By LILLIAN ROBERTS
Executive Director
District Council 37, AFSCME

Michael R. Bloomberg is both mayor of the city we live in — 85 percent of DC 37 members live in the five boroughs — and chief executive of the city we work for — our boss. By endorsing him for re-election, we have made a choice that will benefit us as city workers and as city residents. Just take a look at his record:

Contracting IN: For decades, the increasing use of over-priced consultants and private firms to provide public services has drained the city treasury of up to $8 billion a year and sapped our members’ morale. Mayor Bloomberg is the first mayor to reverse this harmful trend.

The mayor and his top staff studied our “White Papers” documenting the waste that results from contracting out. With little fanfare, he began ending outside contracts, reducing the use of temps and consultants, and returning public jobs to public employees.

There’s still a long way to go — more money to be saved for the taxpayers and more jobs and promotions for our members. Re-electing the mayor is the first step.

Civilianizing: For many years now, Police Officers and Firefighters have been taking over our members’ clerical, custodial and other civilian jobs. This deprives members of promotions and pay increases and keeps folks just like us out of these civil service jobs. It costs too much and cheats the taxpayers of the public safety services they pay for. A Police Officer behind a desk is a cop who’s not on the beat protecting us. Mayor Bloomberg has begun civilianizing jobs in the Police Dept. (see 'Union invites NYPD civilians to testify.' )

Health care: Most recent mayors have fiscally bled the Health and Hospitals Corp. and tried to shutter, sell and privatize the public hospitals where 18,000 of our members provide vital services. Instead, Mayor Bloomberg has committed over $1 billion to improving the facilities and has restored city subsidies to the HHC budget. Only two weeks ago, a union group toured a sparkling new post-childbirth center at Woodhull Hospital. Vast improvements are underway or recently built at Harlem, Kings County, Coney Island, Elmhurst, Queens and Jacobi hospitals.

The mayor frequently cites the high ratings these institutions get from outside accreditation agencies. “The men and women of DC 37 deserve a great deal of the credit,” he says.

In the Emergency Medical Service, he has increased tours of duty, cut response time and improved services to city residents.

Housing: This mayor understands the vast need for affordable housing. He has launched a program that is providing 68,000 new houses, apartments, condos and co-ops for rental and purchase. When I pointed out to him the extra difficulty facing most of our members, who must reside in the city, he helped us work out a program that gives city workers preference for many of these new units and up to $20,000 toward their down payments (see 'Affordable housing benefit opens its door').

Negotiating: We have officially asked to start bargaining on a new contract, where we will be pressing for substantial wage increases and additional funding for benefits. Despite our endorsement, I don’t expect Mayor Bloomberg to hand us huge increases on a silver platter. He is tough, but I have found that he is fair.

As we pressed for the additional 1 percent pay increase that most members got recently, he kept his promise to us and stuck by the agreement he made in our contract. We made reasonable arguments and he gave our position full consideration.

A lot at stake for DC 37 members
The whole city: The city has improved in many areas that are good for the public and good for our members: The economy has grown, racial tensions have eased, reading and math scores are rising, graduation rates are up and dropout rates are down. We can all take new pride in being New Yorkers and being part of the work force that keeps this great city running.

I am proud to be part of the diverse coalition that is growing around Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Together with many other unions, community groups and prominent, progressive individuals who usually vote Democratic, we are saying, “It’s the person, not the party.”

DC 37 members have a lot at stake in the election November 8, as workers and as city residents, so we will work vigorously to re-elect Mike Bloomberg. He has shown respect for our work, kept his door open to our needs and been reasonable in bargaining. I’m ready to work hard to keep him, and I believe thousands of members will join me by calling 212-815-1550 to volunteer.