Paging New York City’s Social Media Mayor…You Have Lots of Constituents On Hold!
By Joe Maniscalco
A recent Work-Bites Instagram post teasing a story about the EMS crisis facing New York City has garnered 12,949 views at the time of this writing—not an insignificant amount.
But because the Mayor’s Office has refused to acknowledge repeated requests for comment, that’s 12,949 times readers interested in learning Mayor Mamdani’s views, thoughts, and feelings about what happened at St. Francis Preparatory High School in Queens on the morning of Sept 28—were denied that right.
No More 24 Advocates Tell NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin: ‘Buckle Up, Girl’—This Fight is Not Over!
By Joe Maniscalco
Two women. Two City Council Speakers. Two machine party politicians proving once again that in the City of New York, big money and special interests count for a whole lot more than the needs of working people—and even more so if those working people happen to be older immigrant women of color.
New Yorkers in Danger of Falling into EMS Dispatcher ‘Abyss’, Council Member Warns
By Joe Maniscalco
On Sept. 28, a 14-year-old student at St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens with a known heart condition waited so long for an FDNY EMS ambulance to arrive after suffering a medical emergency that his mother reportedly had to bundle him into a car and rush him to the hospital herself.
‘Incomprehensible!’ Noted Scholar And Worker Advocate Denounces Union Opposition to Ending the 24-Hour Workday
By Joe Maniscalco
After numerous street actions, including two separate hunger strikes and sit-ins, New York City home care workers fighting to end round-the-clock shifts and institutionalized wage theft in the industry will return to City Hall on Oct. 8 to continue the struggle.
Trump Doesn’t Get to Decide Where the People Get Their News—And Neither Does Zohran
By Joe Maniscalco
Donald Trump received an uncharacteristic bit of pushback after banning CNN, MS Now, and Politico from the White House, and he deserves to get a helluva lot more. He still defended his naked authoritarianism standing outside Gracie Mansion this week alongside New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, rambling on about how he has an “obligation” to keep fake news out of the White House.
Watch: 1199 Hospital Workers Call on Trump to Reinstate TPS
Unionized healthcare workers took to the streets of New York City on Sept. 24 to call on the Trump administration to reinstate Temporary Protective Status [TPS] for Haitian immigrants in danger of being deported without it.
Public Housing Tenants Fighting Demolition Shut Down NYCHA Meeting—Jeer ‘Sellout’ Mayor Mamdani
By Joe Maniscalco
Public housing tenants staring down the wrecking ball in Chelsea and their allies effectively shut down another NYCHA Board Meeting on Wednesday morning in opposition to ongoing city plans to demolish the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea [FEC] Houses on Manhattan’s West Side.
‘They Won’t Be Able to Stop Us’: What One Man Learned After Occupying Zuccotti Park 15 Years Ago
By Joe Maniscalco
This week marked the 15th anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. But just a small band of activists, many of whom were at the Zuccotti Park encampment in Lower Manhattan that sparked the whole movement back in 2011, were on hand Sept. 17 to actually mark the occasion.
Jerry Ashton, “unintended activist” and proud son of a union trucker out of the state of Oregon, was one of them.
‘Time to Seal the Deal,’ Struggling NYC Council Staffers Tell OLR
By Steve Wishnia
Ninety-six staffers in the City Council’s central office who joined the Association of Legislative Employees late last year are in negotiations demanding that they be added to the union’s contract covering about 500 other Council staff.
Workers Charge Widespread Racism and Rampant Wage Theft Throughout NYC’s Home Care Industry
By Joe Maniscalco
Sixty-two-year-old Queens resident Marlene Urquhart spent seven years working round-the-clock shifts for a home care agency located on Ralph Avenue in Brooklyn called 1st Help HomeCare.
The mother of four quit in March 2025 alleging 1st Help Home Care and its owner Rita Cohen owed her more than $260,000 in unpaid wages following the death of Urquhart’s primary patient that same year.
District Council 37 Members Reject Weak Contracts and Stagnant Leadership
By Joe Maniscalco
What’s wrong with this picture?
Members of the largest and arguably most powerful public sector union in the City of New York can no longer afford to live in the city they serve—but the strongest opposition they face getting a contract they can live with this fall isn’t coming from the Office of Labor Relations [OLR].
It’s coming from their own union leadership.
25 Years After 9/11, NYC is Still Grappling With the Devastating Toll on Public Health
By Steve Wishnia
Twenty-five years have passesd since the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, but the maladies caused by the resulting poisonous dust continue to linger, and the survivors are aging.
Zohran Mamdani Would Have a Lot of Explaining to Do to Mother Jones
By Joe Maniscalco
One-hundred-and-twenty-three summers have past since iconic workers’ rights activist Mary Harris “Mother” Jones led the March of the Mill Children from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to New York City and Long Island.
Covenant House Facing Contempt Charges for Refusing to Bargain
By Steve Wishnia
The National Labor Relations Board is planning to ask federal courts to hold Covenant House in contempt for refusing to bargain in good faith with 1199SEIU after a judge issued an injunction ordering it to do so in September 2025.
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.
Will Mayor Mamdani Rescue New York City EMTs and Paramedics?
By Joe Maniscalco
New York City is in contract negotiations with FDNY EMS unions, and if that sounds boring or hum-drum it’s only because City Hall wants it to appear that way. In reality, the talks represent a golden opportunity for the Mamdani administration to distinguish itself from preceding ones and do what previous mayors have spectacularly failed to do in the past—rescue FDNY EMS before it’s too late.
More Transparency is a Good Thing for NYC Retirees
By Harry Weiner
Reviewing the original bylaws of the New York City Organization of Public Services Retirees (sent to me upon request) reinforces my belief that all members should be informed that they have the same right. For the sake of transparency.
Reporter’s Notebook: As Protections End, Layoffs of Haitians Begin
By Steve Wishnia
One week after Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that New York City was being “forced by federal law” to lay off Haitian-immigrant employees whose temporary protected status (TPS) was terminated July 27 when a June Supreme Court decision formally went into effect, it is difficult to find information about how that is playing out.
NYC Retirees Battle Back with New Bill to Protect Healthcare
By Joe Maniscalco
New York City Council Member Chris Marte [D-1st District] re-introduced legislation on Thursday aimed at blocking ongoing efforts to chip away at the healthcare coverage municipal retirees earned after decades on the job—and this time, he said, the bill will pass.
Planned Parenthood Calls Workers’ Cost of Living Demands ‘Selfish’
By Joe Maniscalco
Unionized workers hit the streets outside Planned Parenthood locations in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Long Island on Tuesday in search of living wage their employers are calling “selfish.”