Endorsement of billionaire mayor splits union
Published Jul 21, 2005 9:09 PM
On July 13 the Executive Board of District Council 37, AFSCME, voted to
endorse the re-election of Wall Street’s candidate for New York City
mayor, billionaire Republican Michael Bloomberg. The endorsement was
accomplished by the narrowest of margins: 13 Executive Board members voted yes,
12 voted no.
The closeness of the vote reflects the misgivings among the
DC 37 leadership over the wisdom of this endorsement, which doesn’t
reflect the thinking of the membership of DC 37.
No meetings of the
members were held to discuss the pros and cons of an endorsement. No prior
meetings of the 56 local union executive boards of the unions that are members
of DC 37 were held, nor any public indication given that such an endor sement
was even being contemplated!
The endorsement came as a complete surprise,
even to the most involved union members and the elected members of constituent
union executive boards, for whom DC 37 supposedly speaks.
The day after
the press conference, I received “distress calls” from delegates and
members who were shocked and bewildered by the endorsement. Other executive
board members of my union have told me of similar “distress calls”
they received. This indicates that there will be serious resistance coming from
the union membership on following the DC 37 leadership down this dangerous
path.
It is ironic and telling about the political direction of AFSCME
that it would have its “flagship” council endorse a Republican Party
mayor in a city where the workers overwhelmingly vote for the Democratic Party.
The disappointment resulting from the wasting of more than $100 million of
precious union funds on the Kerry presidential campaign has left the current
union leaderships floundering around for some way to rescue the situation.
Two things are obvious from this endorsement: (1) the NYC Democratic
Party is viewed by the labor leadership as too weak and, therefore, an
endorsement of a candidate from that party would bear no fruit, and (2) there
must have been secret promises of “goodies” in exchange for the
endorsement, emanating from Mayor Bloomberg in relation to upcoming contract
negotiations. These “goodies” for DC 37, in the unlikely event that
they even materialize, will not offset what will be lost by this endorsement.
Billionaire Bloomberg is a direct representative of Wall Street in the
class war against the workers and the poor. Wall Street wants to split the NYC
union movement and Bloomberg will use this endorse ment to further fracture the
unity of the city unions.
The previous DC 37 contract
agreement—where it accepted a very small raise in salary for incumbents,
while substantially cutting salaries for new hires and forcing DC 37 members to
pay substantially more for drug co-pays—caused a split in the NYC union
movement because of its small raise and givebacks, which set a pattern for all
the city unions.
It created great bitterness among city unions towards
the leadership of DC 37. This ill-advised endorsement of Bloomberg will only
further scandalize DC 37 as the union that is being used as a political wedge
against the rest of the city unions and will further isolate DC 37 from the rest
of the NYC labor movement.
How can workers take seriously the claims of
the DC 37 leadership that it desires “labor unity” while this
leadership breaks unity with other city unions by “making friends”
with labor’s arch enemy at City Hall and Wall Street! City workers want
and need real unity—unity of labor with the community!
While it is
understandable that individual union leaders, looking at the current difficult
political “landscape,” made what was in their minds a
“practical” decision to “get what they can” in what
appears to be an untenable situation, it must be said that the leadership of DC
37 has acted, in this case, as if it were not an integral part of the community.
The membership of DC 37 is overwhelmingly women and people of color,
reflecting the composition of the working class and oppressed neighborhoods that
are under attack from the Bloomberg admini stration. This endorsement can only
aid Mayor Bloomberg and Wall Street’s continuing attack on these
communities. This will aid Wall Street’s attack on DC 37’s own
membership who are an integral part of those very same communities.
It is
this short-sighted “get what you can now” and to hell with the
consequences “somewhere down the road” attitude that must be
reversed if the labor movement is to survive and grow. The labor movement is an
integral part of the community and the oppressed. When it ignores that fact, as
they did in this case, it damages its own base, the only base from which it can
grow.
Mike Gimbel
New York
The writer is an
executive board member of Local 375, DC 37, AFSCME.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
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