By Steve Wishnia

Since 2011, the annual Clara Lemlich awards have celebrated the lives of “women whose many decades of sustained activism have made real and lasting change in the world.”

“The idea of the evening is to give us all hope. We have to act. We can never give up,” Esther Cohen of LaborArts, a cofounder of the event, told Work-Bites.

By Bob Hennelly

On this week’s edition of Pacifica Radio’s We Decide: America at the Crossroads with Jenna Flanagan we’re talking about how the Trump/Musk junta is doubling down on dismantling democracy, unions and due process.

Sara Nelson, head of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA argues workers should up the ante with a general strike. Indeed, the regime’s full-court press to eliminate collective bargaining for federal workers bodes poorly for all workers Nelson insists.

By Joe Maniscalco

New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams doesn’t think voters should believe Andrew Cuomo when he says he won’t try and push municipal retirees into a Medicare Advantage health insurance plan if he’s elected mayor this fall.

By Steve Wishnia

Thousands of people crammed Foley Square May Day for a May 1 rally and march to protest basically everything the Trump-Musk regime is doing. “100 Days of Cruelty is Enough” read one sign.

By Steve Wishnia

The amplified first half of a chant calling out City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams could be heard a block west of City Hall May 1, as several hundred people filled the sidewalk for a “Fight for Our Health and Lives” rally.

By Bob Hennelly

On the latest episode of WBAI’s "What’s Going On?” we preview multiple May Day events scheduled for our region to protest the first 100 days on the Trump/ Musk junta attack on democracy, union rights, our immigrant families, Medicaid, Social Security and public education. 

By Joe Maniscalco

UFT President Micheal Mulgrew’s appearance on the latest episode of WBAI’s “What’s Going On?” show might be the closest he’s come to conceding he screwed up when deciding to back the plan to push 250,000 New York City municipal retirees and their families into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage health insurance plan.

By Bob Hennelly

On Monday afternoon, Rev. Dr. William Barber and two others  were arrested inside the U.S. Capitol for praying on behalf of the tens of millions of Americans set to lose their healthcare if Congress passes the pending GOP budget which cuts $800 billion from Medicaid to fund tax cuts for the nation's wealthiest households and corporations. They were held for three hours.

By Joe Maniscalco

Last year, State Senator Pete Harckham stood alongside municipal retirees and surviving 9/11 spouses in Albany, urging passage of a statewide bill protecting them from ongoing efforts to strip their traditional Medicare coverage and force them into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage plan.

War Stories By Phil Cohen

Part III – The Fine Art of Hustling

Every afternoon as I took my seat in the taxi, regardless of exhaustion levels or mood, my awareness shifted into overdrive. I felt like a fighter pilot about to go out on a mission. From the moment I hit the streets I was in a state of pure reaction time. If a cockroach tweaked its antenna in a garbage can a thousand yards away, I’d sense it. The street has zero tolerance for people who let their guard down. One has to constantly remain prepared for the unexpected and the only thing that can be trusted is instinct.

By Steve Wishnia

New York State has been rebating billions of dollars in stock-sales taxes to Wall Street for more than 40 years—and legislators and activists are making another try to change that.

War Stories By Phil Cohen

Part II – Driving Upside Down

I was always on high alert when walking to the subway several hours past midnight. The majority of muggers initiate contact with victims by asking a polite question requiring an answer, leading to a discussion and building trust while casually approaching. A typical scenario goes like this:

By Bob Hennelly

The Trump/Musk junta is doubling down on its assaults on Main Street and MLK Boulevard with plans to ZERO out Head Start, an educational lifeline for 800,000. Since President Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty, a succession of Republican and Democratic Party administrations have supported the program that helped 30 million children at the most pivotal time in their educational development.

By Joe Maniscalco

We saw a lot homemade signs at this past weekend’s mass anti-Trump rally in New York City all reflecting the working class anger and disgust many have about the current administration’s existential threat to the United States.

By Bob Hennelly

Pope Francis has died at 88 years old. Francis, a tireless champion of social justice, was the first pontiff from the Americas and the first Jesuit to be elevated to the Papacy. In the final months of his life he blasted the Trump/Musk junta plan for mass deportations. 

War Stories By Phil Cohen

Editor’s Note: This is Part I of Phil’s three-part saga returning to his wild days driving a cab on the streets of NYC in the early 1970s.

The truth is that life is hard and dangerous…. joy is only for him who does not fear to be alone; life is only for the one who is not afraid to die - Joyce Cary

During the fall of 1973, I was paying the rent by writing stories for second-string magazines and handing out flyers for an abortion clinic on 42nd Street.

By Joe Maniscalco

New York City municipal retirees looking for a trusted ally in City Hall after current Mayor Eric Adams became hellbent on the Medicare Advantage push exited this past week’s mayoral forum at the CUNY Graduate Center generally feeling enthusiastic about the mixed field of candidates vying for their votes.

By Bob Hennelly

On Thursday, April 18, the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees held their much-anticipated Mayoral debate at the CUNY Graduate Center in Manhattan. 

By Steve Wishnia

Joined by El Salvador’s self-styled dictator Nayib Bukele, the Trump regime on Apr. 14 escalated its defiance of multiple court orders to “facilitate” the return of Salvadoran immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The 29-year-old Maryland construction worker has been in CECOT—El Salvador’s black-hole Terrorism Confinement Center prison for a month—along with 260 other immigrants who were seized and flown there March 15.

By Bob Hennelly

On this episode of “We Decide: America at the Crossroads with Jenna Flanagan we’re looking at the Trump/ Musk Junta Reign of Error; the latest on Mahmoud Khalil’s fight for freedom; the Non-Violent Medicaid army on the March; and more radio dispatches from April 5.