STRIKE AUTHORIZED
95% of voting members vote “Yes” to Strike
union will stop work if agreement not reached by
June 30
OUR STRUGGLE IS EVERY STRUGGLE
By Julia Gwiazdowski
The struggle of DC33 is tied to every struggle in our country. Look at the contract the Parker Administration wants us to sign. We were offered a deal that doesn’t include fair wages, equitable healthcare, and strips away our rights and protections as union members and as citizens.
The city says they can’t afford to pay us fairly but they can afford to increase police spending. Supposedly this means more safety for citizens, but what we see in reality is police suppressing protests against the genocide in Gaza, police assisting ICE in illegal deportations of beloved community members, and police clearing the streets of the unhoused and those struggling with substance use disorders. City officials say they want to protect us, but really they want to protect the property and profits of developers and big businesses who donate to their campaign funds by arresting anyone who gets in the way.
This isn’t just about the money they want to give to police instead of the workers who make the City function. It’s about how they want to take away our right to do anything about it. In the contract proposal, there is an amendment stating any city employee can be suspended if they’re charged with a serious misdemeanor. Not convicted, charged. They do not care about due process. They care about removing anyone they perceive as a nuisance.
If you want to stop ICE from kidnapping your neighbors, the City can arrest you on trumped up misdemeanor charges. Doesn’t matter if the charges don’t stick. If you are charged, the City can suspend you.
If you want to go to a rally to support trans rights They can arrest you, charge you, and suspend you.
If you want to march for abortion rights, they will have the right to arrest you, charge you, and suspend you.
Signing this contract in its current form means if we go on strike to fight for a better contract, they will arrest us. They will charge us. They will suspend us. It does not matter if what you do is legal. It does not matter if you are acquitted. If they want you gone they will have the power to remove you.
Our struggles are all related. The bosses don’t need to hire thugs with guns to bully the union because the bosses are our elected officials and the thugs are cops on the City’s payroll. They want us to sign a contract that says it’s their right to send those thugs after us whenever they please.
I say we don’t let them have the satisfaction.
It’s time to show them that corrupt politicians and crooked cops don’t run this city, we do.