members

Top Cancer Treatment Center Is Available To Help You

October 16, 2019 // 0 Comments

By GREGORY N. HEIRES One of the world’s premier cancer treatment centers has made it easier for DC 37 members and their families to access its services. Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center’s MSK Direct program offers DC 37 members and their families who are covered by the EmblemHealth HMO and PPO plans guided access to MSK’s expert cancer treatment. Contact MSK Direct if you or a family member: ▪ are diagnosed with cancer and want to explore options for treatment at MSK; ▪ receive results from a medical test or exam that signal you may have cancer; ▪ are told by a doctor to schedule an appointment with an oncologist, or ▪ would like an in-person second opinion on a cancer diagnosis. The MSK Direct Team will arrange for a patient’s first appointment within two business days typically. The MSK Direct Team will: ▪ help gather necessary medical records for the [More...]

Into the Fray: Union Begins Training for Future Leaders

October 16, 2019 // 0 Comments

By MIKE LEE Dozens of DC 37 members with aspirations to become part of a new generation of progressive, elected officials recently attended the first Emerging Leaders Candidate Academy. The introductory session, held at union headquarters on October 8, is the first of three meetings with members who have stepped forward to run in future local, state and federal elections. With DC 37’s guidance, their dreams may very well come true. The participants come from a variety of backgrounds, but with a single goal in mind: to make a difference by entering the political arena. Christopher Birch, from Washington Heights spoke about the need of being part of the political process. “I need to be at the table,” he said. “I don’t want to be knocking at the door and asking for a little, when I can be part of the decision process for my district.” Angela Guyton-Cyril, a member of SSEU Local [More...]

U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Union Busters — For Now

October 15, 2019 // 0 Comments

The nation’s public employee unions received a bit of good news on Monday, Oct. 7, when the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a joint request by two national union-busting organizations to hear a case that would decide whether states can designate unions as the exclusive representatives of groups of public employees. “Exclusive representation” means a duly chosen union is the sole voice for all workers and source of worker power. It is the basis on which our union is organized and the way we bargain for meaningful change. Through the process of collective bargaining and exclusive representation, DC 37 members — and AFSCME members across the country — earn fair wages, safe and reasonable working conditions, job security, health benefits that cover us when we are sick, and retirement benefits that provide us with dignity as we age. Attacks on public employee unions have been have [More...]

Meet DC 37’s New Chief Negotiator

October 2, 2019 // 1 Comment

By GREGORY N. HEIRES Rose Lovaglio-Miller, the union’s new director of research and negotiations, is a union baby. And having grown up in a union family, she brings a deep passion to her job as the chief enforcer of DC 37’s many contracts. “I feel a great responsibility to the membership of the union and want to do the best job I can to help all members,” Lovaglio-Miller said. “Whether we are looking to increase our wages or improve our benefits, the bottom line is, that this is all about fighting for dignity and respect.” DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido appointed Lovaglio-Miller to her new position after her predecessor, David Paskin, retired this summer. “We are confident that Rose will be a key force in strengthening our voice at the bargaining table and strengthening the contractual protections members have,” Garrido said. Lovaglio-Miller joined the DC 37 [More...]

Union Explains Statewide Tenant Reforms at Workshop

September 30, 2019 // 0 Comments

By MIKE LEE The hard-won, historic changes to New York’s rent regulation laws have raised many questions about the new rights and benefits tenants now have under the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 passed by the state Legislature. DC 37’s Municipal Employees Legal Services (MELS) stepped up to help answer these questions at a recent workshop attended by more than 100 members. “There are more than a 100 pages of changes in the new law,” explained supervising attorney John Bart. “These are changes that benefit our members.” Tenant rights activists and organizers Michael McKee and Anita Long briefed the audience on the efforts to push Albany to pass these reforms. This effort reversed a decades-long trend of legislation wedded to big-money real estate interests. Among the legislation’s many reforms: Ending “vacancy increases,” which landlords used to [More...]

