Listen: Mamdani Says ICE is ‘Rotten to the Core’ Following Shooting in the Bronx
By Bob Hennelly
It was just after 4 p.m. on Oct. 8, in the Marble Hill section of The Bronx with school just getting out and the streetscape was filled with kids and parents. It was in that setting that 28-year-old Oscar Belgal, in his Honda CR4, was confronted by masked ICE agents including one with a long gun.
Listen: Home Care Workers, Tenants, and Retirees Continue to Bring the Heat Despite Mamdani’s Cold Shoulder
By Joe Maniscalco
This week’s Labor and Healthcare Confidential show featured advocates from both the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Tenants Against Demolition coalition—and the Ain’t I a Woman Campaign fighting to end the 24-hour workday in New York City’s home care industry.
Over the course of the lively hour-long interview with host Marianne Pizzitola we learned once again that the battle to save public housing from privatization and the “No More 24” fight to end round-the-clock shifts for home care workers—as well as the ongoing struggle to protect New York City municipal retiree healthcare from diminishment—are not disparate issues.
Listen: War Abroad; Workers and EMS in Crisis at Home
By Bob Hennelly
The Guardian is reporting that in the US-Israel's war of choice on Iran, the US has dispatched a third aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East, as President Trump once again threatens that country with annihilation just weeks ahead of the US midterm elections.
Listen: DashDash Says it ‘Screwed Up’ After Ripping Off Workers; Agrees to $131M Settlement
By Bob Hennelly
This week, the Mamdani administration announced a landmark $131 million settlement with DoorDash that systematically underpaid 260,000 delivery workers out of their wages.
Listen: UN General Assembly Convenes Amidst A World Increasingly At War
By Bob Hennelly
As the world's nations come together in New York City for the UN General Assembly, the Guardian is reporting that European intelligence spy agencies are warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning more decisive action against NATO. The newspaper reported that French president Emmanuel Macron summoned all of the contenders in that nation's 2027 presidential elections for an emergency meeting on what Macron believes is the growing threat from Russia which looms as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues to intensify.
Listen: Today’s Global Crisis, Delaney Hall, and 9/11 Files
By Bob Hennelly
The Guardian is reporting this week that oil prices are spiking to over $107 a barrel as Iran aligned rebel Houthis in Yemen targeted Saudi Arabia's east west crude pipeline. As President Trump's war of choice in Iran has continued, the entire Mideast has been destabilized with oil at one point hitting $126 dollars a barrel.
Listen: The Absurdity of Pay Parity Foe Bob Linn Advising Mayor Mamdani
By Joe Maniscalco
Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office on Jan. 1 declaring a “new era” in New York City. But for FDNY EMS first-responders in crisis it seems a lot like the same old song and dance.
Listen: Medicare, Medicaid Meltdown at NYC Hospitals; Retirees Lead Fight Against Privatization
By Bob Hennelly
Mount Sinai Health System is facing backlash this week after it stopped accepting some new patients enrolled in Medicaid, Medicare and other publicly subsidized insurance plans—a move the New York State Nurses Association says could further strain safety-net hospitals and deny care to some of New York’s most vulnerable patients.
Listen: Nukes in Harm’s Way? Plus ICE Kills and Tortures
By Bob Hennelly
In this episode of We Decide: America at the Crossroads we go to Ukraine to consider what's at risk for the world in a war zone where Russia has seized a Ukrainian nuclear power complex in a region with so many vulnerable atomic power plants.
Is the world just watching and waiting? Will we say if there's a Chernobyl-scale disaster that nobody saw it coming?
Listen: NYC’s Largest Public Sector Union Has a Crisis of Democracy
By Joe Maniscalco
District Council 37 is the largest public sector union in the City of New York with more than 150,000 members in 62 locals covering over 1,000 job titles.
And in this town today, legislation often lives or dies on the word of the union’s Executive Director, Henry Garrido.
But ask the average rank and file DC37 member if they feel like they have a voice in what their union and its leader does with all that power—and they’ll say no, according to outspoken union delegate Cristina Rodriguez-Hart.
