Dromm Rallies for Labor and Immigrants Rights and Jobs for All

Dromm Rallies Against Fire House Closings

Dromm Protests Amish Market's Anti-Worker Practices

City Council Member Daniel Dromm joined union and community members will pledge not to patronize Amish Market Tribeca until the owners demonstrate a reversal of their stand against workers rights. Dromm was joined by the leadership of UFCW Local 1500, the Building and Construction Trades Council of New York, the New York Central Labor Council, and New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Dromm Protests Queens Mall For Poverty Wages And Absence of Community Benefit

From Village Voice: by Candice M. Giove
As shoppers scurried to snatch up last minute gifts inside the Queens Center Mall, local elected officials and community organizations painted the shopping destination's landlord, Macerich, as the latest Grinch in the ongoing fight for living wages -- just days after the city council rejected a Kingsbridge Armory plan that had no living wage requirement.

Most of the 3,100 retail workers in the sprawling urban mall earn $7.25 an hour.

Standing on a snowy corner of Queens Boulevard, Santa symbolically held gift-wrapped boxes marked "living wages." A menacing green Dr. Seuss character represented the mall owner. Activists from Make the Road New York, a citywide organization focusing on economic justice, demanded that the landlord place a living wage clause in its leases -- which would require stores to pay $10/hour with benefits, or $11.50 without.

The mall, which lures over 26 million consumers a year and is considered one of the most profitable malls in the country, has already completed a $275 million makeover, adding thousands of square feet of shopping space and parking to the already busy site.

Like many major commercial property owners in New York, Macerich saved $48 million in taxes through the Industrial and Commercial Abatement Program between 2004 and 2009. Make the Road New York predicted that by 2018 those abatements will total $129 million.

Even after years on the job, most mall employees barely climb the earnings ladder, the report said. Their examples include Juan Cucalon, a 28-year-old, $8.25-an-hour cashier at Victoria's Secret who struggles to pay a $400 rent with monthly earnings of $600, and Saa'datu Sani, whose earnings rose to $8.47 an hour at J.C. Penney after eight years.

The group and the officials plan to continue their campaign against Macerich with street demonstrations and letters. "Just like the story of Scrooge, where the ghost visited him on many occasions," said Councilman-elect Daniel Dromm, "we're going to come back, and we're going to visit this mall on many occasions until we get what the community needs."

Dromm, whose predecessor, outgoing City Councilwoman Helen Sears, was the lone supportive vote for the Kingsbridge Armory plan, said that he would pay special attention to ensuring that developers kept their promises.

Activists were also angry over what they portrayed as unrealized guarantees for a community space at the mall. "They're unwilling at this point to open that space up to desperately needed community programs like English as a second language or an afterschool program," Friedman said.

Their report claims that local teens become mall rats, vacuously hanging out in the food court, while a tourism office stands as the only community-oriented space in the mall.

CWA 1182 Endorses Daniel Dromm

CWA Local 1182 had endorsed Daniel Dromm for New York City Council, 25th Distrcit. CWA 1182 represents over 2,500 Uniform Traffic & Sanitation Enforcement Agents who are employed by the City of New York.

Assoc. of Legal Aid Attorneys Endorses Daniel Dromm

Association of Legal Aid Attorneys has endorsed Daniel Dromm for New York City Council, 25th District. Founded in 1969, the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys/UAW 2325 is the oldest and largest major union of lawyers in United States, and is made up of 650 Legal Aid Society staff attorneys who each year represent some 300,000 indigent New Yorkers in criminal, civil and juvenile cases.

United Auto Workers Endorses Daniel Dromm

The United Auto Workers have endorsed Daniel Dromm for New York City Council, District 25. UAW organizes thousands of workers in New York City. A unique strength of the UAW is the solidarity between its active and retired members. A solid majority of the union's retirees stay actively involved in the life of their union, and playing a vital role in the UAW's community action program. Since its founding in 1935, the UAW has consistently developed innovative partnerships with employers and negotiated industry-leading wages and benefits for its members.

