ANTHONY PHILLIPS:
OUR MAN ON THE FRONT LINES

ach year at a National Action Network banquet, NAN's Women's Auxiliary honor women with Women of Excellence Awards, and three men are chosen to receive Man of Valor Awards "for outstanding service and exemplary commitment to the cause of justice and peace."

This year the Men of Valor awards went to James Simmons, NAN's remarkable drummer; Stanley Thompson, a big time NAN supporter in many ways; and Anthony Phillips, Chair of NAN's Disabled Committee. As Kathy Jordan Sharpton said, "All three of these brothers went the extra mile and helped tirelessly throughout the year."

When Rev. Al Sharpton presented the award to Anthony Phillips, he said, "Anthony is at every march, every demonstration; he went to jail for Amadou Diallo. He is here on Saturdays at all the Action Rallies. He doesn't just have a title; he works hard as Chairman of the Disabled Committee. He brings people from the disabled community; he's helped to organize them nationally. He's a fine brother!"

Indeed Anthony Phillips is a fine brother, and a man who overcomes not only racism, but cerebral palsy, which forces him to use a walker for mobility, and impairs his speech somewhat.

When Mr. Phillips accepted his award, he said, "I'm not going to say much. There's a song in my heart that's been on my mind for weeks from when I first found out I was going to be given this award. And I'm going to try to do it." Then he went straight into the song "Let the Work that I've Done Speak for Me."

It was one of the most moving performances this reporter has ever heard. Anthony Phillips has a beautiful singing voice, and he sang with a clarity seldom heard; it came straight from his heart and soul. And he touched every heart and mind in the room. The emotional reaction was overwhelming. Tears streamed down people's faces, and at the end, they rushed to their feet and with great feeling gave him a well-deserved standing ovation.

Just days afterwards the work that Anthony Phillips does was in evidence as he began organizing people to join the protest rally held by the United Federation of Teachers in support of the workers at United Cerebral Palsy of NYC who are paid, he explained, so poorly "they have to work 2 or 3 jobs or they can't make it."

The protest took place on April 15th in front of the Marriott Marquis Hotel on Broadway and 45th Street where the UCP was holding a banquet to present an award to former presidential candidate Bob Dole. Said Mr. Phillips, "We don't have anything against Bob Dole or the UCP giving him an award. What we are against is their spending money on a fancy banquet like this in an expensive hotel when they pay their workers so little. And if they treat their workers like this, you can imagine how they treat us, the consumers!"

His words were born out in the flyer for the rally which stated: "Since the current Executive Director Mr. Edward R. Matthews took charge, management's focus has been to cut costs and save money, with complete disregard for the impact upon consumers and staff. The result has been: Poor maintenance of program sites and residential facilities; outdated equipment and lack of supplies; staff shortages due to inadequate salaries and wage freezes.

"UCP received $60 million dollars in public and private support during the year 2000, according to their most recent annual report. However, conditions such as those described above force staff to take on extra responsibilities and deprive handicapped children, adults, and their families of essential services for months at a time."

The flyer goes on to explain, "To this date, we remain without a contract because management refuses to bargain in good faith. Although employees overwhelmingly have voted for representation in three separate union elections, UCP is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on legal fees to delay negotiations and appeal election results.

"While Ed Matthews continues to cry poverty, he and UCP's other top executives gave themselves compensation packages totaling nearly one million dollars annually for each of the last three years. At the same time, they insist that there is no money to improve conditions at their facilities."

Anthony Phillips is very grateful for the genuine care and real compassion that so many UCP employees put into their work, and when he spoke at the rally he said to them, "The reason I'm here is because when I needed you, you were there. Now that you need me, I'm here. Together we will stand. Divided we will fall."

Later, in an interview with Mr. Phillips and Woody Henderson, Head of the New York City Chapter of NAN, Mr. Henderson explained that the top 3 executives get from $141,000 to $250,000 a year, while the people who are doing the actual work get $15,000 to $20,000.

Stated Mr. Phillips, "I don't think it's fair that the upper management get so much more money than the people who really do the work. Why should they get all that when all they do is come around and say, 'Hi'? That's all. They don't work with us."

He said too, "We need good workers to take care of the consumers. But when you don't pay your workers, they leave. Then you can't get anybody else good because there are a lot of people who don't really want to work with the disabled."

And he told of a workshop that he'd just gotten into that teaches things which enable people to become more independent financially. "But now they're cutting it because they say, 'No more money.' But when you look around, they have new cars and everything."

Added Mr. Henderson, "They're not buying new vans to pick the consumers up with; they're not even fixing the ones they have. But they're buying themselves things. They're living too high on the hog for a non-profit organization. To be making $250,000 in a non-profit--why, that's a high salary even for the private sector! And then to hardly pay the people who work with the consumers is awful."

Stated Anthony Phillips emphatically: "They need more money. Some of them really give their all to the consumer and they get nothing. It's not fair!"

You, too, can join Anthony Phillips in fighting for justice. Contact Martin Hausman, President of the Board of Directors, UCP /NYC at 80 Maiden Lane, NYC 10038 (212) 683-6700 and tell him to settle the contract and stop taking advantage of UCP staff and consumers--the people he claims are his number one priority.