DC 37, which represents more than…
By Courtney Dentch
Unions may have gotten a bad rap when they didn’t cough up the $600 million in concessions Mayor Michael Bloomberg demanded in budget talks, but District Council 37 officials are pointing a finger back at the mayor.
DC 37, which represents more than 125,000 municipal workers from its Long Island City headquarters, has been fighting the city administration to maintain workers’ benefits by reducing wasteful expenses in the city, said Lillian Roberts, executive director of DC 37.
“We need to let the public and management know the impact of their actions,” Roberts said at a breakfast with Queens community newspapers Friday. “We find it and then ask for it.”
More than 36,000 DC 37 members live in Queens, holding municipal jobs at more than 200 locations, such as the Queens Borough Public Library, public hospitals, the Queens Zoo, parks, schools, the police and fire departments and more, Roberts said. At least 85 percent of the union’s members live in New York City, adding to the economy of both the city and the borough, she said.
The average salary of members is $29,500, according to a fact sheet from the union.
“Our members live in the community,” Roberts said. “It affects the economic stability of the community as a whole. They’re the ones who spend their resources in the community at local merchants.”
During this year’s budget negotiations, Bloomberg asked the unions to make $600 million worth of concessions to help stem the $3.8 billion deficit the city was facing. The concessions could have included cuts to benefits, pay and raises.
The unions, including DC 37, rejected the concessions, which Roberts said could have forced some workers to sign up for pubic assistance.
“I do not see concessions as a possibility,” she said. “It would only cost the city money. When you don’t have anything and they need Medicaid, they’re taking then. When workers work, they want the dignity of work.”
Instead of cuts, union members need increased pay and benefits to balance the rise in property, sales and income taxes, Roberts said.
“They have homes, pay rent, travel back and forth to work,” she said. “Without some kind of increase to help them with that, they could be forced to take aid. They don’t want to go on food stamps.”
But DC 37 is not simply putting a hand out, Roberts said. The union has issued several reports outlining where the city could save money. For example, the city has at least $2 billion in uncollected taxes, and regulations that determine bidding policies for agency services would be refined, she said.
“We’re going to be a watchdog in terms of how our resources are spent,” Roberts said. “Contracting, consultants and whatnot have drained the resources of this city.”
Roberts, a former Cambria Heights resident, came to DC 37 in the mid ’60s to help organize hospital workers, she said. She stayed to help establish some of the programs the new members requested, including an education fund, legal assistance and diversity programs, and she became executive director in February 2002, she said.
“I decided I had to come here and make sure all the things I promised were in place,” Roberts said.
Reach reporter Courtney Dentch by e-mail at TimesLedger@aol.com, or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
