is a key Brewer said.

— AA

NYPD honors School Crossing Guard

Imelda Jeffrey, former Local 372 executive board member, received recognition for 40 years of service as a School Crossing Guard at NYPD's annual Longevity and Perfect Attendance Awards Ceremony at One Police Plaza in lower Manhattan. With her is Local 372 Executive Vice President Donald Nesbit.