By DIANE S. WILLIAMS
Clerical-Administrative Local 1549 strengthened its voice in City
Hall March 2 by empowering members with organizing and political action
training.
In the daylong Saturday session, more than 60 activists learned to
lobby their legislators to save jobs and services that are threatened
by proposed budget cuts.
"We need to increase members' participation to keep the heat
on politicians," said Second Vice President Ralph Palladino,
who helped organize the program. The local's political action committee
sponsored the session with the DC 37 Political Action and Legislation
Dept. and the DC 37 Education Fund.
"Grassroots lobbying at City Hall is important. City Council
members are our allies. They need to meet our members, who are city
residents and experts at providing public services," said Local
1549 President Eddie Rodriguez. "DC 37 has organized mass rank-and-file
lobbying days in Albany, and we need to do the same thing at home
in the City Council."
Protecting jobs
A lagging economy, the spiraling cost of recovery from the terrorist
attack, and the continued loss of tax revenue from the private sector
since Sept. 11 have left New York City with a $4.8 billion fiscal
gap for the next year. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has proposed to
balance the budget by slashing jobs and services.
Although the mayor has not called for layoffs, some analysts question
whether attrition alone can accomplish the deep agency budget cuts.
But the Local 1549 members in the training session mobilized to fight
for a more equitable solution by enlisting the City Council members
they elected in November.
"This program teaches members about the factors that influence
who gets what as government officials divide the budget pie,"
said DC 37 Political Analyst Oscar Alvarado.
Members also learned two highly effective techniques: letter writing
and lobbying. As some members composed letters to the mayor and City
Council Speaker A. Gifford Miller, others phoned city lawmakers to
champion issues that directly affect the membership of Local 1549.
Fair share taxes
Many of the participants sent handwritten letters to City Hall. They
supported Mr. Miller's call to increase taxes for the wealthy and
opposed the mayor's proposed cuts in staff and services to balance
the budget.
They suggested that the mayor implement civilianization instead of
workforce reductions, and called for an increase in taxes for those
who have benefited most in the 1990s boom years - corporations and
the city's wealthy top 5 percent of income earners.
"The mayor should have the wealthy contribute their fair share
to help with the city's recovery," said Aban Cooper of the city
Law Dept, who attended the session. "Working families simply
can't afford any more sacrifices."
Like other participants, Mr. Cooper returned to his job site and enlisted
help from his coworkers and the agency's attorneys in the union's
citywide campaign to spare jobs and services.
Members of the local's hospitals and health chapters drafted petitions
against the mayor's proposed $28 million cut to Health and Hospitals
Corp. programs.
The proposed cutbacks would jeopardize thousands of city jobs and
adversely affect the health of those who depend on public hospitals
and services the most - children, the elderly and those without medical
insurance.
"I believe that more locals could organize training sessions
like these for their members," said DC 37 Executive Director
Lillian Roberts.
The DC 37 Political Action and Legislation Dept. can conduct training
for any of DC 37's 56 locals. PAL also offers the union-wide Lobbying
Institute.
These programs empower members to lobby more effectively on legislation
that affects them directly at the federal, state and city levels,
said Mr. Alvarado.