By LILLIAN ROBERTS
Executive Director
District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO

We are moving into summer after winning several tremendous victories for our members. But District Council 37 cannot rest right now. Negotiations on our pay and working conditions will resume in September, and we have to be prepared to win a fair contract that meets members' needs.

• New York City Comptroller John Liu recently released an audit showing that the outside contractor on the botched redesign of the 911 system owes the city $163 million in restitution for overcharges. Liu has turned his findings over to the Manhattan district attorney for a criminal investigation. The CityTime payroll system contractor had to repay $466 million to avoid prosecution, and the $163 million would come in on top of this. Every dollar returned can be used to restore jobs and services. Our members and political activists helped elect Liu, a bold, independent public servant, who has done more than any previous politician to expose the waste and corruption of contracting out.
• Working closely with leaders of the City Council and Dept. of Education, which was considering another 650 layoffs this fall, we just negotiated an unprecedented agreement that bans layoffs of any workers in DC 37 locals for the next year and brings back 225 of those laid off last year.
• When the city administration proposed a budget that would have wiped out 47,000 child-care slots, closed swimming pools and laid off over 1,000 library and cultural workers, we organized, lobbied and rallied with community forces and City Council members. Our fightback helped City Council leaders win a budget that restored most of the cuts and cancelled the layoffs.
• We achieved a magnificent, historic victory for all public workers by electing Lee Saunders President and Laura Reyes Secretary-Treasurer of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. Saunders is our first African American President and Reyes is the first woman we have elected to top national office.

Lee and Laura: best possible fightback leaders

The AFSCME election at the recent convention in Los Angeles was momentous for the whole United States, because our 1.6 million-member national union, the AFL-CIO's largest, is a vital mainstay of the nation's civil rights, human rights and progressive political forces. AFSCME leads the fightback of U.S. public service workers against right-wing Republican attacks on pay, pensions and bargaining rights, and we chose the best possible leaders for that crucial job.

Lee Saunders can call DC 37 home. In our toughest times, he helped us clean out corruption, rebuild our strength and pride and keep serving members when the 9/11 tragedy closed our headquarters. Lee started as a rank-and-file member in Ohio, 37 years ago; last year he led the successful statewide drive there to repeal a vicious anti-bargaining law. Laura built California's United Domestic Workers into a powerful 62,000-member local.

Our local leaders and activists at the convention made me proud, because they were dedicated and disciplined, and many played important roles in electing Lee and Laura, who had been endorsed by an overwhelming vote of our Executive Board. I was also proud that our convention delegates unanimously re-elected Eddie Rodriguez and me as International Vice Presidents.

It's encouraging that Lee Saunders says his top priorities are organizing, fighting privatization, protecting pensions and re-electing President Barack Obama. We make our voice heard through our votes. Together, we saved Social Security. Together, we helped enact President Obama's health care reform. Now we have to re-elect Obama, elect more political leaders who care about working people, and save the Affordable Care Act from the developing right-wing onslaught.

I am calling on every member to support these efforts by making sure you and your family are registered to vote and voting on November 6. For help registering, or to join PEOPLE, our political action committee, or to participate in political action efforts, just call 212-815-1550.