By Joe Maniscalco

New York City Council Member Erik Bottcher likes to portray himself as a stalwart advocate for tenants rights, but he’s failing to uphold that image in Chelsea where elderly NYCHA residents continue to be subjected to an ongoing campaign of fear and intimidation that supporters call nothing less than “horrific.”

By Joe Maniscalco

The new health plan for all active New York City municipal workers is moving ahead this week without the benefit of a public hearing that would’ve been mandatory had a quick rule change made back in May not been implemented.

Work-Bites

National Nurses United [NNU]—the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the U.S. and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America [UA] earlier this week called for the U.S. to “immediately halt military aid to Israel” and “secure a permanent and immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.

By Joe Maniscalco

The heads of the Municipal Labor Committee [MLC] got what they wanted this week with members rubber-stamping a new city health plan for all municipal workers, pre-Medicare retirees, and their dependents.

By Steve Wishnia

The city’s Municipal Labor Committee overwhelmingly approved a new health-insurance plan for current city workers and pre-Medicare retirees on Sept. 30, as protesters objected that union leaders had given out only minimal information about its details.

By Bob Hennelly

In Gaza, the Guardian is reporting that the Israeli military is pressing on with its siege of Gaza City even as Donald Trump floats what he claims is a breakthrough deal toward a ceasefire. Over the last 13 days, Israeli forces have intensified their strike of Gaza City systematically demolishing one residential apartment building after another to force Palestinians civilians to leave their homes.  

By Steve Wishnia

With the legislative clock ticking down toward the end of the year, scores of Uber and Lyft drivers rallied in the rain near City Hall Sept. 25, demanding that the City Council pass a bill to protect them against being fired without good cause and due process.

By Joe Maniscalco

The City of New York’s new health care plan for in-service and pre-Medicare municipal employees will directly impact the lives of hundreds of rank and file members of Plumbers Local 1—but the head of the union says he and his union have been kept completely in the dark about the proposal.

By Joe Maniscalco

Last Saturday, roughly 15 to 20 Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea [FEC] public housing tenants fighting the impending destruction of their homes intercepted Council Member Erik Bottcher outside a Manhattan deli at W. 26th Street and 9th Avenue demanding a meeting with him and challenging his support of the demolition planCommunity Board 4 has already rejected. 

Work-Bites

Debra Lieberman has lived in the Chelsea Addition senior building on W. 27th Drive in Manhattan since 2013. Now, she and her neighbors are being told they have one month to "relocate" so that Related Companies and Essence Development can begin demolishing their apartments. It's all part of the “reimagining of public housing” in New York City.

By Steve Wishnia

Under the overhang of the Dinkins Municipal Building, City Councilmember Tiffany Cabán (D-Queens), joined by scores of Teamsters and various legislators, on Sept. 25 announced a bill that would require companies like Amazon to hire its delivery drivers as direct employees, instead of through subcontractors.

By Bob Hennelly

The BBC reports that British Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper warned Israel  not to annex parts of the West Bank in retaliation for the United Kingdom's recognition of Palestinian  statehood. The warning comes as Britain joined several other nations including France to call for a Palestinian state. 

War Stories By Phil Cohen

Editor’s Note: This is the second part of Phil’s touching two-part saga recalling a very special relationship with a remarkable woman named Valerie. Here’s Part I in case you missed it.

PART II – The Hand of Fate Points South

Three years later I moved to North Carolina, found work as a city bus driver and became chief steward of the union local. I stayed in touch with Valerie and periodically visited at her new apartment on 92nd Street and West End Avenue.  Riverside Park was one block further west, where the vigilante played by Charles Bronson in Death Wish hunted for muggers. One had to remain vigilant at night, but it was a long way from the crime-infested labyrinth of the Lower East Side.

By Joe Maniscalco

You can’t take it with you—but if you’re the outgoing head of the New York City Council you can try and make sure the power you’ve built into the Speaker’s position over the last four years continues long after you’re out of office.

By Bob Hennelly

On this episode of “We Decide: America at the Crossroads” Communications Workers of America [CWA] President Claude Cummings Jr. joins Julianna Forlanno to discuss a nationwide boycott of T-Mobile in response to the wireless carrier’s about-face on DEI and embrace of President Trump and Elon Musk as part of their bid to close two  deals that needed FCC approvals.

War Stories By Phil Cohen

During the winter of 1970 at the age of nineteen, circumstances had left me homeless and broke on the streets of New York. A stack of arrest warrants associated with driving illegal gypsy cabs the previous year made finding steady work nearly impossible.

By Steve Wishnia

More than a year after United Federation of Teachers members angry about being switched into profit-driven Medicare Advantage plan unseated the union’s dominant Unity caucus from leading its retirees chapter, the chapter’s ability to advocate for preserving their traditional Medicare has been tightly-restricted.

By Bob Hennelly

In Gaza, the Israeli military continues its methodical demolition of one high-rise residential building after another after issuing an evacuation order for the entire civilian population of Gaza City. The International Association of Genocide Scholars has formally declared Israel's response to the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack that killed 1,200 civilians a genocide.

Editor’s Note: This column originally appeared on Jan. 14, 2024. We think it’s worth reposting again.

By Joe Maniscalco

It’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day again, and what’s uppermost in my mind right now is how he’s not here. He could be. Sure, he’d be 95, but Martin Luther King, Jr. could still be around walking the earth today. Instead, he’s long since dead — gunned down — murdered before even making it to 40.

By Joe Maniscalco

Still struggling to get out of single digits in the latest polls, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams this week not only put the health and welfare of Central Park horses before the health and welfare of New York City municipal retirees—he did everything he could to fast-track the effort.