By GREGORY N. HEIRES

In late June, District Council 37 fought the imminent layoff of 2,800 school employees as the mayor and City Council finalized a $44.5 billion budget that restores cuts in areas where many members work.

Although the fiscal year 2004 budget contains millions of dollars in restorations sought by DC 37, the final agreement provided no funding to avert the school layoffs.

“This is a tragedy that we believe could have been avoided if the city took a hard look at controlling government waste and eliminating contracts that allow expensive consultants to do the work of civil servants,” said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

The city scheduled its second round of mass layoffs this year after axing about 1,000 DC 37 members among thousands of other firings in mid-May.

Latest layoff list is shorter
The city delivered the most recent Dept. of Education layoff list to the union on June 18. After several meetings with DC 37, DOE cut the number of layoffs targeted for June 27 to about 2,800 from an earlier list in May that had targeted 3,600 school workers.

The union quickly began poring over the layoff lists to make sure contractual and civil service procedures were followed. Most of the workers whose jobs were saved have permanent civil service status, although some provisionals and non-competitive workers were also spared. The group included several hundred members of Dept. of Education Clerical-Administrative Employees Local 1251. The bulk of the layoffs scheduled for the end of June were aimed at members of Dept. of Education Local 372; Accountants, Statisticians and Actuaries Local 1407; Electronic Data Processing Personnel Local 2627; and Local 1251.

“I am appalled by the layoff of these support service staff, who are so vitally needed,” said Veronica Montgomery-Costa, president of Local 372 and DC 37. “These cuts threaten the nutrition, health, safety and overall well-being of our schoolchildren.”

She added, “Laying off low-paid workers who pay taxes and perform vital services in a very bad job market means that many will go from the unemployment line to the welfare roll. This will cost the city far more than it saves.”

Local 1251 President Carolyn Harper said several laid-off members from her local had struggled to leave public assistance and fulfilled a dream by finding productive work at the Dept. of Education.

“Rather than cut management fat, the city has chosen to let go its most vulnerable workers,” she said. Local 2627 President and DC 37 Secretary Edward W. Hysyk called the layoffs financially unnecessary. He said management acknowledged that computer workers were being laid off because of restructuring, and one official had admitted that the loss of computer maintenance workers would soon idle many terminals.

“The department is carrying out the restructuring and layoffs under the guise of efficiency, when in reality it is living up to its reputation as a wasteful, Byzantine bureaucracy,” Mr. Hysyk said. Local President Maf Misbah Uddin said the city was misguided to lay off Local 1407 members and lose their financial expertise in a budget crisis.

Pressure for restorations
DC 37 local presidents, activists and Political Action Dept. staff built intense pressure on the City Council to restore millions of dollars to the fiscal year 2004 budget (see 'Battle of the budget'). Led by Ms. Roberts, local leaders testified in council hearings, demanding restorations of vital services provided by members.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and the council agreed upon the budget on June 25. The plan closed an estimated $6.5 billion deficit through downsizing, service cuts, federal and state aid, property and income tax hikes and higher fees. Mr. Bloomberg said it should prevent further layoffs of city employees.

The final deal between the mayor and the council added about $115 million in restorations to the $90 million that Mr. Bloomberg had put back in the budget in response to intense union and political pressure.

The restorations reportedly included funds for zoos, child health clinics, weekend meals for seniors, CUNY scholarships, libraries, garbage pickup outside Manhattan and Staten Island Ferry Service.