Listen: TPS Terminations in New York City/WTC Files/Plus More!
By Bob Hennelly
This week’s action-packed broadcasts includes a visit with 1199 SEIU Executive VP Andy Cassagnol who talks about this week’s rally in support of the tens of thousands of essential healthcare workers who are here in the United States on Temporary Protective Status. Last month, the US Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration and its plans to force over 300,000 Haitian and Syrian TPS holders out of the country.
New York City Mayor Zoharan Mamdani has since announced the termination of potentially thousands of city workers who had previously held Temporary Protective Status.
Listen: No More 24 Fight Brought to the Steps of City Hall/Plus ICE, Legionnaires Outbreak, and More
By Bob Hennelly
This week, scores of activists turned out on the steps of City Hall to support No More 24 hunger strikers pressing for a municipal ban on the practice of paying live-in caregivers just 13 hours pay.
Listen: New Yorker Killed in Jordan as War on Iran Edges Towards the ‘Unimaginable’
By Bob Hennelly
The ongoing war in Iran and Lebanon that has killed thousands of civilians, struck closer to home this week with the combat death of 28 year-old Sgt. Angel Sarah Rampersad from Ozone Park, Queens who died when her base in Jordan came under an Iranian missile and drone attack.
Listen: ‘Bonus’ Pay Scheme for FDNY EMS?/NY Maternity Ward Closure
By Bob Hennelly
On this episode of WBAI’s What’s Going On? we check in with our FDNY EMS unions about a new bill introduced by New York City Council Member Joann Ariola, who chairs the Council's Fire and Emergency Management Committee, to provide a $20,000 retention and recruitment bonus for FDNY EMTS and $25,000 payment to FDNY EMS paramedics.
Listen: Why the ‘Open Shop’ is a Threat to New Yorkers; 9/11 Lawyers Press the Case for File Transparency, and Much More
By Bob Hennelly
According to New York City officials, the 37-story midtown high-rise at risk of collapsing last week has been stabilized.
The former Pfizer office tower was in the midst of being converted into luxury apartments when workmen discovered steel structural supports on the 21st floor bent in half under the weight of the upper floors.
Listen: Inside the Mamdani Administration’s 9/11 File Dump
By Joe Maniscalco
On this episode of Labor and Healthcare Confidential host Marianne Pizzitola talks with Work-Bites contributor Bob Hennelly about the creation of a special online portal to search soon-to-be-released 9/11 files related to the air toxicity emanating from Ground Zero following the terrorist attack on New York City in 2001.
Listen: FDNY EMS Ambulances Sit Idle During Blistering July 4th Heat
By Bob Hennelly
Recent record-level heat saw temperatures approach 100 degrees with a "feels like" heat and humidity index approaching several degrees above that.
Throughout the heat emergency, scores of FDNY EMS ambulances sat idle, due to lack of staffing according to the FDNY EMS unions which noted call volumes exceeded 6,000 a day with some calls being held for a couple of hours.
Listen: A $2B Lifeline for EMS and NYC Paras??
By Bob Hennelly
At a City Hall steps press conference yesterday, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced that the City Council's economists had calculated the city could anticipate an additional $2 billion in revenue from higher than previously expected tax revenue.
Listen: Labor’s Efforts to Throw NYC Retirees Under the Boss Shocks Legendary Union Organizer
By Joe Maniscalco
Legendary union organizer and author Phil Cohen has seen a lot over his decades-long involvement in the American labor movement. But even Phil was shocked to learn during the latest Labor and Healthcare Confidential episode on WBAI that some of the most powerful labor leaders in New York State continue to try and undermine legislation blocking the diminishment of retiree healthcare.
Listen: U.S Senator Blocked From Inspecting New Jersey ‘Concentration Camp’
By Bob Hennelly
This past weekend, Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) was denied access to detainees at Delaney Hall, he told reporters on Saturday. Kim told reporters that this was the first time that GEO, the private company that runs the site, had obstructed his ability to provide legally-required Congressional oversight.