Democracy in AFSCME DC37 in NYC

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Part One: How to parlay a mere 417 votes into a political fortune

An opposition group has collected over 2,000 signatures on petitions calling for mail ballot elections in Local 372, an affiliate of AFSCME DC 37. Fewer than 600 local members voted in the last election of union officers, a trivial number even by the most lenient union standards -- the local has 27,000 members.

They are clerical employees of the New York City public school system, scattered all over the five boroughs where they work a normal full day. But they must appear in person to vote at the union's headquarters, awkwardly located near the old World Trade Center. In the last election, only a few hours were allocated on one single day for voting at the single site. And so, instead of rushing inconveniently after work from the five boroughs into Manhattan's Battery area, most members went home as usual. The petition signers want to open up participation by allowing all 27,000 members to vote by mail.

But Veronica Montgomery Costa, the incumbent local president resists the change; begrudgingly she will agree only to extend the voting hours somewhat. Her adamant stand is understandable. In the last election she received only 417 votes to her challenger's 122, but they were enough to lift her into a second term and support from a compliant local executive board. In the strange world of DC 37, she has adroitly leveraged those 417 votes into an enormous financial and political fortune.

Early on, her appreciative and cooperative executive board lifted her salary from $99,000 to $175,000 a year, a $76,000 increase. But that was only a beginning. She used those 417 votes as a base to elevate herself into the presidency of the 120,000-member DC 37, with its extra pay and perks. And she became a king-maker in DC 37, more accurately a queen-maker.

Top officers in DC 37 are elected, not by the 120,000 members, but by local council delegates whose votes are weighted by their local memberships. Local 372 is one of DC 37's largest. Although she could collect only those 417 votes in the local, she could cast its 27,000 votes in the council, enough to assure her own election as DC 37 president and to assure the reelection of Lillian Roberts to the top post of DC executive director.

In Local 372, the spokesmen for a mail ballot, Larry Davis and Tony Ferina, are also campaigning for the election of DC 37 officers by direct membership ballot.

Part Two: Lesson in democracy from DC37 Retirees Association

To encourage membership involvement in union affairs, the DC 37 Retirees Association changed its method of electing officers from in-person voting at the union hall to mail balloting. The response was more than spectacular; it was an encouraging lesson to those who want to cultivate democracy in the whole 120,000-member DC 37, with which the Retirees Association is affiliated. But it was also an ominous warning to those local and district officers who feel secure only when voting is confined to a narrow and more easily manipulated minority: If members are encouraged to vote, they may actually do it.

In the last election, when they had to trudge down to the union headquarters at the southern edge of Manhattan, only 479 ballots were tallied. This time, when they could vote easily by mail, 10,977 of the association's 25,000 members sent in their ballots.

Stuart Leibowitz, Retirees president, has been a outspoken advocate of a change to direct election of top officers of DC 37. Commenting on the recent election in his own unit, he said, "It's empowerment and it's democracy. People have a right to vote."

Criticizes AUD on direct elections:

Harold Schmidt, who writes this letter (slightly edited), had been a top international officer of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees:

With nearly 50 years of involvement in the labor movement [CWA, SAG, SEIU, AFSCME, CTU] as an elected officer or appointed representative, and as a member of the AUD and a subscriber to the $100+ Club News, and as one who has fought the arbitrariness of three international presidents, [I have] the right to criticize your efforts in behalf of the "One person, one vote coalition" [in DC 37.]

In short, to espouse the direct election of officers in a council as large as #37 with its divergent interests, size of local membership ... [your] minimizing requiring the knowledgeable involvement of every member, not only in their local but in their council activities, leads me to conclude that what is feasible in a local union is beyond your comprehension at a council structure. Believing that direct votes, other than on ratification, will prove beneficial I must conclude, [shows that your] organizational understanding is either lacking or your efforts are for some reason perverted.

Many years ago, I worked with Lillian Roberts and Victor Gotbaum to secure the right to organize [hospital] employees in Chicago. They both gave of themselves what only a believer of human rights could give --- "everything." Though our paths have diverted, I have noted periodically their contributions to workers and the labor movement. Gotbaum's skillful resolutions in averting bankruptcy of the city [New York] and Roberts's ascendancy after the corruptive behavior of some council officials. With your proximity and historical knowledge of the union, you should have offered your assistance and not given credence to efforts which will decimate its influence in behalf of its membership.

Editor's comment: To avoid a long discussion at this point, we direct readers to the stories on DC 37 above. We must note, however, that when she first ran for reelection Lillian Roberts, herself, proposed a shift to direct membership election of DC 37 officers and simply abandoned the cause after she had been safely reelected under the old system of election by delegates.