ROBERTS GOES TO THE BANK

Roberts Goes to the Bank

Three years ago, in one of the lower moments of her lowdown re-election campaign, District Council 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts issued a campaign flyer hammering political rival Mark Rosenthal, then the union's treasurer, with the message, "While Rosenthal goes to the bank, poor single mothers pay the price."

At issue was Mr. Rosenthal's compensation - which was $14,000 below Ms. Roberts's at the time - and a dispute they had over an appropriate wage for thousands of former welfare recipients. The general consensus was that Ms. Roberts had bungled the negotiation for those workers, leaving them temporarily without union representation and earning a lesser wage than Mr. Rosenthal had sought to negotiate. That didn't stop the DC 37 leader from trying to paint him as a villain.

That old controversy has become relevant again after Ms. Roberts's supporters sneaked through significant pay raises for herself and the man who, running on her slate, defeated Mr. Rosenthal in that 2004 election, Maf Misbah Uddin. The hikes got approved - without any prior notice that they would be considered - at the tail end of a lengthy executive board meeting a month ago, after anyone who might have spoken against them had departed. If that sounds like a familiar tactic, it's because Ms. Roberts used the same ruse in December 2005 to push through a rescinding of cuts in pay for herself and Mr. Uddin that ($75,000 and $40,000, respectively) the executive board had previously imposed.

According to Mr. Uddin, the raises, which he said were consistent with those granted to other DC 37 staff members from 2004 forward, by August would increase Ms. Roberts's salary from the old $250,000 to $285,300, and would boost his own pay as treasurer from $180,000 to $205,000.

Other veteran DC 37 officials contend, however, that Ms. Roberts's raise actually went back further, and that it would include 5 percent in pay increases that were negotiated before she took office but went into effect after she became executive director in 2002. It is hard to see how she could justify taking those hikes five years later: when she came into office, her supporters agreed to boost the salary for the job back to the old level of $250,000 that was received by Stanley Hill before he resigned in disgrace during a major corruption scandal in 1998. The man who served as administrator in the intervening years, Lee Saunders, had been paid just $150,000 for that work while undoing most of the damage that had been inflicted upon the union's reputation and finances during the Hill regime.

That extra 5 percent, if in fact it was granted, would raise Ms. Roberts's pay by another $12,500 a year. In retroactive pay alone, it would mean a windfall of $62,500 - not to mention a sweeter pension for the 81-year-old Ms. Roberts.

Her spokeswoman sought to absolve her of responsibility for the hoary transaction by stating that she was not present when the increases were voted on. And Mr. Hill wasn't in the room when some of his allies rigged a 1996 contract vote - that didn't make him any less culpable politically.

Nor is Mr. Uddin an innocent bystander. Shortly after taking office, when informed that under city rules he should not be collecting his $46,000 salary as president of Local 1407 in addition to his compensation as DC 37 treasurer, he told this newspaper, "Whatever is legal, that will be done."

Yet last week, Mr. Uddin told reporter Meredith Kolodner that in addition to his treasurer's salary, he was earning $47,000 for his local duties. That means that by August the two jobs plus a union allowance will be paying him more than $274,000 - $38,000 more than the compensation Mr. Rosenthal received and Ms. Roberts derided slightly more than three years ago.

Charles Ensley, whom Ms. Roberts defeated in both of the past two union elections, said he will ask for a full accounting of the salary shenanigans at the next DC 37 board meeting.

In addition, DC 37's national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, should be taking a hard look at how big pay restorations and raises are being rammed through without notice. Ms. Roberts's loyalty to AFSCME Executive Director Gerry McEntee and DC 37's being such a fat source of dues revenue for the national union have earned her numerous special dispensations in the past, but Mr. McEntee should know from the last scandal that today's cash cow can become tomorrow's plucked chicken if vigilance is not exercised.