WHEREAS for the first time since New York City’s fiscal crisis of the 1970s, every public-employee union that is part of the Municipal Labor Committee – all 100 bargaining units – is working without a contract; and

WHEREAS among these is the UFT, which has been without a contract since October 2009, and some other public-sector unions that have been without a contract since 2007; and

WHEREAS the Municipal Labor Committee’s member unions represent more than 350,000 hardworking men and women who keep New York City running – they educate our children, care for our sick, maintain our parks, clean our streets and police our neighborhoods; and

WHEREAS the failure of the Bloomberg administration to negotiate new labor contracts has forced municipal workers to try to scrape by without raises at a time of rising food and housing costs in one of the most expensive cities of the world; and

WHEREAS Mayor Bloomberg’s refusal to settle labor contracts, leaving the job for the next mayor, has been fiscally irresponsible and demonstrates an indifference to the needs of working people that has helped create the conditions for growing income inequality in the city; and

WHEREAS the mayoral election this November presents the opportunity to elect a leader who will fight for working New Yorkers and the poor and who will negotiate fair contracts with municipal unions, and

WHEREAS it is important for labor to demonstrate strength and unity in the face of attacks on unions by the Bloomberg administration; and

WHEREAS the New York City Municipal Labor Committee, of which the UFT is a member, has called for a Fair Contracts for All rally on June 12 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at City Hall Park; therefore, be it

RESOLVED that the UFT will fully support this rally and actively encourage members to turn out for the event.