DC 37 Leaders: More Funds Needed to Maintain City Parks

September 27, 2019 // 0 Comments

By RUDY OROZCO The presidents of four DC 37 locals with members in the Department of Parks and Recreation called for more funding in the city budget during a recent City Council hearing. Appearing at the Committee on Parks and Recreation hearing were Joe Puleo, president of New York City Motor Vehicles Operators Local 983; Mike Zeno, president of Uniformed Park Services Local 1508; Parks Gardeners Local 1507 President Daniel Clay and New York City Department of Parks Climbers & Pruners Local 1506 President Ibn Mann. Each spelled out staffing needs to keep neighborhood parks safe and clean. Puleo, who represents urban park rangers and PEP officers in the Parks Department thanked the City Council for “working with us to increase parks funding in the city budget which kept 50 urban park rangers and 80 PEP officers on the job.” But he stressed the need to make those funds [More...]

EMS Workers Demand Fairness and Equality

September 26, 2019 // 0 Comments

Hundreds of first responders, members of DC 37’s local unions representing Emergency Medical Services workers at the Fire Department of the City of New York, rallied for equal pay and comparable treatment at a news conference on the steps of City Hall on Sept 25. They were joined by Uniformed EMS Officers Union FDNY Local 3621 President Vincent Variale; Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics & Fire Inspectors FDNY Local 2507 President Oren Barzilay; Uniformed EMS Officers President Joseph Pataky; DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido; labor activists and elected officials to demand wage parity and support legislation that would require the FDNY to annually report the number of resignations of EMS workers. FDNY’s EMS first responders answered to close to 80 percent of the 1.8 million calls received by the FDNY last year, providing emergency medical care in the midst of life-threatening [More...]

Retirees Hold Jazz Night at West 45th Street Union Hall

September 26, 2019 // 0 Comments

The Non-profit and Private Sector Retirees Chapter held their annual Jazz Night at the union auditorium on West 45th Street featuring the sumptuous vocals of Linda Wilson and her four-piece band. Wilson and her band mates were enthusiastically appreciated by the audience which also dined on exquisite southern fare including fried chicken, fish and collards.  Wilson is a former Day Care Local 205 member and child care staffer and has been pursuing her music for many years. Wilson and her band led by Charles Carrington on keyboard supplied great music with humor and improvisation.  As a child, Wilson performed in church, but she knew her direction was jazz and it became a lifelong love.  The band members are mostly retired Musicians Local 802 members. Wilson sang a collection of songs from that ranged from the 1940s to the present. The audience cheered, danced and sang [More...]

Jim Tucciarelli, Union Leader and Activist, Retires

September 25, 2019 // 0 Comments

Jim Tucciarelli, a DC 37 leader for more than three decades and a staunch advocate for fellow responders who worked at Ground Zero in the aftermath of 9/11, has retired. Tucciarelli, longtime president of Sewage Treatment and Senior Sewage Treatment Workers Local 1320, was a member of the DC 37 Executive Board and sat on the Judicial Panel of DC 37’s national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). He fought tirelessly to protect jobs, and improve the lives of, sewage treatment workers whose dedicated service keeps New York’s communities safe, clean, and healthy. Local 1320’s members operate the Department of Environmental Protection’s 14 wastewater treatment plants and collection facilities. Throughout the years, Tucciarelli played a key role in organizing political and legislative campaigns in New York and around the country. In a 2016 [More...]

Union Supports Legislation to Create Universal Savings Program for Private-Sector Workers

September 24, 2019 // 0 Comments

By GREGORY N. HEIRES DC 37 members joined elected officials, seniors and other activists in the rotunda of City Hall on September 23 to support proposed legislation to create a universal retirement savings program for the approximately 1.5 million private-sector workers in the city who lack access to a savings plan through their employer. “Retirement security should be a right and not a privilege,” DC 37 Assistant Associate Director Jahmila K. Edwards said. “New Yorkers are working harder than ever and they have nothing to show for it.” The event preceded a City Council hearing on the legislation, which is sponsored by members Ben Kallos and I. Daneek Miller. Mayor de Blasio spoke in favor of the proposal. “We have people who are working and don’t know whether they can retire,” de Blasio said. “This is not what we signed up for. This is not the American Dream.” He [More...]

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