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Union leaders and tenants urge more safety investments and relief for public-housing utility bills
Summary
AFSCME Local 44 and tenant advocates called on the city to fund safety equipment, training and facility improvements after two sanitation worker deaths and recounted public-housing tenants facing large utility bills and eviction threats.
Union leaders and tenant advocates used Taxpayer Night to press the Board of Estimates for investments in worker safety and to seek relief and transparency for public-housing residents facing large utility charges.
Dorothy Bridal, president of AFSCME Local 44, which represents thousands of frontline city workers, said the union lost two sanitation workers to on-the-job tragedies in 2024 and called for increased safety measures, including personal protective equipment, better-functioning vehicles, safer facilities and expanded training. Bridal said Local 44 is seeking an expanded safety-and-health committee and more frequent workplace access in contract negotiations.
Reverend Annie Chambers, president of We Stand Up for All and the National Housing Coalition, said public-housing tenants — many elderly or single mothers on fixed incomes — are receiving large utility bills and being threatened with eviction. Chambers described cases including a tenant with a $1,300 utility bill and others with $500 notices, and she told the board that she saw no budget line items that would help poor and working people with these costs.
Marvin “Doc” Cheatham, president of Matthew Henson Community Development Corporation, called for follow-through on a promised skateboard park and raised broader equity concerns, saying some predominantly Black neighborhoods have seen less investment in jobs and infrastructure compared with other parts of the city.
Speakers urged the administration and City Council to ensure budgeted resources improve worker safety, fund repairs and upgrades to facilities, and provide relief or clear rules addressing high utility charges levied on public-housing residents.
