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2002 Table of Contents | Public Employee Press Archives
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Lillian Roberts
Shattering the glass ceiling
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In her rise to leadership, DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts provides a powerful symbol of progress for African Americans and women in the American labor movement.
By DIANE S. WILLIAMS
As an overworked Nurse's Aide caring for patients in Chicago, she
endured a daily onslaught of abuse. But when understaffing became
intolerable, she stood up to management in a battle that reclaimed
dignity for herself and her co-workers. Forty years later, Lillian
Roberts is still standing up for working people.
"The bug bit me, and it was like religion," Ms. Roberts
recalled. Roberts preached unionism and organized more than 20,000
Chicago public hospital workers into the American Federation of State
City and Municipal Employees.
Her tenacity eventually brought her to New York, where she helped
build District Council 37 by signing up thousands of city hospital
workers and tens of thousands of municipal employees.
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As an AFSCME organizer, Ms. Roberts once spent a month in a cold
and dank jail cell for calling a strike among state mental hospital
workers against former Governor Nelson Rockefeller.
"Back then, women were used to organize, but they were not visible
as leaders and decision makers," Ms. Roberts said. "Thankfully
all that has changed and we have taken our place beside our brothers."
"Organizing is labor's top priority," said AFL-CIO Executive
Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson. And as a union leader, "Lillian's
record as a brilliant organizer gives her a unique advantage."
Decades after she started organizing, Lillian Roberts' moment came
Feb. 26 - on the cusp of Black History Month and Women's History Month
- as she was sworn in as executive director of DC 37. In a monumental
and historic achievement as an African American and a woman, Ms. Roberts
stepped into the front line of labor's struggle. She is one of the
most powerful leaders in the movement today.
"As a woman union leader of one of AFSCME's largest councils,
I count Lillian Roberts among the pioneers of the labor movement,"
said Lois Gray, a professor of labor relations at Cornell University.
"That both she and DC 37 President Veronica Montgomery-Costa
are African American women represents encouraging growth in the pool
from which future national leaders will come."
Women still lag far behind men in business and military leadership,
but in politics, academia and labor they are gaining ground. In AFSCME,
women comprise half the membership. DC 37 is over 60 percent women,
and its top two officers, five Executive Board members and 12 local
presidents are women.
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"Lillian is an inspiration for women activists throughout the
movement," Ms. Gray added. "She is an important influence
in city and state politics, and a dynamic and charismatic leader on
the forefront of social issues."
Ms. Roberts has set an agenda for DC 37 that starts with the traditional
bread-and-butter and job security and includes welfare reform, protecting
Social Security, improving eroded unemployment benefits and strengthening
the communities where members live.
"In their wisdom, our members realize our concerns don't end
when we leave the job," said Ms. Roberts. "You can't maintain
your dignity if you have to kowtow to injustice."
Former Mayor David Dinkins calls her "an iron fist in a velvet
glove." Ms. Roberts says, "I lead by con-sensus and I draw
my strength from the members I serve."
As DC 37 enters difficult contract negotiations with a hard-hit New
York City, Ms. Roberts braces herself for another fight. "With
militancy comes sacrifice," she said. "We have to be strong,
loud and proud. I always try to talk first. But when you run out of
breath, then what? You have to be ready to demonstrate your power."