Local 237 Rally To Highlight Impact Of Feds' Cuts on HA

By MICHELLE FRIEDMAN

Teamsters Local 237 will hold a rally May 1 at City Hall to protest the impact the Bush administration's underfunding of the Housing Authority has had on its operations.

GREGORY FLOYD: 'Our fight to lead.'

Although Local 237's HA members have not been hard-hit by budget cuts, union President Gregory Floyd views recent layoffs of other employees as an indication of things to come.

'Can See the Trend'

"If housing is not funded properly, our members will eventually be laid off," he said during an April 22 phone interview. "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see the trend that is happening here. If they don't have money to pay staff, our members won't be around for long. Do I wait until they are laid off, or act now to that from happening? We are taking a proactive stance."

Since President Bush took office in 2001, the HA budget has been slashed by $611 million, and two weeks ago it laid off 131 employees as part of a planned elimination of 427 jobs, most through attrition. The budget cuts affect not only employees, but services for the 500,000 New York City residents of public housing.

TINO HERNANDEZ: A reluctant slasher.

Drumming Up Support

Mr. Floyd has cast a wide net seeking support. "I have personally sent letters to every New York City elected official, every tenant leader, every tenant association, and I have been going around to different housing developments asking residents to attend the rally on May 1," he said.

Local 237 has secured the support of District Council 37, the Civil Service Painters Union - which recently gained a temporary injunction against the layoff of 59 Supervisor Painters - and Ed Ott, executive director of the AFL-CIO New York City Central Labor Council, who plans to address the rally.

Mr. Floyd said he hopes the rally persuades the city's Congressional delegation to "pick this up as an issue." He also wants to capture the attention of the future President. "I invited Obama, McCain and Clinton to speak," he said, although he has not received a response from any of the candidates.

'Fighting for Public Housing'

"I feel bad for members of the HA," he continued. "No one is advocating for them. We are the largest Teamster local workforce in public housing in this nation and it is our fight to lead. We are not only fighting for the HA, we are fighting for public housing across this country."

He also noted, "A good portion of our members live in public housing. With [fewer] workers, the quality of housing facilities goes down."

Charlotte Myles, president of the Lillian Wald Tenants Association, a large public housing project on the easternmost edge of Alphabet City, noted the impact of the budget cuts on her community. "It doesn't really affect my tenants association, but it affects residents when they cut the employees and they have no one to clean these developments up or maintain them as they should be." She said that she had observed a decline in public housing workers and maintenance quality for over a year.

Mr. Floyd said, "The HA is assigning our members additional work not in their job titles. With a reduced staff, members are working harder to keep housing clean."

According to an HA spokesman, no further layoffs are planned besides the ones that were held up in court. He accused Local 237 of misrepresenting the situation by claiming other layoffs are imminent.

The HA attributed the job loss to Federal underfunding. At a March 4 City Council preliminary budget hearing, HA Chairman Tino Hernandez said that the agency projected a gap of $195.3 million in funding for fiscal year 2008 based on a preliminary operating budget of $2.8 billion, "reflecting Washington's continued disinvestment in public housing."