DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts slams city's plan to lay off workers while spending billions on outside contractors

ADS URGE NEW YORKERS TO TELL CITY HALL: “Cut Private Contractors, Not Public Services.”

New York, N.Y. - Lillian Roberts, the head of New York City’s largest municipal employee union, District Council 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO, today, launched radio ads slamming Mayor Bloomberg’s plan to lay off thousands of city workers even as his administration spends $9 billion of its $60 billion budget on private contractors and outside consultants.

The ads are airing on radio stations that have a variety of formats and reach a number of different audiences, including news and entertainment (1010WINS-AM and WCBS-AM), African-American (WBLS-FM and WRKS-FM) and Hispanic (WADO-FM).

In the ads, Roberts cites a few of the 1,000 city job titles the union represents and the vital services they provide to New Yorkers saying that city workers are not just part of our communities, they are “the fabric of our communities.” Roberts adds, “Now, Mayor Bloomberg wants to cut over 12,000 positions—instead of slashing the $9 billion the city pays private contractors to do jobs city workers do more reliably and more cost- effectively. That’s not only wasteful—it’s harmful—to our kids, our families and to our communities.”

The recent radio ads are part of an ongoing DC 37 campaign that began with the release of a report entitled, “Massive Waste at a Time of Need,” which revealed that the city has awarded 18,000 contracts to private contractors whose employees are not held to the same high standard as city workers. The report calls this parallel workforce a “shadow government’ that lacks accountability and wastes taxpayers’ dollars.

The same message is carried by a subway ad campaign the union launched on Monday, May 18.

The radio and subway ads express outrage over the city’s plans to layoff thousands of city workers, a move Roberts said is “totally unnecessary.” “The money is there. We’ve proven that with our white paper, which examined 10 contracts in eight city agencies and identifies about $130 million in savings the city can realize by cutting down on outside contracts with over-paid consultants and over-priced contractors. And, that is just the tip of the iceberg,” Roberts said. Both radio and subway ads urge New Yorkers to go to DC 37’s website—www.dc37.net— and tell City Hall to “Cut Private Contractors, Not Public Services.”

Roberts also insists the city’s proposed layoffs will “inevitably lead to larger long-term human and economic costs” and “go against everything President Barack Obama is trying to do for the working people of this country. While the president is creating jobs, the city will destroy jobs and undermine his recession recovery plan.

“The DC 37 ad campaign is intended to educate and mobilize New Yorkers whose quality of life is being threatened by laying off employees who work in over 1,000 job titles – everything from Accountants and Actuaries to Zookeepers—helps this city run. As a result of these cuts hospital clinics will close, neglected illnesses will get worse. Reports of child abuse and neglect are rising and these layoffs will cripple programs created to prevent that. They threaten our libraries, which are a critical resource for the growing number of people searching for work and for children who do their homework on library computers because their families can’t afford one at home. They threaten popular exhibits at our zoos and more. No responsible government can in good conscience cut vital services and lay off loyal, hardworking employees while there are realistic alternatives – and there are!”

The union has redesigned its website —www.dc37.net—to allow visitors to send e-mails to the Mayor and their City Council member urging them to “Cut Private Contractors, Not Public Services.”

District Council 37 is New York City's largest public employee union, with 125,000 members and 50,000 retirees.