Public Employee Press

Local leaders meet new DOT commissioner

To boost the spirit of cooperation between labor and management, DC 37 leaders met with recently appointed Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan at the union Sept. 17.

“We welcome you to the house of labor, our house,” said Executive Director Lillian Roberts. Roberts stressed the importance of respect for the work members do, pay parity with the private sector and retaining public employees instead of privatizing city services.

Thousands of members
Participating in the breakfast meeting were local presidents representing more than 2,500 members in Blue Collar Division locals 376, 983, 1087, 1455, 1505, 1506 and 1157 as well as DC 37 locals 154, 375 and 2627.

Also at the session were DC 37 General Counsel Eddie Demmings, Research and Negotiations Director Dennis Sullivan and division directors José Sierra and Stephanie Velez.

Each day DOT employees safely move millions of New Yorkers and commuters over 790 bridges and thousands of miles of city streets marked by 1 million signs. DC 37 represents more than half of DOT’s workforce.

“Partnership is key,” Sadik-Khan told the unionists. “Transportation touches people’s lives every day.”

The commissioner, a lawyer by training, said she hopes “to bring new energy to the agency, reach out to deans of colleges to raise the number of city engineers,” and recruit and retain them as civil servants.

The city and DOT must tackle the mayor’s congestion pricing plan and the steady decline in state and federal aid.

Commish invited to work sites
Union leaders urged the commissioner to recognize their wealth of experience and know-how by ­consulting with them before launching ­initiatives or outsourcing projects.

Several of the local presidents at the meeting invited the commissioner to tour work sites to see firsthand the jobs their members do.

“We’ve enjoyed good relations with DOT and even when bumps in the road do arise, we resolve them by keeping the lines of communication open,” said Sullivan.