DC 37 Rallies for Raises That Make a Difference

You won’t have much luck trying to pay for groceries by telling the cashier you’re an “essential worker,” AFSCME District Council 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido told several hundred city workers at a rally in Foley Square yesterday. The union’s 100,000 members, who encompass clerks, hospital workers, librarians, probation officers, sewage-treatment workers, and 911 operators among others — have been working under an expired contract since May 2021, and negotiations with the city have not yet started.

“We’re not getting the raises that make a difference. Everything is going up but our paychecks,” Local 372 President Shaun D. Francois told LaborPress before the rally. Francois, who represents school employees including health aides, lunchroom workers, and crossing guards, said that what his members are paid would be a good salary in Georgia, but not in a city where studio apartments cost $2,000 a month. Read more in LaborPress.