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PEP Archives | April
2002 Table of Contents |
Public Employee Press Archives | Home
Meet
Your DC 37 Executive Board
The DC 37 Delegates Council elected these
vice presidents to the Executive Board, the union's highest governing
body after the delegates.
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| Gloria
Acevedo Local 436 |
Donald
Afflick Local 1655 |
Leonard
Allen |
Patrick
Bahnken Local 2507 |
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| Melvin
Bentley Local 1502 |
Mario
Braga Local 1931 |
Carmen
Charles Local 420 |
Santos
Crespo Local 372 |
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| Charles
Ensley Local 371 |
Claude
Fort Local 375 |
Carolyn
Harper Local 1251 |
Michael
Hood Local 1505 |
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| Barry
Jamison Local 154 |
Cliff
Koppelman Local 1070 |
Ray
Markey Local 1930 |
Alex
Parker Local 1457 |
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| Walthene
Primus Local 957 |
Joan
Reed Local 2054 |
Eddie
Rodriguez Local 1549 |
John
Socha Local 1321 |
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| Robert
Schirmer Local 1503 |
Jim
Tucciarelli Local 1320 |
Esther
Tucker Local 384 |
Maf
Misbah Uddin Local 1407 |
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| Edna
Williams Local 1597 |
Stuart
Leibowitz Ex officio Retirees Association |
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Gloria
Acevedo , Local 436
With her victory Jan. 28, Gloria E. Acevedo became the first Hispanic
woman elected to serve on DC 37’s Executive Board.
Ms. Acevedo, president of United Federation of Nurses and Epidemiologists
Local 436, received the support of an over-whelming majority of the
delegates.
“I’m very proud,” said Ms. Acevedo of the tremendous
support she received. “I plan to continue fighting not only for
my members but for all of the members of DC 37,” she said.
Ms. Acevedo began her union activism in 1995 and five years later
became president of Local 436. Under her leadership the local initiated
its first political action committee, which works to promote members’
concerns at City Hall and in the State Legislature.
“I want to make sure our members have a voice at City Hall and
Albany and that our agenda is taken seriously,” she said.
Ms. Acevedo’s 26-year career in health care includes work at
the intensive care unit at Jamaica Hospital in Queens and at the pediatric
outpatient clinic at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx. She also served
as a medical officer and captain in the U.S. Army Reserve.
Born in Puerto Rico and raised in East Harlem, Ms. Acevedo is the
proud mother of two college graduates.
Donald
Afflick, Local 1655
Donald Afflick, president of MTA Clerical-Administrative Employees
Local 1655 since 1982, has been on the Executive Board since 1983.
With over 40 years of municipal work experience, Mr. Afflick has been
a union activist since 1972.
He is a member of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, the Coalition
of Labor Union Women and the Democratic National Committee.
"I am proud that the first black mayor of the City of New York,
David Dinkins, and the first Democratic president to serve two terms
since FDR, Bill Clinton, were elected while I was chair of DC 37's
Political Action Committee," Mr. Afflick said. "I'm also
proud to have gotten the TA to respect our members like other workers
and to have saved members' jobs in the process."
Leonard
Allen, Local 2021
As president of Local 2021, a union that represents 1,600 employees
of the Off-Track Betting Corp., Leonard Allen's greatest accomplishment
has been the local's victory against privatization of their jobs.
In that protracted struggle, he repeatedly trumped the Guiliani administration
and the privateers by carefully playing the union's legal, media and
political action cards.
A Betting Clerk with 20 years of experience, Mr. Allen has presided
over Local 2021 for almost four years.
In addition to serving on the District Council 37 Executive Board
for the last three years, Mr. Allen is a member of DC 37's Finance
Committee, the Screening Committee, the Election Committee and the
Political Action Committee.
Patrick
Bahnken, Local 2507
United States Marine Corps. veteran Patrick J. Bahnken was recently
sworn in for his second term as president of the Emergency Medical
Technicians and Paramedics Local 2507. As president of the 2,600-member
local, Mr. Bahnken was instrumental in the union's campaign to win
state legislation allowing members to retire after 25 years, regardless
of age.
Against the opposition of the Guiliani administration in City Hall,
he gained recognition of the uniformed status of the Fire Department's
EMTs and Paramedics in bargaining.
