By Steve Wishnia

With less than seven hours to go before the strike deadline of 6 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 9, more than 7,000 nurses at two of New York City’s largest private hospitals are still without a contract deal. But the New York State Nurses Association reached a last-minute tentative agreement Sunday night with two other hospitals, Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West in Manhattan, and Gov. Kathy Hochul called for binding arbitration.

By Steve Wishnia

Three New York City private hospitals have reached tentative contract deals with nurses, but more than 10,000 nurses at five others are still scheduled to strike on Jan. 9.

By Joe Maniscalco

After nearly 40 years working for the City of New York retired municipal employee Roberta Gonzalez expected to be traveling the world right about now.

“I always wanted to go to Israel,” the 70-year-old Sheepshead Bay resident told Work-Bites this week.

By Bob Hennelly

No members of the City Council spoke in favor of a controversial bill introduced Jan. 4 that would alter the city’s Administrative Code that covers the provision of health insurance for its employees that’s being advanced by the Adams administration and the Municipal Labor Committee.

By Joe Maniscalco

New York City Retirees opposing ongoing efforts to push them into a disastrous privatized health insurance plan aren’t buying Speaker Adrienne Adams’ sudden rationale for attempting to scrap the law that’s protected municipal healthcare for decades.

By Bob Hennelly 

On the eve of the introduction of controversial legislation to alter the city’s Administrative Code that covers the provision of health insurance for active and retired civil servants, the City Council’s Democratic leadership issued a statement asserting that no matter how they act on the legislation, Mayor Adams and the Municipal Labor Committee will be “moving forward to implement Medicare Advantage.”

BY ROBERT OVETZ

Reprinted by permission

Although my union proudly calls itself a “member led union,” it is extremely undemocratic in several ways.

We do not have “one member, one vote” for the leadership. This means a new caucus needs to win control of at least a majority of the 23 chapters to control the board of directors and the top officer positions.

By Timothy Sheard

Young union leaders bringing the fight to the bosses at Starbucks, Amazon, Chipotle, REI and other bastions of corporate power across the country are inspiring millions and breathing new fire into the labor movement.

By Steve Wishnia

The Supreme Court is about to consider whether employers can sue unions for perishable goods lost during a strike by claiming they’re intentional property damage.

By Bob Hennelly

New York City Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, chair of the Council’s Civil Service and Labor Committee, will introduce a bill to change the city’s Administrative Code that’s been sought by Mayor Adams and the Municipal Labor Committee [MLC] to clear the way for its 250,000 retirees to be enrolled in a for-profit, privatized Medicare Advantage plan.

By Bob Hennelly

New York City’s 911 EMS daily call volume has reached 4,500 on multiple days this month, and FDNY EMS unions warn current staffing is so inadequate three years into the Covid pandemic it puts their members at greater risk while degrading the essential service they provide the public.

By Joe Maniscalco

There are a lot of things about the campaign to push New York City municipal retirees into a scandal-plagued, for-profit Medicare Advantage insurance plan that stinks to workers who’ve risked everything — from 9/11 to Covid-19 — to help keep their city running.

By Bob Hennelly

Labor opposition to New York State Governor Kathy Hochul's selection of Judge Hector LaSalle to become New York State’s top jurist continued to intensify over the Christmas holiday. With no signs of either side backing down, the controversy was poised to devolve into a bruising battle exposing the Democratic State Senate caucus along its ideological fault lines once it reconvenes early next month.

By Bob Hennelly

The Stuck Nation Radio Labor Hour for the week of 12/26

Part I: What’s the lost opportunity cost of a $1.7 Trillion Omnibus federal spending bill that spends $858 billion on the military? Shailly Gupta Barnes, policy director of the Kairos Center and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, director of the Kairos Center, as well as co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, reflect on the moral failure of the Congress in not renewing the expanded child tax credit but giving the Pentagon billions more than the President Biden asked for.  

By Joe Maniscalco

“Medicare Advantage is a complete and total sellout,” 78-year-old retired Highway Transportation Specialist Fred Newton told Work-Bites earlier this week.

By Bob Hennelly with Joe Maniscalco

While other major cities in America including Boston are moving to confront an alarming shortage of municipal workers, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander this week warns the Stuck Nation Radio Labor Hour “rather than taking an aggressive approach to fill vacancies — we’ve really done the opposite as part of an effort to balance gaps in the city budgets. We’re just leaving positions vacant regardless of whether they are really critical or not.”

Dr. Donald E. Moore is an attending physician at NY Methodist Hospital, as well as a teacher at Weill Cornell Medical College, NYU and Hunter College. He is also a board member of the New York Metro chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program.

By Joe Maniscalco

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the heads of the Municipal Labor Committee [MLC] can expect to catch a lot more hell from municipal retirees refusing to be pushed into a for-profit, privatized, Medicare Advantage plan.

By Bob Hennelly with Joe Maniscalco

We’ve already reported extensively on the curious case of Postmaster Louis Dejoy and why he’s still has the job after, you know, trying to systematically dismantle the entire United States Postal Service. You can check out some of that earlier reporting here.

On the latest episode of the Stuck Nation Radio Labor Hour, NY Metro Postal Union President Jonathan Smith [APWU] discusses what he says is a growing disconnect between national union leaders and local unions regarding Louie DeJoy.

By Bob Hennelly

The last-minute decision by Congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, to take the $3.7 billion in funding for the 9/11 WTC Health Program out of the $1.7 trillion Omnibus spending bill is being blasted as a betrayal by 9/11 WTC civilian survivors and the unions that represent essential workers that continue to lose members to WTC diseases.