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DC 37 targets private contractors

By LISA COLANGELO
Daily News Staff Writer

May 20th 2009

DISTRICT COUNCIL 37, the city's largest municipal union, has started an aggressive new ad campaign about the use of private contractors in local government.

The union says that $9 billion of the city's $60 billion budget goes to pay private consultants and contractors in what they are calling a "shadow government."

The ads started running this week in city subway cars. One ad reads: "Cut Private Contractors, Not Public Services."

Union officials point out that the city awards 18,000 contracts to private contractors who employ more than 100,000 workers.

Many of those workers, the union says, are hired without undergoing background checks and other "merit and fitness" exams.

DC 37 is trying to turn up the heat on the Bloomberg administration during the current budget battle. Union officials seem to be hoping New Yorkers - and the mayor's aides - will pay more attention because it's an election year.

They say it's unfair to target thousands of public employees for layoffs.

"The money is there," DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts said in a statement.

"We've proven that with our white paper, which examined 10 contracts in eight city agencies and identifies a minimum of $130 million in savings the city can realize by cutting down on outside contracts with overpaid consultants and overpriced contractors."

The ad and more information is available on the DC 37 Web site: www.dc37.net.