In 2000, the Council of Jewish Organizations in Civil Service named
Mr. Bahnken Union Leader of the Year and last year he received the
Civil Service Leadership Award from the Civil Service Merit Council.
Melvin
Bentley, Local 1502
Melvin Bentley, president of Brooklyn Museum Local 1502, is new to
the DC 37 Executive Board. A Special Patrolman Sergeant at the Brooklyn
Museum of Art, Mr. Bentley has worked there for over 15 years. Before
that, he belonged to a feisty industrial union in his native Jamaica.
When he was elected local president in 1998, Mr. Bentley applied his
union know-how. "I felt members weren't being paid correctly
and, after investigating, I found I was right," he said. The
union put over $260,000 in members' pockets at his museum and the
Brooklyn Children's Museum. His members have reelected him twice by
increasing margins. "I am proud of restoring dignity to this
local," he said, "and I hope to bring that same commitment
to the Executive Board."
Mario
Braga, Local 1931
As president of Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority Maintenance
Employees Local 1931, Mario Braga represents 315 workers. He said
his recent election to the DC 37 Executive Board shows that "everyone
will be treated fairly regardless of the size of the local."
Under his leadership, the local won control of toll machine maintenance
from a private contractor, instituted a successful in-house automotive
training program and recently negotiated a new contract with longevity
money for members.
On DC 37's Laws and Rules Committee, Mr. Braga, a graduate of the
Cornell School of Industrial Relations, has helped institute constitutional
improvements to protect the integrity of members' votes and dues money.
Carmen
Charles , Local 420
Rebuilding Local 420's tradition of strength and unity has been Carmen
Charles' mission since she was elected president of Municipal Hospital
Employees Union Local 420 in 2001. Ms. Charles and her rank-and-file
"Worker to Worker" slate have worked diligently since then
to give the local back to its 8,000 members.
A Local 420 member for 17 years, Ms. Charles was born in Guyana, South
America, and came to the U.S. to seek a better life for herself and
her family. A mother of three and a grandmother, she started out as
a Nurses Aide at Coler-Goldwater Memorial Hospital and became a Medical
Surgical Technician in 1987. She became a Shop Steward in 1992, Local
Vice Chair in 1995, and a Local Vice President in 1999. Local 420
members elected Ms. Charles as their president in a fiercely contested
2001 election.
During her tenure, membership meetings - the highest governing body
of Local 420 - have doubled in size. Chapter Chair and Shop Steward
elections have been held. Ms. Charles has also cut her own salary
in half and started up a new Local 420 Scholarship Fund by donating
the stipend she receives as a DC 37 Vice President.
Santos
Crespo, Local 372
Santos Crespo has been involved in the labor movement for over 25
years and is the son of a union officer from Local 6 of the Hotel
Employees and Restaurant Employees Union.
Mr. Crespo got started as soon as he began working for the Board of
Education. He began organizing, helping his co-workers join Local
372.
Mr. Crespo served as a shop steward for 10 years, then as a grievance
rep in the DC 37 Schools Division.
When AFSCME, DC 37's national union, needed help organizing public
employees in Puerto Rico, they turned to Mr. Crespo. He spent a year
and a half working on the successful union campaign.
In 1999, Mr. Crespo was elected Local 372's Executive Vice President.
He is also a delegate to DC 37.
Charles
Ensley, Local 371
Charles Ensley has helped double the membership since Social Service
Employees Union Local 371 elected him president in 1982.
As the leader of 15,000 social service workers, Mr. Ensley has fought
for city services to help the needy. As chair of the DC 37 Civil Service
Committee, Mr. Ensley has worked to strengthen the legal protections
of municipal employees.
At Howard University, Mr. Ensley was a civil rights activist. He learned
about trade unionism from his father, who helped organize black workers
at the Birmingham (Ala.) News.
Mr. Ensley started as a Caseworker and became a grievance rep in 1976.
Now a Supervisor III, he helped found the Committee for Real Change,
the DC 37 reform group.
Claude
Fort, Local 375
On the District Council 37 Executive Board, Civil Service Technical
Guild Local 375 President Claude Fort will be a powerful voice against
contracting out.
A licensed professional engineer, he set up the local's anti-privatization
committee, which recently helped torpedo a city plan to contract out
the $1 billion Ground Zero cleanup.
As president since January 2001, Mr. Fort has helped Local 375 overcome
factionalism. He hopes a new organizing committee will foster greater
unity and membership involvement.
