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.”
After a $53M Victory, the Fight to Protect NYC Retirees is Just Beginning…
By Joe Maniscalco
New York City Council Member Chris Marte will reintroduce legislation next week, that if passed, will make it impossible for anyone to try and claw back the health benefits retired municipal workers were promised when they went to work for the City.
NYC Home Care Workers Bring ‘Street Heat’ to No More 24 Fight; Mamdani, Menin Give ‘Aunties’ the Cold Shoulder Anyway
By Joe Maniscalco
Home care workers in New York City have generated a ton street heat this summer—but none of it has so far succeeded in moving New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin to fulfill the pledge she made months ago to allow a democratic vote on Intro. 303—the No More 24 bill.
NYC Retirees Reach $53M Co-Pay Settlement with the City of New York
By Joe Maniscalco
New York City municipal retirees are getting back the co-pays they were charged in 2022 to see their doctors.
According the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees [NYCOPSR], the City and Emblem health have agreed to a $53 million settlement—closing out an outstanding class action lawsuit NYCOPSR and a number of other plaintiffs brought on behalf of more than 250,000 elderly and disabled retired City workers enrolled in EmblemHealth’s GHI Senior Care Plan.
NYCHA’s Grotesque Transformation From Public Steward to Shifty Real Estate Agent
By Joe Maniscalco
The New York City Housing Authority is tripping all over itself in a mad dash to demolish the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea [FEC] houses on Manhattan’s West Side as quickly as possible—and the last thing they want is for anybody questioning what they’re doing.
No More 24 Fight Continues in NYC: is it Because Women of Color are Just Easier to Step on?
By Steve Wishnia
Twelve black mesh folding chairs were arranged in two rows, like a jury box, by the Broadway entrance to City Hall July 28—places to sit for home health aides as they began another hunger strike to demand that the City Council pass legislation to ban 24-hour shifts.
Pay Parity for FDNY EMS: Will Mamdani Deliver?
By Joe Maniscalco
Just like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, FDNY EMS Officers Union Local 3621 Vice-President Anthony Almojera identifies as a democratic socialist, and has since the 90s, for about as long as the mayor has been alive.
But does that mean he believes City EMTs and paramedics will finally achieve the pay parity with cops and firefighters that mayors going all the way back to Edward I. Koch and his administration have promised?
Home Care Workers Fighting Wage Theft Win in Court; Call on Hochul to Abandon Appeals
By Joe Maniscalco
New York City home care workers fighting to end the 24-workday and reclaim stolen wages potentially totaling millions of dollars are calling on Governor Kathy Hochul to abandon any further efforts to appeal two recent court decisions moving them closer to ultimate victory.
NYC’s Pay Parity Crisis is a Matter of Life & Death for FDNY EMS EMTs & Paramedics
By Joe Maniscalco
Editor’s Note: Work-Bites recently had the opportunity to talk to Anthony Almojera, Vice-President of FDNY EMS Officers Union Local 3621, about the crisis facing New York City EMTs and paramedics. This is Part I of a two-part report.
We are more than halfway through New York City Mayor Mamdani’s first year in office and the unaddressed crisis facing municipal EMTs and paramedics has grown so bad FDNY EMS Lieutenant Anthony Almojera reports that three members battling suicidal ideation have reached out to him for help in the last six weeks alone.
An Open Letter to NYCOPSR: Where Are the Bylaws?
By Harry Weiner
The Municipal Labor Committee rules were difficult to find.
Marianne Pizzitola, president of the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees, has called out their “undemocratic weighted voting power structure.” The UFT and DC37 can pass anything they want due to the two-thirds vote threshold. She observed that for many months the MLC was “blatantly ignoring the bylaws that requires a Uniformed union on the Executive Board.”
NYC Council Speaker Calls on No More 24 Combatants to Find a ‘Path Forward’
By Joe Maniscalco
New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin is calling on No More 24 combatants to hammer out their differences this week after home care workers and their advocates brought the fight to end the 24-hour workday to her doorstep in Manhattan.
Listen: ‘Sinister’ Reasons for NYC’s Lifeguard Shortage Revealed!
By Joe Maniscalco
This summer, New York City beaches are once again operating with a shortage of qualified lifeguards—and the woman who spent nearly a half century guarding those beaches says there is something more “sinister” about the chronic shortfall than what’s routinely reported.
NYC Public Housing Tenants Vow to Keep Fighting FEC Demolition Despite Court Ruling
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.
‘Give Me a Chance to Survive’: Workers, Employers Dread Deportations’ Effect on Health Care
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.
COGE’s New Preliminary Staff Report Marginalizes NYC Retirees
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.
New York City Shame: Home Care Workers to Restart Hunger Strike to End the 24-Hr. Workday
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.