FOR THE RECORD

Civil Service Technical Guild Vice President Michelle Keller-Ng, who has been accused of insensitivity toward the union's Jewish members in the past, got herself scolded again on that matter last week.

The flashpoint this time was a program for the Tech Guild's celebration of Black History Month - an event for which Ms. Keller-Ng served as chairperson - that included a quote from the late auto-maker Henry Ford.

The quote - ''Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success" - was benign enough. But some Tech Guild members were astonished and angered that Ms. Keller-Ng would draw inspiration from a man who was a noted anti-Semite as well as a union-buster. He received the Grand Service Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle from Adolf Hitler, and called in the Michigan National Guard to thwart an attempt at unionizing in his auto plant more than 70 years ago.

At a meeting of the Tech Guild's Legislative/Political Action Committee last week, a resolution proposed by its chairman, Fred Newton, was unanimously passed calling Ms. Keller-Ng's decision to quote Mr. Ford "anti-Semitism at worst or poor research and poor vetting at best."

Ms. Keller-Ng did not return a call seeking a response.

She previously crossed swords with Mr. Newton last summer after she pushed through a resolution of her own at a Tech Guild delegate meeting criticizing Mitchell Feder, who subsequently ran unsuccessfully for union president, for describing District Council 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts as "on her knees" in an attempt to get a decent contract from City Hall. Ms. Keller called the description sexist and racist.

Mr. Newton was among those who countered that Mr. Feder was just using a figure of speech. He also protested that in 1998, Ms. Keller had refused to postpone a vote for nominations in her chapter when a potential challenger who was an observant Jew pointed out that the meeting fell on a Jewish holiday. DC 37's international union, following a complaint from the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, ordered a new election.

In this instance, Ms. Keller-Ng finds herself in some company she may not welcome. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has positioned himself as the most conservative of the candidates for the Republican nomination for President, formally announced his bid at the Henry Ford Museum and was denounced for the location by the National Jewish Democratic Council.

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In an address made particularly timely by last week's conceptual agreement by state lawmakers to reform the Workers' Compensation system, State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes will be the featured speaker at a training forum on the subject March 9.

"Injured on the Job: Making New York's Workers' Compensation Law Work for You" is sponsored by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health and the Union Leadership Program in Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. It will run from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the 6th floor of the school's headquarters at 16 East 34th St. in Manhattan.

The cost of the session, which will include breakfast, is $25. Checks should be made payable to Cornell University. To register, call (212) 340-2827 or send an e-mail to http://jp424@cornell.edu .

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In his Feb. 23 column dealing with Increased Take-Home Pay for city employees, pension columnist Joel Frank traced its inception to the 1960s under Mayor Wagner and stated, "If memory serves me well, I believe the rate for Increased Take-Home Pay was first set at 8 percent."

Former Chief City Actuary Jonathan Schwartz called us after seeing the article to say that Mr. Frank was correct if talking strictly about ITHP for members of the Teachers' Retirement System (to which Mr. Frank belonged during that period).

For all other employees, however, Mr. Schwartz noted, the ITHP rate never exceeded 5 percent. The TRS rate was in effect from October 1967 through June 1970, and subsequently was reduced, said Mr. Schwartz, who is currently an actuarial consultant to several municipal unions.