Mr. Fort holds engineering and law degrees from the State University
of Haiti. He immigrated to the United States in 1986, earned his master's
in civil engineering at CUNY, and is studying labor leadership at
Cornell.
Carolyn
Harper, Local 1251
Carolyn Harper, president of Dept. of Education Clerical-Administrative
Employees Local 1251 since 1999, rose through the ranks. She started
in 1968 as a provisional typist.
“I was educated in public schools and so were my children and
grandchildren,” Ms. Harper said. “I believe in the public
education system and the members who make it work.”
Her members are facing critical times, she said. “My members
who are provisionals are facing layoffs. Many are single parents with
only one paycheck coming in. Some are former WEP workers, who paid
for and passed the civil service test but were not called from the
list. The city has knocked them down when they are starting to proudly
stand on their own. But management has kept the temps. That’s
why we have gone to court to protect members’ jobs.”
As local president and now as a member of the Executive Board, she
pledged “to continue the fight for all our members who have done
the right thing by taking civil service exams.”
Ms. Harper said she would “speak up for what’s in the best
interests of all members and retirees. I wish every local in DC 37
could be on the board.”
Michael
Hood, Local 1505
As president of Attendants, Park Service Workers, City Park Workers
and Debris Removers Local 1505, Michael Hood fights for dignity, justice
and pay differentials for over 1,200 members. Many of them are currently
working with Trade Center debris at the landfill on Staten Island.
Mr. Hood chairs DC 37's Parks Policy Committee, which examines issues
and injustices throughout the agency.
"DC 37 is not just an organization, but an organism alive with
ideas," said Mr. Hood. "Working with the new leadership,
I am confident that we will make improvements for all members."
Mr. Hood became president of Local 1505 in 1994 after he served as
a Shop Steward for four years. He is an active member of the Coalition
of Black Trade Unionists.
Barry
Jamison, Local 154
Barry Jamison has been president of NYC Amalgamated Professional Employees
Local 154 since 1992.
During his tenure, the membership has grown from 300 to 600. The local
has established an award-winning newsletter and won $110,000 in grievance
and arbitration victories.
In 1999, Mr. Jamison became chair of the DC 37 Housing Committee,
where he has led the union's fight for tenant rights and promoted
the DC 37 affordable mortgage program.
Earlier, the Villanova University graduate chaired the DC 37 Professional
Committee.
An Associate Human Rights Specialist 2 at the New York City Commission
on Human Rights, Mr. Jamison has served at that agency for 20 years.
Cliff
Koppelman, Local 1070
Clifford Koppelman, president of Court, County and Department of Probation
Employees Local 1070 since 1996, has been active in the union since
he was hired in 1969.
A Court Reporter in the state court system, he has been on the DC
37 Executive Board since 1997. He is a member of the Laws and Rules
Committee, the Screening Committee and the Jewish Heritage Committee.
Mr. Koppelman started as Chapter Chair in 1970 and became lead negotiator
on the Bargaining Committee.
"I'm proud of the extensive education program we have set up
for many of our members," he said, "and the strides that
we have made saving members' jobs, winning grievances and protecting
their safety and health in the workplace."
Ray
Markey, Local 1930
Ray Markey, a founding member of New York Public Library Guild Local
1930, started as a Senior Clerk in 1966. Working full time, he graduated
Hunter College and earned a master's in library science at Columbia
University. Elected president in 1991, he has been reelected three
times.
A founder of the reform group, the Committee for Real Change, Mr.
Markey has pushed for direct membership election of DC 37's officers.
On the DC 37 Laws and Rules Committee, he has supported electoral
reforms and financial safeguards.
Mr. Markey chaired DC 37's Professional Committee and is a member
of AFSCME's national professional committee. He led a four-year campaign
that triumphed last year with an extra 8 percent pay hike for Librarians.
Alex
Parker , Local 1457
Alex Parker decided to become an activist after winning a grievance
seven years ago.
In 1998, he won a seat on the executive board of NYC Juvenile Center
Employees Local 1457. In 2001, members backed him and he was elected
president.
Mr. Parker moved quickly to develop a strong shop steward network.
His major concern is improving safety in the workplace, where members
face frequent assaults from residents of detention centers.
