Letters to the Editor
DC 37 Not Acting Like a Union

To the Editor:

As District Council 37 delegates meet to choose a new Executive Director, we should keep in mind the difference between a real union and a patronage operation designed to protect incumbents.

A real union seeks full membership of all workers. It does not consign some to second-class "agency fee-payer" status in order to strip them of voting rights. A real union honors the principle of "one person, one vote" in the contest for its top leaders. Currently, DC 37 leaves this choice in the hands of delegates, many of whom receive patronage release time and "stipends."

Where real unions fight for equal pay for equal work, District Council 37 has a disturbing pattern of making concessions by reducing the salaries and benefits of new workers.

A real union gets power from its members, who are active and engaged. They are inspired by union leaders who make personal sacrifices that show the members that the struggle is an honorable one. The present culture of DC 37 has nothing to do with this.

Instead, DC 37's leadership has become masterful at the game of lowering expectations, where workers are glad merely to keep their jobs and will vote for contracts that do not keep pace with inflation or productivity increases.

Last year, District Council 37 collected $36,110,965 in "per-capita tax" from 121,000 members to fund its operations. The "low expectations" regime of Lillian Roberts includes 41 DC 37 employees who earn over $100,000 per annum, while the average union member earns less than $30,000. Her currency is favors for a few, not substantive progress for the membership.

As the Mayor crafts his plans to slash worker pensions, DC 37 is like a boat which is drifting towards an iceberg. Just as the Titanic was not unsinkable, so is a union vulnerable which has the appearance, but not the reality, of power. In this connection, DC 37 has not taken any real steps to prepare its members for this coming pension fight - and this must be our focus in 2007.

FITZ REID, Local 768, Delegate to DC 37

Editor's note: Mr. Reid has run for president of Health Service Employees Local 768 in its past two elections.