The Civil Service Technical Guild has a tradition of union struggle, fighting and securing good contracts, and reaching out to other labor unions in solidarity.
Today, we represent some 7,000 Engineers, Architects, Scientists, Chemists, Planners and other technical trades working for the City of New York. We are responsible for designing, managing/supervising construction, and maintaining the city's infrastructure -- our schools, bridges, highways, subways, and water and sewer systems. From the MTA to the School Construction Authority, from the DEP to the DDC, from the Fire Department to the Health and Hospitals Corporation, from Parks to HPD to WNYC -- to name just some of the agencies where we work -- the men and women of the Civil Service Technical Guild, Local 375 of District Council 37, AFSCME, have a central role driving this great metropolis.
The Civil Service Technical Guild's story began in New York in the 1920's and 30's, when huge public works were being designed and built. In 1929, the year of the great stock market crash, a new organization, the Union of Technical Men, organized a protest rally of about 150 Engineers at City Hall. Enraged, the Transportation Commissioner laid off every man, and only permitted them to return to work in lower titles. But the spirit of Unionism would not be stilled. In 1933, remaining Technical Men helped found the new Federation of Architects, Engineers, Chemists & Technicians. Including private industry members, it agitated for better wages in New Deal public works projects like the WPA..
In 1934, Fiorello LaGuadia took office as Mayor of New York City. Without warning, on February 14 of that year, he laid off 5,000 of the City's 6,000 municipal Engineers. Later on, a new clause was inserted into the City Charter, which said that all public works projects estimated to cost over $100,000 would be farmed out to private design firms. The consultants' lobby, supported by LaGuardia, had fashioned a poison pill for the battered remnants of the civil service professional corps.
But Engineers led by Henry "Hank" Cunningham, William Elliot, and George Ellenoff formed an organizing committee. A meeting was called for February 7, 1937 in the offices of Frank Prial, editor of The Chief. At that meeting, the Civil Service Technical Guild was founded. It declared as its mission the following:
The economic betterment of Civil Service Technical Employees; to prevent the awarding of the work to private concerns; to aid, strengthen, and prevent violations of Civil Service Laws; to support and advocate all laws tending to raise the standards of Civil Service generally.
This has been our guiding light ever since.
The new Guild's first order of business was to defeat the farming out law, and this was accomplished on May 8, 1937, after dogged lobbying of the State Legislature. Governor Herbert H. Lehman signed the bill into law on the final day. That month saw the Technical Guild with a membership of 300. By November of 1937, the Guild boasted 1,000 members. By October of 1938, 1,674 members had signed on.
The Chief published a regular weekly column, The Guild Guide, which highlighted the status of ongoing bills. As President of the Guild, Philip Brueck made a letter a day means better pay, his watchword. Many members took this to heart, and legislators felt the growing clout of the Guild. By 1941, the Guild had been able to mandate pre-layoff salaries for those reinstated, extending preferred lists an additional four years, eliminating discriminatory age limits (some as low as 35), protections for disabled workers, and preventing the Civil Service Commission from setting rules without public hearings. Along with TWU Local 100's Mike Quill, Brueck also championed the right of mostly black porters to be promoted to Conductor. A 30-year pension was established, as was a full year's death benefit after ten years of service.
The Guild was also able to draft Article V of the New York State Constitution, which protects Civil Service pension and makes them exempt from State and Local taxes. It also required testing whenever applicable for Civil Service jobs.
The war years and the 1950's saw continuing activity as the City began or continued major public infrastructure projects. The Guild strongly supported Mayor Robert F. Wagner, who was elected in 1953 and implemented the City's Career and Salary Plan, making true collective bargaining possible.
The Guild often tangled with New York City's construction czar and political power broker, Robert Moses, who had unprecedented authority to award favors, jobs and contracts. Moses often shouted down Unionists like Guild President Philip Brueck, calling them "radicals", "reds", and "civil service racketeers." Moses used his power to run highways through neighborhoods, isolating many and putting much of New York City's waterfront land into inaccessible pockets. He fought the construction of better rail links which would have prevented the decline of our port and the loss of millions of blue collar jobs. Many campaigns of the Guild today are efforts to correct Moses' mistakes, including efforts to rebuild our ports and restore rail links.
On September 15, 1959, the Guild received its charter as Local 375 of AFSCME. The Guild went on to sign its first contract with the Transit Authority in July of 1963. A bitter 28-day strike by DC 37 in 1965 led to the creation of the Mayor's Office of Labor Relations and the NYC Office of Collective Bargaining. In 1966, new Mayor John Lindsay faced a 13-day strike by TWU Local 100, which showed him the power of labor. Civil service unions made significant pension and wage gains during the Lindsay years.
In 1970, the Guild and DC 37 convinced the City Council to pass a Consultant Bill requiring public hearings for contracts let for over $10,000. It helped, but did not stop contracting out. The fiscal crisis of the early 70's led to the creation of the Municipal Labor Committee, and the prevention of a financial default by the City. But many workers, including Guild members, were laid off, and all suffered from deferred wage payments.
In the 1980's and 90's, the Guild, under the leadership of Lou Albano, reached out to many of our brothers and sisters in organized labor, building coalitions. The Guild also redoubled its efforts to ferret out corruption in the awarding of consultant contracts, exposing sweetheart deals in the MTA. At the same time, the face of the Guild was changing, with more and more women joining our ranks, as well as a surging immigrant membership, many from India and Pakistan. Many also came from Russia, Nigeria, Hong Kong, and other countries. Black History and Latino heritage were celebrated, as well as other cultural traditions. Local 375 protested African apartheid, with several members of the Executive Board jailed for picketing the South African embassy. We won a major victory for our immigrant members in 1989, when the Civil Service Commission reversed the earlier disqualification of 25 foreign-educated applicants for assistant engineering titles.
The Union put energy into bringing the decline in New York City's infrastructure into the public eye, with two reports, Redesigning New York City's Engineering Infrastructure, and Rebuilding New York City. The Guild formed an Environmental Action Committee, and began to work with environmentalists to fight cuts in key City agencies. In 1997, the Guild celebrated the "holing through" of the first stage of the City's third water tunnel, the largest public works project in the City's history.
As the Guild enters the 21st Century, our challenges remain the same: keeping City work for City employees, fighting for strict adherence to Civil Service Laws, enforcing our contract, and fighting privatization in whatever guise. We call on all of our brothers and sisters in labor to join with us in celebrating our shared heritage and continue the struggle.
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