CWA 1180 - News

Taking pride in our 40 years
By Arthur Cheliotes, president
January 2006

You can’t summarize a union’s 40-year history in a few words—not even the 32 years I’ve been part of that story. But as I look back, certain themes reflect what our union is about.

For its entire history, Local 1180 has been driven by the idea that if you’re willing to work hard, you have the right to a decent life—and that our government should protect that right for its own workers and all of the city’s residents. We have fought to realize that principle not only for our members and their families, but for everyone who lives in the City of New York. We believe that the city’s future affects our members’ lives and the quality of our members’ lives and work affects the city’s future.

The historical reflections of our members touch upon the struggles, campaigns, legal actions, organizing drives, and influential studies and proposals that make up our union’s proud history. We can say, with justifiable pride, that we’ve been in the leadership of the city’s labor movement in identifying the important issues and making progress on them in creative ways.

Here’s an example: For many years, the city didn’t offer civil service promotional exams. It promoted internally and capriciously, and many of those promotions went to white men. Through demonstrations, appearances before the City Council, and a landmark lawsuit, we got the city to offer those exams. We provided extensive training to members on how to pass the exam. Not surprisingly, hundreds of women and people of color passed and were put on the promotional list. We then successfully fought the city to get it to hire people off that list.

The racial and gender composition of our City’s administrative workforce is, to a large extent, the product of our efforts as a union. And far more than teachers, police officers, or firefighters, that workforce represents the communities of this city, making it better able to enrich the lives of all the city’s residents.

We’ve also demonstrated our belief in the principle of fighting for all New York when we’ve taken on the City’s destructive social, labor, and budgetary policies. Not only have we vigorously opposed policies that hurt working people and the least fortunate among us, but we have developed and promoted concrete alternatives to them.

During the Giuliani years, for example, we didn’t just oppose that Administration’s harsh budget cuts. We developed a sophisticated program to rejuvenate the city’s economy and to fix the budget shortfall by taxing rich people more fairly. We distributed the program through brochures, videos, demonstrations, and TV advertising. And we’re doing the same now as the Bloomberg Administration continues the “austerity” policies of its predecessors.

In fact, everything we do—from fighting for a better contract to protecting and administering benefits to our comprehensive program of member education to our radio show, website, and newspaper—not only benefits our members but sows the seeds of hope, informed citizenship, and stability in the communities where they live.

Serious challenges lie ahead. We already see the Administration taking aim at pensions and benefits and the attack on those rights is sure to get worse. In the future, protecting our benefits may require an ambitious campaign for universal health care. But I’m confident. Our history demonstrates that we’re ready and willing to take on the big battles—and that we’re able to figure out ways to help the labor movement win them.

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