Why We’re Organizing As 1549 Members
Local 1549 used to be the largest and most influential union affiliated with DC37, representing more than 30,000 clerical-administrative city workers two decades ago. Now, we have just 12,000 members who are disorganized and disengaged from the life of the union.
Our members not only face daily intimidation and harassment from management on the shop floor, but we’re defending our livelihoods from politicians who want to cut clerical jobs with austerity budgets and then turn around to spend millions on artificial intelligence to replace the rest of us.
The Hard Numbers
Multiple scandals of voter fraud, embezzlement, and other misappropriation of member dues have badly hurt our union. Even after being taken over by AFSCME in 1999, Local 1549 went back to bad habits and two decades of stale, self-serving leadership has left our union weakened. And if we continue to shrink, that means there are fewer of us to defend the pensions and benefits of members and retirees.
We believe that something needs to change–and that change starts with organizing the membership in Local 1549.
From the unprecedented contract win by UPS Teamsters to the inspiring stand-up auto strike by the UAW, the wave of militancy that has been sweeping the labor movement starts with putting rank & file workers in the driver’s seat of the union. It’s time that Local 1549 return to its roots and history as a union representing the working man and woman in New York.
