AFSCME President Lee Saunders called the victories of the Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Georgia’s Senate runoff elections “a bold mandate for change.”
POLITICAL ACTION MAYORAL FORUM on MONDAY, JAN. 25, 5:30 p.m. DC 37 will host a members only Virtual Mayoral Candidate Forum on Monday Jan. 25 at 5:30 p.m. Please register in advance here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_j9OwSPAgSFKN0qJLibHZ9A. You will receive a code to access this union event 24 hours in advance. For more information, please call the DC 37 Political Action Department at 212-815-1550. ### MELS TAX WORKSHOP on WED. JAN. 27, 5:30 p.m. The MELS Tax Tips webinar is Wed. Jan. 27. The union’s team of legal experts can help you understand tax preparation for 2020. What’s income, what’s not? Filing status, standard and itemized deductions, tax credits and other tax prep tips. Join the webinar Jan. 27, 5:30 to 7 p.m. Register atwww.dc37mels.com to receive the Meeting ID e-mail before the event. For more information, call the MELS Screening Unit at 212 815-1111 or email [email protected] ### MELS UPDATE on NYS COVID Eviction Moratorium through MAY 1 On December 28, 2020, a sweeping eviction ban took effect in New York, giving qualifying tenants fearful of losing their homes during the pandemic, relief through May 1, 2021. To qualify for protection from eviction, tenants must file a “hardship declaration” explaining the source of their hardship. The eviction ban does not protect tenants who [...]— Jan 20
By DIANE S. WILLIAMS DC 37 remembers Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who would have turned 92 on January 15. For more than 25 years MLK Day on Jan. 18, is a day of service to others and the community, a time to work together for unity, support and equality. As an architect of the Civil Rights Movement, Dr. King made good trouble. He pioneered a nonviolent social justice movement for Black people, the marginalized, the poor and the disenfranchised. He spoke boldly to the conscience of our nation. He shone light on the lives and struggles of a people America relegated to second-class citizenry, those who were made invisible in plain sight in a very separate, unequal and divided society. Dr. King worked alongside other freedom fighters to dismantle America’s apartheid Jim Crow system using the courts, boycotts, peaceful marches, civil disobedience and nonviolence to push for radical change. King said, “We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence.” Facing arrests and jail, and surviving countless vicious beatings, bombings and attacks, Dr. King and the Labor Movement became allies fighting for and supporting working people. And ordinary people, everyday underpaid Americans who picked the cotton and produce, hauled the garbage, [...]— Jan 18
The City of New York’s Vaccine Command Center is inviting you to join a virtual town hall event, featuring Dr. Jay Varma, Senior Public Health Advisor to the Mayor, for the latest information about the COVID-19 vaccine. This will be an excellent opportunity for New York City staff to learn more about the vaccines, vaccine safety, how/where they are being distributed, and more. This event will be held on the following dates to accommodate employees, work schedules: Fri., Jan. 15, 11 a.m. Tues., Jan. 19, 1 p.m. Wed., Jan. 20, 7 p.m. Thurs., Jan. 21, 6 p.m. Mon., Jan. 25, 6 p.m. Question and Answer sessions will follow. Submit your questions in advance, and Dr. Varma and DOHMH staff will address as many as possible during the event. Please submit your questions through this link by 8 a.m. on the day of the briefing you plan to attend. Dial-in here at the time of the event: 866-976-6361. If you have any issues dialing in, please try this number instead: 443-456-9000. As always, The City of New York and its residents are grateful for your service during this unprecedented crisis, and we thank you for your dedication and partnership as we [...]— Jan 15
By DIANE S. WILLIAMS The City of New York and other employers where DC 37 members work are rolling out plans to distribute COVID-19 vaccines for their employees. New York City is currently vaccinating certain groups of people in phases determined by New York State starting with 1a classified frontline essential workers at hospitals and other health care facilities. Additionally, Mayor de Blasio said New York City will open five vaccination sites on Monday, Jan. 11 for 1b classified workers, which includes some 1.3 million frontline essential workers who are police, firefighters, teachers, homeless shelter workers, correction officers, and persons age 75 and older. Inoculation is voluntary and free at worksites. The two FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccines, manufactured by Pfizer-BioN Tech and Moderna, require two doses that are administered several weeks apart. Your agency will notify you when the state guidelines are updated to include your category of work. Learn more here: http://on.ny.gov/2JUN7IH. Dr. Anthony Fauci recommends that persons infected with COVID-19 should wait 90 days post infection before being vaccinated to prevent interference between natural antibodies and the vaccine. A safe and effective vaccine will help us get back to work, reopen the economy and return to a more normal cadence [...]— Jan 11
By MIKE LEE The change is now complete—and refreshing. In two hotly contested runoff elections in Georgia, Democratic Party candidates, the Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won their respective races for the United States Senate. Both elections were won by razor-thin margins, but with these stunning victories, the Democrats have wrested control of the U.S. Senate from the hands of Republican Kentucky Senator and soon former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. This completes a long struggle by a coalition of progressive forces to take the country to a new and labor-oriented direction, first by winning the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, key state wins, such as Virginia in 2019 and the sweeping victory by President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris last Nov. 3. The Biden-Harris ticket won decisively with more than 80 million votes, the most a Presidential campaign in American history. By winning the state of Georgia in that election, it set the stage for the final act, as both GOP candidates failed to reach a majority. Just as in the run up to the November election, union members and activists, led by Political Action Director Jeremy John, joined other affiliates of the American Federation of [...]— Jan 6
