DC 37 leaders outline FY 2008 legislative and budgetary agenda for City Council leaders

OTB, Residency, Revenue Sharing and other items on agenda at union's annual legislative breakfast

District Council 37, the city's largest public employee union, today presented its FY 2008 legislative and budgetary priorities to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Finance Chair David Weprin, and 18 other members of the City Council at a breakfast meeting held at union headquarters. The breakfast was attended by over 100 rank-and-file members, local presidents and City Council members and staff.

Quinn praised DC 37 as the union that has come to the city's aid in time of need and noted that, "This is the union that led the way in the 1970s and helped bail the city out and prevented us from going into bankruptcy."

Thanking the lawmakers for their support in previous years, DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts highlighted items that top the union's FY 2008 agenda, including a need to ensure the city gets its fair share of state and federal revenue-sharing dollars, a change in the distribution formula for New York City's Off-Track Betting Corporation, and support for union affordable housing and child care initiatives for working families.

Roberts urged support of Resolution 1235, a City Council resolution. "This resolution urges the New York State legislature to change the distribution formula and allow OTB to give out its statutory contribution based on the net of its profits as opposed to its gross," said Roberts

Praising the Council's previous support of a DC 37 Child Care initiative, Roberts also called for increased funding for a study the union is conducting in collaboration with Cornell University to examine the impact of subsidized child care on working families. Results of the study will be presented at a national labor-management conference in June 2008.

"When we bring legislative initiatives to your attention it's because these items are in the best interest of our members and of New York City as a whole," Roberts said.

DC 37 is New York City's largest public employee union, representing 125,000 members and 50,000 retirees.