Vol. 73/No. 11      March 23, 2009

“Mayor Bloomberg said he is going to cut 14,000 teachers,” Jermaine Cameron, 29, told the Militant. “How they’ll do that, we don’t know. There won’t be fewer children to teach. It’s the students who will be most affected,” the Brooklyn teacher from Meyer Levin School said.

“These are serious times for working people,” Margaret Johnson, a nurse technician and member of Service Employees International Union Local 1199, said. Johnson, 55, said she was opposed to pension benefit cuts. “Workers should be able to expect a decent retirement after a lifetime on the job.”

New York governor David Paterson proposes to make up a $15 billion state budget deficit by cutting $2.5 billion in education, $3.2 billion in health care, and taking the balance from social programs for retirees, the disabled, and housing assistance.

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced plans to solve a $4 billion “budget crisis” with another round of layoffs, cuts in pension and health-care benefits, an increase in the sales tax to 8.75 percent, elimination of the sales tax exemption on clothes, and imposition of a five-cent tax on plastic grocery bags.

Organizers of the action billed it as a “Rally for New York” and an opportunity for workers to “speak out for fair solutions to budget cuts.” A central demand put forward by speakers, many of them labor officials, was for state tax reform to increase taxes on income over $250,000.

Signs saying “We want our fair share”; “Protect schools and hospitals”; “One New York Standing Together”; and “Fair Budget for All” dotted the crowd. Participants chanted, “No more cuts!”

Unions sponsoring the action included the United Federation of Teachers; American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 37; Service Employees International Union Local 1199; Professional Staff Congress; New York City Central Labor Council; and others.

“Over 30 years ago the city, state, and unions came together to resolve the crisis,” Lillian Roberts, executive director of District Council 37, said, referring to 1970s “budget crisis” that resulted in 63,000 municipal employees losing their jobs, including 20,000 teachers and 4,000 hospital workers. “We shared the pain and responsibility,” Roberts said, “Sacrifice must be shared. The wealthy must pay their fair share.”

Dan Fein, Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor, campaigned among participants at the action, explaining, “There is no ‘One New York.’”

Fein said, “There are the billionaire families who confiscate the wealth, all of which is produced by us—working people. Workers should not ‘sacrifice’ or ‘share the pain.’”

Peter Thierjung contributed to this article.
 
 
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