Fighting for All New Yorkers

NEW YORK CITY

Some 30,000 city workers and their supporters gathered at City Hall Park on April 29 for the largest rally in DC 37 history. They were protesting Mayor Michael Bloomberg's (R) call for 5,000 to 10,000 layoffs to help balance the city's budget. He seems willing to cripple New York City by gutting living-wage jobs and destroying services that provide a safety net for the poor, the sick, seniors and children.

Demonstrators cheered as President McEntee pledged support to DC 37 Exec. Dir. Lillian Roberts to help the campaign. "The mayor talks about a 'doomsday' budget," said McEntee. "We say to the mayor, 'If you try to put in a doomsday budget, that will be doomsday for you.'" Civil Service Employees Association/AFSCME Local 1000 Pres. Danny Donohue, an International vice president, pledged CSEA's support in Albany and encouraged the workers to keep up their fight.

For months, a coalition of union and community activists has pressed Bloomberg to lobby more vigorously for state aid, cut waste and privatization, beef up collection efforts and enact a tax surcharge on the city's wealthiest residents rather than cutting services — throwing thousands of workers onto the street.

"In poll after poll, New Yorkers say they don't want services cut. They don't want layoffs," says Roberts. "It's time the mayor listened to the people of New York."

— Susan Ellen Holleran