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Finance Employees Local Celebrates 70th Anniversary

December 7, 2016 // 0 Comments

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS NYC Finance Administrative Employees and City Investigators Local 1113 celebrated 70 years of protecting members’ rights as a chartered local of the American Federation of Federal State and Municipal Employees, AFSCME with a party Oct. 28 at Glen Terrace in Brooklyn. Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams issued a proclamation for Local 1113, and state Assembly members Michael Blake and Jamie R. Williams were among the guests. The event honored Michael Blake, a former deputy commissioner of investigations at the city Dept. of Corrections. To handle the increasing workload at DOC, Blake added some 30 Investigators, said Bruce Sutton, chair of the local’s recreation committee, which planned the 70th anniversary fete. Local 1113 represents Clerical Associates, Clerical Aides, Secretaries, Investigators and Cashiers in the Dept. of Finance, the Civilian Complaint [More...]

DC 37 Committee Helps Members On Path To Citizenship

December 5, 2016 // 0 Comments

By ALFREDO ALVARADO The DC 37 Citizenship Committee partnered with CUNY Citizenship Now to assist New Yorkers with issues and questions regarding their path to U.S. citizenship. “Joining forces with CUNY Citizenship Now enabled us to help even more of our members with the application process,” said Cuthbert Dickenson, committee chair and president of Local 374. CUNY Citizenship Now is also sponsored by the City Council. Union volunteers joined volunteers from CUNY Citizenship Now and conducted one-on-one interviews with members. They helped determine whether they are eligible for citizenship and assisted them with the often complicated application process. The Saturday afternoon session on Nov. 19 took place at union headquarters. CUNY Citizenship Now has held similar sessions at CUNY campuses around the city with the intention of helping their students. More than half of CUNY [More...]

Brooklyn Library Local 1482 Celebrates 50th Anniversary

November 29, 2016 // 0 Comments

By JOSEPH LOPEZ The members of Brooklyn Library Guild Local 1482 have been a dedicated part of the community, serving kids, senior citizens, and everyone in between for 50 years. Over 100 guests from various DC 37 locals came together to celebrate Local 1482’s momentous anniversary on Nov. 11 at Buckley’s restaurant in the Marine Park section of Brooklyn. “If the work we’ve done during the first 50 years of the local is any indication, I can only imagine the amazing things we have in store for the next 50,” said Eileen Muller, who has acted as president of the local since 2002. Larry Brandwine, the first president of 1482, and Marlene Rosenberg, who was president for most of the local’s existence, including during the dark days of budget constraints that demonstrated a true need for the union to band together and fight back, also attended. Proclamations were presented by [More...]

The Mayor Visits DC 37 and Pledges to Fight Trump’s Agenda

November 23, 2016 // 0 Comments

By ALFREDO ALVARADO Since Donald Trump’s election, Mayor Bill de Blasio has been busy reaching out to New Yorkers at meetings all over the city, assuring them he plans to protect the city’s most vulnerable residents. After a town hall style meeting at Cooper Union on Monday, Nov. 21, the mayor came to DC 37 to address a meeting of union leaders the following evening. Before introducing the mayor, DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido praised de Blasio for signing contract agreements with the majority of the city’s unions. “Today 99 percent of the unions have a contract and he deserves all of the credit for that,” said Garrido at the union’s monthly delegates meeting. Garrido also highlighted the mayor’s universal pre-kindergarten program and the extra funding for the public hospital system. “He’s making sure NYC Health + Hospitals is sustainable,” Garrido said. [More...]

DC 37 Works with a Coalition to Push for Universal Free Lunch in Public Schools

November 17, 2016 // 0 Comments

Sign the petition! Call on Mayor de Blaiso to ensure a free healthy lunch for all NYC schoolchildren! By ALFREDO ALVARADO What do schools in Pittsburgh, Chicago, Detroit and Dallas offer their students that New York City does not? The answer: a free hot lunch. In those cities, students and their parents are not required to fill out forms to verify their incomes and eligibility to receive a free lunch. All students are eligible and, more importantly, are free from being singled out by other students for eating a free lunch. To address the issue and make sure every student receives a hot lunch, a coalition of food activists in New York City is advocating for universal free school lunch. “In our school lunchrooms, many students don’t get on line because they are afraid to get caught eating ‘free-free’ as it’s known in our world,” explained Aminata Abdouramane, a Lunch 4 [More...]