City's Largest Healthcare Union Endorses Daniel Dromm

Support of 1199 SEIU boosts Democrat's primary challenge to Helen Sears

QUEENS - In a major development in the race for the 25th City Council District, 1199 SEIU announced today that it is backing Democratic challenger Daniel Dromm over incumbent Councilwoman Helen Sears. The influential healthcare workers' union endorsed Dromm for his commitment to improving quality healthcare in the district, a contrast with the current Councilmember's disappointing record.

"Daniel Dromm is a true community leader who understands what's at stake when it comes to the current healthcare crisis in Queens," said Kevin Finnegan, 1199 Political Director. "Since last Fall, 3 Queens hospitals have closed their doors. We need a City Councilmember who's going to fight to keep local hospitals open and expand healthcare services that will improve access to medical care and create jobs. Danny's decades of advocacy prove that he knows how to do that."

With roughly 250,000 members in New York City, 1199 SEIU's endorsement can be heavily influential in contested races like the one between Dromm and Sears. The union can mobilize thousands of members to help elect its endorsed candidates.

"It's a huge honor to receive 1199's support," Dromm said in response to the endorsement announcement. "The nurses and healthcare workers who are members of this union go to heroic lengths every day to make sure we have high quality care, and it's time our community had a City Council member who is on their side. I know how much needs to be done to improve healthcare in our area, and I look forward to working with 1199 SEIU to make that happen."

The state of healthcare in the 25th Council District was dealt a major blow recently with the recent closing of St. John's Hospital, and wait times at Elmhurst Hospital are increasing dangerously. Daniel Dromm is calling for the opening of community clinics to reduce overcrowding and expand care, and has pledged to fight to reopen St. John's as a public or private facility.

Councilwoman Sears, meanwhile, took little action to prevent the St. John's shutdown. More egregiously, she sided with real estate industry lobbyists over the community's health by voting "no" on the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act (Intro 101A, 2004).

NY Hotel & Motel Trades Council Endorse Dromm

NY Hotel & Motel Trades Council Local 6 has endorsed Daniel Dromm for the New York City Council, 25th District.

The union has 12,000 members in Queens and it plans a comprehensive program to communicate with them to support Dromm. It also plans to recruit volunteers for the campaign using an intensive canvassing effort.

According to the NY Daily News: "HTC has played a big role in Queens elections of late, getting actively involved in the elections of Julissa Ferreras and Elizabeth Crowley to City Council, as well as the election of Joseph Addabbo to state Senate."

Crains: Strong Union Support Will Help Dromm

From Crains:
A number of insurgent City Council candidates are receiving institutional support, putting incumbents at risk of defeat in September’s Democratic primary. Politically active unions 32BJ SEIU, which represents building service workers, and the Hotel and Motel Trades Council have targeted several races, as has the Working Families Party, in what promises to be a test of unions’ political might in the city.

The two unions and WFP are expected to recruit volunteers and organize massive voter outreach efforts, which have a far greater effect than endorsements by officials and organizations that merely issue a press release and move on.

More hotel union endorsements are imminent. Labor often follows the lead of the union-backed WFP, which has endorsed teacher Danny Dromm over Queens Councilwoman Helen Sears.

Dromm Organizes Teachers for Fair Share Tax Reform Rally at City Hall

Daniel Dromm, City Council candidate and UFT chapter leader, organized a large group of teachers to attend the Fair Share Tax Reform Rally at City Hall on Thursday, March 5th.

From WNYC.ORG:

Dromm Attends SEIU Local 32BJ Candidate Reception

Daniel Dromm joined 32BJ Union President Mike Fishman and the leadership of SEIU Local 32BJ for a candidate reception to kick-off the union's 2009 political and policy agenda for New York City. The event gave candidates running for Mayor, Comptroller, Public Advocate, Borough President, and Council the opportunity to hear about 32BJ's policy priorities for the next four years and beyond.

32BJ represents tens of thousands of building service workers in New York City; our commitment to improving the lives of all of New York's working families is the foundation of the union's 2009 platform. 32BJ looks forward to engaging candidates on the issues that impact low-wage workers - good jobs that pay family-sustaining wages, healthcare, affordable housing, and responsible government. This reception was the first in a series of events to discuss the issues with candidates and engage leaders in a discussion on how to best address the issues that matter to New York's working poor.