On Nov. 27, 2012, Lillian Roberts was unanimously re-elected to a fifth term as Executive Director of District Council 37, AFSCME, New York City’s largest public employee union. District Council 37 represents 121,000 public workers in New York City and state, 50,000 retirees, 1,000 job titles and 54 locals. She is also a Vice President of the New York State AFL-CIO, a Vice President of the NYC Central Labor Council, and Co-Chair of the Municipal Labor Committee.

Ms. Roberts identified her priorities for her fifth term, which began when she was sworn in on Jan. 22, 2013, as negotiating a new contract, winning additional compensation for certain titles through a salary review process with the city, and overseeing the return to DC 37’s headquarters, which was seriously damaged by Hurricane Sandy.

In 2012, Ms. Roberts was re-elected without opposition to a three-year term as International Vice President of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees at the AFSCME 40th International Convention in Los Angeles. She was first elected to this post in 2011.

A former NYS Commissioner of Labor, Ms. Roberts was first elected DC 37 Executive Director on Feb. 26, 2002. She was the union’s first female Executive Director. She was re-elected to a three-year term on Jan. 27, 2004, and again on Jan. 23, 2007.

In her first term, Ms. Roberts focused the union’s energy on fighting for a fair contract for members. Ms. Roberts led the DC 37 Bargaining Committee in contract negotiations with NYC to provide raises and safeguard the benefits of the union members who make the city run. The three-year contract settlement, which DC 37 members ratified by 89% in June 2004, provided retroactive raises and a first-year lump sum of $1,000.

In 2006 Ms. Roberts led negotiations for a new contract including a 10% raise, additional funding for the union’s Health and Security Funds, and no concessions. It was considered one of the best contracts in the union’s history and was approved by 97% of the members. An energetic follow-up campaign by DC 37 led to the 2009 lifting of residency restrictions, the final key provision of that contract. Her leadership in the next round of negotiations on the 2008–2010 contract led to raises of 8.18% for the union’s members.

Ms. Roberts has always opposed costly government waste and privatization of public services. DC 37 issued four initial white papers under her guidance identifying up to $3 billion that could be saved by eliminating private consultants and letting city employees do the work. City agencies phased in some of DC 37’s early cost-saving proposals, maintaining services while saving millions in taxpayer dollars — productivity gains that led to an additional 1% raise for DC 37 members in 2005.

However, when funding for the city's contract budget increased rapidly after 2005, climbing to a record cost of $9.2 billion for more than 18,000 contracts, DC 37 issued a fifth white paper in 2009 under her leadership titled “Massive Waste in a Time of Need.” The union has continued to push the city to cut wasteful spending through a campaign that has included award-winning subway ads, TV and radio spots, testimony and lobbying.

With housing costs rising, Ms. Roberts approached the Mayor with a proposal to give DC 37 members and municipal workers an affordable way to meet the city’s then requirement that they live in the five boroughs. The result, launched in 2005, is the innovative DC 37 Municipal Employees Housing Program. The program allows DC 37 members and city workers preference for 5% of units in city-sponsored lotteries for affordable homes and apartments; down payment grants through the NYC Dept. of Housing Preservation and Development; and homebuyer training and education through Neighborhood Housing Services.

Lillian Roberts has a long, proud history as a unionist. She grew up in the tenements of Chicago’s South Side and became a nurse’s aide. In 1959, she joined the hospital local of AFSCME’s District Council 34 becoming a shop steward and officer. She was hired as a staff rep by AFSCME District Council 19 in Chicago, spearheaded the creation of five locals, and led an organizing drive in four Chicago mental hospitals. In 1965, Ms. Roberts moved to New York from Chicago to build up DC 37’s Hospitals Division. She led the union’s campaign to organize thousands of city hospital workers in 1966.

Ms. Roberts was Associate Director of DC 37 from 1967 to 1981 under Victor Gotbaum. She played a major role in organizing new members and establishing an array of benefits, including the largest union-based adult education program in the U.S. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Ms. Roberts brought thousands of workers in federally funded jobs into the union. During her 17-year tenure with DC 37, the union’s ranks skyrocketed from 30,000 to 120,000.

More recently, under Ms. Roberts’ leadership, DC 37 won the right in 2004 to represent 2,600 Job Training Participants, who the union pushes the city to hire upon completion of their training, and in 2007, in cooperation with AFSCME, the union established a DC 37 Organizing Department to reach out to non-union workers in DC 37-related titles and bring them the benefits of union membership.

Maf Misbah Uddin
Treasurer, District Council 37

Union members’ fiscal watchdog