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.

By Joe Maniscalco

Public housing advocates battling the privatization and demolition of the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea [FEC] houses on Manhattan’s West Side are vowing to fight on despite a devastating blow from the courts this week. 

By Steve Wishnia

“They killed my cousin,” says the Brooklyn man, a Haitian immigrant in his 40s, explaining why he came to the United States four years ago. He asked to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.

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.

Editor’s Note: Harry Weiner is a member of both the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees and Council of Municipal Retiree Organizations.

By Harry Weiner

On July 2, COGE issued a Preliminary Report, and it is disappointing that there has been no outreach to retirees from City service. And it glosses over health benefits, a significant portion of the budget.

By Joe Maniscalco

On July 28, New York City home care workers fighting for passage of the No More 24 bill in the City Council will again stage a hunger strike outside the gates of City Hall to end the 24-hour workday. 

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.

By Steve Wishnia

The Supreme Court ruled June 29 that it was an unconstitutional limitation on the President’s powers for Congress to establish independent agencies whose officials can’t be fired without cause, such as the Federal Trade Commission and the National Labor Relations Board.

By Steven Zheng

Editor’s Note: Steven Zheng is NYU student organizer from Youths Against Sweatshop and the Yecao Collective.

New York’s home care workers are still fighting to pass Intro. 303 because they are still fighting to abolish one of the most brutal labor arrangements the city continues to tolerate: the 24-hour workday.

By Steve Wishnia

In a 6-3 ruling on June 25, the Supreme Court held this week that the Trump administration has the right to revoke Temporary Protected Status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants, exposing more than 300,000 people to possible deportation.

By Joe Maniscalco

The whole world is watching New York City’s fight to end the 24-hour workday and Governor Kathy Hochul is guilty of breaking international labor laws. 

By Eilean Faltin

In Santiago, Chile, International Labor Day is celebrated with two parades. One procession is organized by CUT—the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Chile, which functions as the main negotiating body between workers and the government. This parade is protected by police barricades and runs more or less orderly down La Alameda—the main avenue of the city.

By Joe Maniscalco

Staten Island paramedic Jack Chapman looked out over the thousands of fellow 1199SEIU members gathered in Foley Square on Wednesday and talked about how EMS wages have lagged behind the responsibility workers like him carry ever day.

Editor’s Note: The following is an open letter to Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s newly-created Commission on Government Efficiency about the role Acting MLC Chair and Medicare Advantage proponent Henry Garrido is playing on the commission and why that raises red flags for New York City Retirees.

As reported by the Chief, COGE invited Executive Director Ann Cheng to attend a future Municipal Labor Committee meeting to gather feedback from labor leaders. A June 10 letter from COGE stated that “We believe that true efficiency will be found by learning from the expertise and knowledge of our workforce.”

By Joe Maniscalco

Before his recent passing, IBT Local 808 Secretary-Treasurer Chris Silvera bravely stood alongside public housing tenants in Chelsea fighting to save their homes from privatization and demolition.

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.

By Steve Wishnia

Workers at the New York Immigration Coalition, cohost of the union-led International Workers’ Day May Day March, have asked the organization to recognize their newly formed union, NYIC United.

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.

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.

By Joe Maniscalco

Eighty-one days have elapsed since New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin stood on the sidewalk with home care workers outside City Hall and promised to bring Intro. 303—the No More 24 bill—to the floor for a vote.