Mr. Parker, 33, an Associate Juvenile Counselor Level 2, works as
a tour commander at Horizon Juvenile Center in the Bronx. Mr. Parker,
who grew up in the Bronx, studied at Morgan State University in Baltimore
on a basketball scholarship. He doubled-majored in criminology and
sociology.
“I have a heart for children,” Mr. Parker said, telling
why he became a Juvenile Counselor. “I believe I have made a
difference in the lives of a lot of children.”
He takes labor studies courses at Cornell University, and he is enrolled
in the Cornell University Leadership Institute’s program for
labor activists. Cornell has significantly shaped his outlook as an
advocate for his co-workers, he said. “I’m always ready
to stand up to management, because our fight is for the dignity of
our members.”
Walthene
Primus, Local 957
Walthene Primus, president of Housing Authority Clerical Employees
Local 957, has served on the DC 37 Laws and Rules Committee since
its inception. She brings to the union more than 24 years of experience
in the Housing Authority and is now a Secretary IIIA.
Gaining respect for HA clerical employees has been the focus of Ms.
Primus' work in her local. "We're now winning 90 percent of our
grievance cases," she said. "We've saved members jobs and
won them thousands of dollars in back pay." Another victory was
moving hearings from Housing Authority kitchens to a more dignified
setting. "We pushed hard for better space as a measure of respect,"
she said, "and management agreed to hold the hearings in borough
offices."
Joan
Reed, Local 2054
While working part-time at Queens College, Joan H.Reed became the
first Shop Steward of Local 2054, which represents College Assistants
throughout the 19 CUNY colleges.
Ms. Reed quickly moved up the ranks and became a Grievance Rep for
DC 37. In 1973 she was elected local president. Ms. Reed has been
instrumental in building the local from a membership of 300 to over
4,600.
Ms. Reed helped organize clerical employees at the University of Connecticut
and Harvard University into locals of AFSCME, DC 37's national union.
She has also served AFSCME as a member of the Judicial Panel.
Ms. Reed is a founder of the DC 37 Women's Committee and chair of
the Education Committee, which provides scholarships for members'
children.
Eddie
Rodriguez, Local 1549
Eddie Rodriguez, elected last year as president of Clerical-Administrative
Employees Local 1549, brings three decades of union experience to
his first term on the DC 37 Executive Board. An Eligibility Specialist
2 at the Dept. of Social Services since 1972, Mr. Rodriguez has served
Local 1549 members as a shop steward, grievance rep, chapter chair
and VP. He has also been a founder and co-chair of the DC 37 Hispanic
Committee and a vice president of the Labor Council for Latin American
Advancement.
"Defending members' jobs and rights is my top priority,"
said Mr. Rodriguez, who helped save the jobs of 100 DC 37 members
at HHC last year and continues to battle workplace violence at HRA
and push for civilianization in the Police Dept.
John
Socha , Local 1321
Local 1321 President John Socha started out in the Queens Library
System in 1967 as a Librarian Trainee. He’s spent his life in
the system, as a librarian and a union activist.
Mr. Socha became a shop steward in 1975, a delegate to District Council
37 in 1979 and was elected president of Local 1321 in 1994.
Queensborough Public Library Guild Local 1321 is organized on the
industrial model, covering librarian titles as well as clerical, blue-collar
and security employees and community associates. This experience serves
Mr. Socha well as a new member of DC 37’s Executive Board. “I’m
now in a position to take care of my members and to be able to do
the right thing for all city employees,” says Mr. Socha.
“Our salary lines are out of whack,” he points out. The
attrition rate for librarians is approaching 20 percent, and clerical
workers with computer skills are also leaving. “One member is
going to the NYPD as a civilian and is getting a $5,000 raise. That
amounts to a 25 percent increase in her salary,” he noted.
Mr. Socha also volunteered at the Howard Beach Senior Citizen Center,
which serves meals to elderly residents.
Robert
Schirmer , Local 1503
Robert Schirmer is the president of Metropolitan Museum of Art Local
1503, which represents 700 security, maintenance and technical workers
at the famed Fifth Avenue institution.
"I am honored to have support from my fellow unionists, and I
am glad to be working with the DC 37 Executive Board," he said.
Mr. Schirmer chairs DC 37's Laws and Rules Committee.
Mr. Schirmer began as a museum Security Officer in 1984 and was a
union "spectator," until co-workers convinced him to become
a shop steward in 1992. In 1997, they elected him local president.
