DC 37 Retirees Join 3 Locals Backing Addabbo; Part Company With Exec. Board
By DAVID SIMS
City Councilman Joseph P. Addabbo Aug. 21 was endorsed for State Senate by three District Council 37 locals that broke ranks with their parent union, as well as the DC 37 Retirees Association.

BUCKING THE ESTABLISHMENT: City Councilman Joseph P. Addabbo (left) seals the deal with District Council 37 Retirees Association President Stu Leibowitz after Mr. Leibowitz and three local presidents bucked DC 37 to endorse Mr. Addabbo's State Senate run against 10-term Republican incumbent Serphin Maltese.

Standing on the steps of City Hall, Mr. Addabbo was called "far and away the best candidate to represent the 15th Senate District" by Stu Leibowitz, the president of the DC 37 Retirees.

DC 37 Backing Maltese

DC 37's executive board endorsed 10-term Republican incumbent Serphin Maltese in the Queens district that includes the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Middle Village, Glendale, Woodhaven and Ozone Park. But three activist locals dissented and endorsed Mr. Addabbo: Motor Vehicle Operators Local 983, Civil Service Tech Guild Local 375, and Social Services Employees Union Local 371.

Faye Moore, the president of Local 371, said in a statement that Mr. Addabbo "has always been a friend of Labor and particularly SSEU Local 371 ... from supporting of the civil service merit system to always advocating for the protection of city workers' jobs and benefits ... he did not have to be taught what the issues are."

Mr. Leibowitz said retirees are "on fixed incomes, particularly vulnerable to reductions in benefits" and said the Councilman "has always been here for retirees, to prevent reductions in benefits and to go forth and try and get improvements and benefits for us. Everybody hopes to live to become a retiree, and whatever Joe does for us today, he's doing for himself tomorrow."

Mr. Addabbo concurred, jokingly calling himself a "retiree-in-training," and said that "whenever we talk about issues, no matter what issue we talk about ... seniors play a part." He stressed his credentials with labor in the city, saying "as chair of the Labor Committee for the City Council, union support is very important to me. So as I go forward in this campaign ... obviously you have an open door to my office."

Jon Forster, the first vice president of Local 375, said that Mr. Addabbo had been "wonderfully supportive" of the Tech Guild on the issue of surveillance technology, especially in opposing CityTime, the timekeeping mechanism that uses palm-scanners and other technologies to monitor when the local's members start and leave work. Mr. Forster said that Mr. Addabbo had asked Comptroller William C. Thompson to audit the CityTime program, and was working to present a bill "calling for a moratorium on CityTime" into the City Council until the audit was finished. "He's a great State Senator, and we fully support him," Mr. Forster added.

When asked about DC 37 backing his opponent, Mr. Addabbo said, "DC 37 did what they did, I'm just gonna go forward." He said he was "going to go after the locals, we're going to go after other unions, and I have a record here of serving the community and promoting and advancing and fighting for the workers, and that's the work I want to do up in Albany."