Union Aims to Mobilize Upstate Workers

November 16, 2016 // 0 Comments

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS The union’s Blue Collar Division and the Organizing Dept. will be in Kingston, N.Y., on Dec. 13 to bring the DC37/AFSCME Strong campaign to Dept. of Environmental Protection employees represented by the union. Two union meetings—one from 10 a.m. to noon and the other from 1 to 3 p.m. — will be at DEP’s Kingston lab. The sessions will help members get to know their union better and learn about its benefits. The meetings also aim to spark greater participation and activism, as well as to encourage agency-fee payers to join the union. Agency-fee payers are workers who are covered by the union’s contract and receive benefits but haven’t signed a membership card. Organizers will offer training so members can have positive conversations about the union with their coworkers. The upstate meetings follow a major campaign by the union to reach out to members [More...]

Community Leaders Call on Cuomo to Sign-Safety Net Bill

November 15, 2016 // 0 Comments

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS Governor Cuomo, sign the Safety-Net Hospital bill! At a noon press conference at Harlem Hospital on Nov. 15, a coalition of community leaders, working men and women, and elected leaders called for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to sign a bill that would give safety-net hospitals a fairer share of funds to care for the neediest New Yorkers. “The money should follow the patient,” said Barbara Edmonds, director of field operations for DC 37. “All it takes is for Governor Cuomo to sign this bill and we’ll be that much closer to improving health care for everyone in our state — regardless of whether they live in urban or rural communities.” Last spring, the New York State Assembly and Senate unanimously passed the enhanced safety-net hospital bill (A9476A/S.6948-A). The bill defines safety-net hospitals and creates a chance for a more equitable funding formula for [More...]

Archival Library Named for Deceased DC 37 Research and Negotiations Director

November 15, 2016 // 0 Comments

By GREGORY N. HEIRES The union has dedicated one of its research libraries to Evelyn Seinfeld, the deceased director of the DC 37 Research and Negotiations Dept., who passed away earlier this year. Coworkers, union leaders, family members and city officials paid tribute to Seinfeld during a ceremony on Nov. 3 that celebrated the naming of the archival library after her. “Today is not about acknowledging a death but rather celebrating the life of a wonderful person,” DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido said. Garrido noted that Seinfeld — who worked as a librarian at Brooklyn Public Library before joining the union’s staff — liked to refer to the archival library as “the brains of the operations of the Research and Negotiations Dept.” As a librarian, Seinfeld was particularly interested in preserving the union’s historical documents and records. This motivated [More...]

DC37 and The City College of New York Establish a Program for Union Members

November 14, 2016 // 0 Comments

By MIKE LEE The DC 37 Education Fund has signed an agreement with The City College of New York for the school to offer basic computer courses to DC 37 members. This follows a similar agreement with Medgar Evers College, announced in August, to develop programs and courses to help members prepare for job promotions and certification tests. This latest partnership between the Ed Fund and City University of New York institutions will provide opportunities for members to learn and enhance computer skills, as well as provide training to bolster work skills they need as city workers. The initial program includes classes in introductory computing and such vital program applications as Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word and for Microsoft PowerPoint. The program will be offered through the university’s Division of Interdisciplinary Studies at the Center for Worker Education. The Center and DC 37 [More...]

Unions Get Ready for Fighting to Protect Worker Rights Under the Trump Administration

November 10, 2016 // 0 Comments

By ALFREDO ALVARADO Lee Saunders, president of the 1.6 million member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, has vowed to hold Donald J. Trump’s feet to the fire when the Republican president-elect moves into the White House on Jan. 20. “We will do what we do best to hold President-elect Trump accountable on his promise to restore the American Dream,” said Saunders, the leader of District Council 37’s national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). “We will organize and advocate for solutions for all working people, from affordable health care for all, to reducing student debt, to rebuilding America’s infrastructure,” Saunders said. Organizing to protect to the Affordable Care Act from being dismantled by Trump is a top priority. The ACA provides health care for 20 million Americans. During a campaign stop [More...]