As president, Mr. Schirmer has negotiated two local contracts and
improved the pension system that covers his members. In November,
he was elected treasurer of the Cultural Institutions Trust Fund.
He urges more DC 37 members to become active in the union.
An advocate of 'one member, one vote,' Mr. Schirmer hopes that "members
will soon be able to directly choose the people who will lead their
union."
"City workers are underpaid. We have responsible jobs and we
just got hit with a property tax increase and a huge fare hike - it's
the cost of living in New York, and all the more reason our next contract
should be retroactive," Mr. Schirmer said. "If we stand
tall, stick together and don't give in, we can win the increase we
deserve," he added.
Jim
Tucciarelli, Local 1320
Jim Tucciarelli, president of Sewage Treatment and Senior Sewage Treatment
Workers Local 1320 for the past 19 years, has served on the District
Council 37 Executive Board since 1993.
Mr. Tucciarelli has chaired several DC 37 committees, including the
PEOPLE and Citizenship committees. He currently heads the Site Inspection
Committee and the Pension Committee and is a 12-year member of the
New York chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.
In statewide campaigns, Mr. Tucciarelli helped DC 37's parent union,
AFSCME, organize tens of thousands of new members in Ohio and Indiana.
Last year International President Gerald W. McEntee appointed him
to the Judicial Panel.
Esther
Tucker, Local 384
Esther (Sandy) Tucker has been a member of Local 384 for over 30 years
and an Administrative Assistant at City College for 34 years. In 1989
Ms. Tucker became a shop steward and executive board member of the
local and a delegate to DC 37.
She was elected as president of the 1,800-member local in 1999.
Ms. Tucker has made the local's financial integrity a top priority.
She has the fiscal records audited and available to the members. A
strong believer in having a well-informed membership and a more visible
leadership, Ms. Tucker started a hotline and a Website for the local.
Ms. Tucker has been on DC 37's Executive Board since 2000 and now
chairs the PEOPLE Committee, which raises political action funds.
Maf
Misbath Uddin, Local 1407
Local 1407 President Maf Misbath Uddin is the first Bangladeshi immigrant
to head a U.S. municipal union local. As a student, he was active
in the independence movement in Bangladesh. He joined the city work
force in 1988 as an Actuary for the retirement systems. Co-Chair of
the DC 37 Asian Heritage Committee, Mr. Uddin holds master's degrees
in mathematics, demography and actuarial science.
Mr. Uddin sits on the Screening Committee. He served as a Local 1407
Executive Board member and delegate before he was elected president
in 2000. He will draw from his experience as president of Parkchester
South Condominium - with a $45 million budget - to carry out his responsibilities
as the new chair of the DC 37 Finance Committee.
Edna
Williams, Local 1597
As president of Custodial Employees Local 1597, Edna Williams represents
1,500 Custodial Assistants in the DCAS, HRA, CUNY and the Police Dept.
Ms. Williams and DC 37 have filed lawsuits to stop city agencies from
replacing civil servants with workfare participants. "The city
has created a two-tiered work system that puts civil servants and
WEP workers at odds," Ms. Williams said, and she is active in
the fight against union busting and contracting out.
Ms. Williams was elected president of her local in 1998. She started
as a Custodial Assistant at Kingsborough Community College in 1979
and was elected shop steward in 1981. She also is a member of CBTU,
the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists.
Ex
officio
Stuart Leibowitz , Retirees Association
Stuart Leibowitz, president of the Retirees Association of DC 37,
brings a historical perspective to every situation. As a young man,
he earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Brooklyn College.
He then went to work as a Social Investigator for the Dept. of Social
Services, then known as the Welfare Dept.
Beginning with the month-long welfare strike of January 1965, activism
has been a way of life for him and retirement has done nothing to
slow his pace. To describe his role as an ex officio member of the
DC 37 Executive Board, he borrows a quote from the abolitionist William
Lloyd Garrison: “‘I will be heard.’ Despite the fact
that I will have no vote, I will have a voice,” he says. “The
executive board will provide an important forum to address the issues
and concerns of retirees.”
The New York City Alliance for Retired Americans, a newly created
labor group representing 250,000 retired union workers, recently elected
Mr. Leibowitz to serve as its chairperson.
As a former vice president of SSEU Local 371, and former deputy chair
of the Office of Collective Bargaining, Mr. Leibowitz brings his years
of experience to his role as agitator and advocate for older Americans.