50 years later, still fighting for justice WASHINGTON — Fifty years after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, many working people agree that King’s work is not yet done. CSEA members from across the state were among the thousands of people who recently participated in the recent “Realize the Dream March and Rally,” which marked the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington. In addition to his civil rights work, King also served as a leader for workers’ rights and strongly supported the labor movement. King’s speech, and his fight for equality, freedom and worker justice, still resonates with the labor movement today, as CSEA and other union members are facing unprecedented challenges. Speakers at the march focused on the unfinished goals of King’s dream, including creating jobs, protecting workers’ rights, reducing Union members and other activists gather on the Washington, D.C. National Mall for the Realize the Dream March and Rally. Photo by Ove Overmyer. poverty, protecting voter rights and fighting for equality for all people. Long Island Region activist Rich Acevedo was among the CSEA members who traveled to the recent march. “While we celebrate all the accomplishments that were achieved a half century ago, we all must recognize that the dream has not been completed,” Acevedo said. Western Region activist T. Judith Johnson also attended the march and hopes to see more people do more work in their own communities to achieve King’s dream. “We’re seeing the civil rights movement rise again,” she said. “Our generation is beginning to understand that we have to get back to organizing and movementbuilding to create better outcomes for our working families.” And union members are fighting back harder than ever as challenges mount for working people. “We showed up in full force at the march to proclaim loudly that we are here, we are fighting to maintain what we have worked so hard to obtain and we will not give back what we have earned,” Acevedo said. “We all showed our strength, our power, our solidarity and our endurance to fight just like our brothers and sisters did 50 years ago.” — Rich Impagliazzo and Ove Overmyer Johnson CSEA members from the Long Island Region and their supporters arrive in Washington for the rally. Photo provided by Rich Acevedo, back row, center, in black shirt. CSEA files suit over Westchester Medical Center violatons WHITE PLAINS — CSEA has filed a lawsuit charging that Westchester Medical Center leaders acted unlawfully when they moved earlier this year to create a separate civil service system for the hospital’s public sector employees. The suit, filed jointly with the New York State Nurses Association, claims the Westchester County Health Care Corp. lacked the authority to create a separate and independent civil service system and violated the state Open Meetings Law in attempting to do so. The unions are seeking annulment of the resolution approving action to create the new system and a permanent injunction to prevent the same thing from happening in the future. “This is yet another demonstration of hospital leaders’ lack of respect for worker rights,” said Southern Region President Billy Riccaldo. “For years, management has blatantly ignored civil service guidelines and violated our members’ rights over and over again. Now they’re just attempting to get away from the rules altogether.” The lawsuit cites an opinion letter from the state Department of Civil Service dated July 19, 2013, stating that the Westchester County Health Care Corp. lacks the legislative authority to create its own civil service system, as nothing in its formation as a public benefit corporation in 1997 under state Public Authorities Law allows for such an action. Since its formation as a public benefit corporation, Westchester Medical Center has been under the jurisdiction of the Westchester County Department of Human Resources. “If Westchester Medical Center can form its own civil service commission by snubbing the public benefit corporation agreement, it would open up every other similar entity to do the same,” said Westchester County Local President John Staino. “This is just another explanation of how the Westchester Medical Center administration views the rules and regulations as not applying to them.” — Jessica Ladlee October 2013 The Work Force 7
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