Public Employee Press

Contract Rally

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

Thousands of DC 37 members turned out for an angry, militant demonstration at City Hall Oct. 29 to demand a fair contract that provides a decent wage increase and preserves benefits.

As darkness fell and a drizzle turned into steady rain, union leaders and supporters spoke from a big podium at the Broadway entrance of City Hall Park. They attacked the Bloomberg administration for dragging its feet in contract talks and insisting that raises be tied to productivity or benefit givebacks.

Their hopes for a new contract were strong after negotiators agreed a day earlier to meet quickly on technical issues and to schedule more bargaining sessions soon. Ongoing benefit talks between the city and the Municipal Labor Committee — an umbrella organization of city unions — could help open the way for discussion of a wage package. The current economic agreement expired in July 2002.

“Except in times of crisis, the mayor tends to forget how valuable the municipal workforce is,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts. She recounted how public employees were the city’s heroes after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the blackout in August and the recent Staten Island Ferry crash.

“Now the mayor wants to attack our health benefits and pensions,” Ms. Roberts said. “Well, I told the mayor, ‘Hands off our benefits! My members deserve a fair contract just to keep up with inflation.’ ”

The boisterous crowd — which union officials estimated at between 15,000 and 20,000 — occupied many blocks of the wide Broadway sidewalk. Picking up on a speech by William Lucy, secretary-treasurer of DC 37’s national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, they chanted, “Give us respect, in the paycheck!” throughout the rally.

Many members of Hospital Employees Local 420 carried placards that said, “We take care of the tired and sick, and we’re sick and tired of asking for a fair contract!”

Many members held signs with messages like “Keep New York City Working,” “No givebacks. We need a Fair Contract Now!” “Cut Jobs and Workers Bleed!” and “Money for Benefits, Not for the Wealthy.”

Several speakers linked the situation of DC 37 members with the struggles of other workers during the jobless recovery of the Bush administration, whose two massive tax cuts have raised economic inequality to Great Depression levels. Like workers nationwide, DC 37 members face an employer who is attacking health benefits. In New York and around the country, the budgets of working families are being pinched as state and local governments impose tax hikes and service cuts, partly because President Bush’s tax giveaways to the wealthy have slashed federal assistance.

“This fair contract rally isn’t just about District Council 37, is it? Mr. Lucy asked, provoking a resounding “No!” from the demonstrators. “It’s about all the workers in New York City. All the workers in New York State. All the workers in America.” “It’s funny that when there is an emergency like 9/11 every politician talks about how great the public sector worker is,” said AFSCME’s Lee Saunders, who spoke on behalf of President Gerald W. McEntee. “We say put your money where your mouth is.”

Economic warfare against working families
“Down on Wall Street, they are making millions of dollars,” Mr. Saunders said. “There is a war in Iraq, but also a war against working families here. This is economic warfare.”

The rally was chaired by Local 1655 President Donald Afflick and AFSCME Regional Director Jose LaLuz. Besides Ms. Roberts, DC 37 speakers included the union’s three other officers — President Veronica Montgomery-Costa (Local 372), Treasurer Mark Rosenthal (983) and Secretary Edward W. Hysyk (2627); Charles Ensley (371) and Eddie Rodriguez (1549), DC 37’s international vice presidents on AFSCME’s executive board; Stuart Leibowitz, president of the DC 37 Retirees Association; and other local presidents.

The other local presidents included Claude Fort (375), Carmen Charles (420), Gloria Acevedo (Local 436), Darryl Ramsey (768) and Maf Misbah Uddin (1407).

“We want the mayor to understand that we are the workers who keep the city moving,” Ms. Montgomery-Costa said. “Now we want this mayor to know it’s time to sit down at the bargaining table and give us a fair contract.”

“We are going to be OK, because we understand the words of the Bob Marley song, ‘Get up, stand up, stand up for your rights,’ ” Mr. Ensley said.

“Brothers and sisters, it may be raining, but we are shining,” Mr. Rodriguez said, just as the drizzle turned into a shower. “After 9/11, you helped rebuild the city. Now we are going to take back New York City!”

“Every working man and women is behind you,” said Brian M. McLaughlin, president of the New York City Central Labor Council. “Don’t give up!”

“All we want is fairness for the work that we do,” said teachers’ President Randi Weingarten, who chairs the MLC.

Members and leaders of many unions — including CSEA Local 1000, Transport Workers Local 100, Teamsters Local 237 and Hotel and Restaurant Employees Local 6 — joined the rally to support DC 37.

City Council Speaker Gifford Miller, State Senate Minority Leader David Paterson and Assembly member Peter Abbate (representing Speaker Sheldon Silver) led groups of legislators who backed the union. Council Finance Chair David Weprin praised DC 37’s White Papers for providing research on wasteful contracts.

Activists had geared up for the rally Oct. 9 at a joint meeting of the DC 37 Political Action Committee and the Stewards Mobilization Action Committee. They made up chants, lettered signs and built puppets for the rally with help from the grassroots labor group, Jobs with Justice.

“Everyone here is facing hard times,” said Felipe Rodriguez, a Patient Care Associate and Local 420 member, at the rally. “I’m fighting for a better contract to make ends meet and put food on the table for my family.”

“No layoffs, no givebacks!”
“There should be no layoffs and no givebacks,” said Local 371 member Anna Negron, a Community Coordinator. “We do important jobs, and we deserve a fair contract.”

“I’m here to tell the mayor ‘No more cuts!’” said Geraldine Lawrence, a Health Aide and Local 372 member. “They hurt us and the schoolchildren.”

Besides the many unions that showed up in solidarity, several community and labor-based organizations joined in, including Jobs with Justice, the Metropolitan Health Care Alliance, the Commission on the Public’s Health System, the New York City Labor Religious Coalition, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and the New York Civic Participation Project.

As the rally wrapped up, the crowd surged forward and joined Local 1549 retiree Margaret Williams as she delivered a stirring rendition of “We Shall Overcome.”

Together with the New York City Labor Chorus, the demonstrators sang “Solidarity Forever” before heading home, confident that they had sent a strong message to Mr. Bloomberg: “Fair Contract Now!”