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New York Pre-K Workers Fight For Their Jobs, In Spite Of Their Union

April 11, 2023 Noelle Mapes, Labor Notes. , , ,
New York City, New York - Just days before school started last fall, 400 early childhood education workers in New York City were told they were being “excessed,” leaving their students in limbo. The workers sprang into action, and in January they won a short-term reinstatement. But they’re still fighting for long-term job stability as the administration of Mayor Eric Adams slowly dismantles his predecessor Bill De Blasio’s signature program, universal pre-kindergarten. And not only are they fighting the city—they’ve also had to fight their union, the United Federation of Teachers. With 180,000 members, the UFT is the largest teachers union in the country and a powerful force in city politics.

Organizers Of Bronx Wide Plan Are Building A Movement Behind It

April 9, 2023 Oscar Perry Abello, Next City. , , ,
The Bronx, New York City - Even if all goes well, backers of the Bronx Wide Plan may not get everything they want all at once. But starting next year, budget bills at all levels of government will start citing the community-developed plan. Over the next few years, local banks will start funding some of the plan’s sundry proposals or initiatives, demonstrating their compliance with the Community Reinvestment Act. Philanthropic foundations of all sizes will begin making grants and other investments directly in alignment with the plan, and they won’t be shy about seeking credit for doing so. After three years of canvassing, workshopping, community listening and feedback sessions, the Bronx Wide Plan’s Leadership Team gathered a few hundred members in the South Bronx on April 5 to launch a public campaign in support of the plan, which is nearing its final form.

To Protect Trans Youth, We Must Organize Ourselves

April 3, 2023 Reba Landers and B. C. Daurelle, Left Voice. , , ,
To the organizers of yesterday’s march, and to trans youth everywhere: thank you for fighting. No one should have to fight for their very existence, but your example reminds us that there is a joyous, expansive range of human experience that capitalism tries to erase and forget. Your example shows us that there is beauty to be found everywhere and in every moment of the struggle for a better world. We find in your combative example the spirit of the world we will build—free of every oppression. We also thank our trans and queer elders. It’s an incredible thing to have lived in a world so pitted against your very existence for years or decades and still love that world enough to give of yourself for its betterment.

When Killer Cops Evade Accountability, Victims’ Families Find Other Paths

March 29, 2023 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , ,
A recent article by The Independent revealed how James Connolly used his connections to NYPD higher-ups to successfully evade accountability for not only his murder of Collado, but also for a murder he committed less than three years prior. Anthony Roman was 18 years old when Connolly shot him while the officer was on an undercover narcotics assignment. Connolly was never held accountable for this killing, in fact, he won two awards for it. In 2015, then-mayor of New York Bill DeBlasio presented Connolly with the second-highest award in the NYPD for shooting Anthony Roman, an award given for acts of “extraordinary heroism”.

Sodexo Workers Authorize Strike At Nine NYC And NJ Locations

March 16, 2023 Teddy Ostrow, The Real News Network. , , , ,
Five hundred food service workers in the New York Metropolitan area authorized strikes on Thursday, March 9, for livable wages and against subcontracting. The workers, who are represented by New York City’s largest food service union, UNITE HERE Local 100, are employed by food service and facilities management behemoth Sodexo in nine cafeterias in New York and New Jersey. Strike authorizations at each of the Sodexo shops were announced at a rally outside the Bloomberg L.P. headquarters in Manhattan. The contracts of most of the Sodexo employees, who are cashiers, cooks, and other service workers in the swanky cafeterias of multiple Bloomberg locations, Colgate-Palmolive, and several other businesses and organizations, expired on Dec. 1, 2022.

New York City Retirees Fight Their Own Unions To Stop Health Care Cuts

March 10, 2023 Jenny Brown, Labor Notes. , , , ,
New York City, New York - Defying two years of protests and lawsuits by union retirees, New York City’s Municipal Labor Committee voted Thursday to scrap some of the best retiree health care coverage in the country. The change aims to put 250,000 city retirees into a for-profit Medicare Advantage plan run by Aetna. Twenty-six unions in the MLC voted no, while others abstained. But their votes were swamped by the votes of the largest unions on the committee, AFSCME District Council 37 and the New York United Federation of Teachers. Retirees and active members protested during the MLC vote and marched to City Hall.

Restaurant Workers at Rockefeller Center’s Lodi Confront Union-Buster Ahead of Vote

February 25, 2023 Luis Feliz Leon, Labor Notes. , , ,
Lodi, an Italian-style fine dining cafe in Rockefeller Center, has what the New York Times calls “a captive audience” given its central location in a Manhattan tourist magnet. Workers at the restaurant say they’re a captive audience of another kind—for the anti-union diatribes of a highly paid consultant. They are demanding that the cafe improve working conditions, benefits, staffing, scheduling, and training—but the major sticking point is wages. Kitchen workers earn between $18 and $21 an hour, while cashiers earn $25, and there’s no discernible reason for the discrepancy.

How To Get Un-Fired

February 19, 2023 Jenny Brown, Labor Notes. , , , , ,
New York City, New York - In a few days Austin Locke will walk back into the Queens, New York, Starbucks store he was fired from seven months ago. He’ll also get a wad of back pay, and money from civil penalties. Locke had a target on his back because he was involved in a union drive at the store, but his reinstatement didn’t come from the National Labor Relations Board. Instead, his case was taken up by the New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), under a city law passed in 2021 which makes unjust firings in fast food illegal. Two recent city laws protecting fast food workers, the 2017 Fair Workweek Law and the 2021 Just Cause law, have resulted in 230 investigations, resulting in nearly $27.1 million in combined fines and restitution for more than 20,100 workers, according to Michael Lanza of the DCWP.

Fordham University’s Resident Assistants Unionize

February 10, 2023 Olivia Wood , Left Voice. , , , , ,
New York City, New York - Last Wednesday, resident assistants (RAs) at the Rose Hill campus of Fordham University announced the formation of their union with OPEIU Local 153. The announcement came just two days after Fordham Faculty United (SEIU Local 200 United), the contingent faculty union on campus, ratified their second contract. The establishment of the Fordham RA union is the latest instance of a new but rapidly growing trend in undergraduate worker organizing on college campuses. OPEIU Local 153 also represents RAs at Barnard College and most office workers at Fordham. Over three-quarters of the bargaining unit signed a union recognition petition that was delivered to Fordham president Tania Tetlow on February 1. The union gave Tetlow until end-of-day February 7 to voluntarily recognize the union, and now it is filing for an NLRB election.

These New York City Apartments Are Affordable — And Sustainable

February 10, 2023 Maria Gallucci, Canary Media. , , , ,
New York City, New York - Ultra-efficient high-rises and net-zero neighborhoods now in development could offer a blueprint for cities grappling with rising carbon emissions and dwindling affordable housing. In East New York, a residential area in the outer reaches of Brooklyn, a 14-story apartment building rises from the site of a demolished water pumping facility. With airtight insulation and advanced ventilation, the new brick-clad complex is designed to use as little energy as possible. Rooftop solar panels and electric appliances limit the need to burn gas for heating and cooking, reducing indoor air pollution and planet-warming emissions. The 275 apartments at Chestnut Commons are some of the most energy-efficient units in New York City. Just as crucially, the climate-friendly building is reserved for low-income households, in a neighborhood where more than one-third of residents live below the poverty line.

Harlem Resists Gentrification, Environmental Racism

February 3, 2023 Richie Merino, Workers World. , , , ,
New York City - Harlem families and grassroots community groups gathered Jan. 28 on West 145th St. and Lenox Ave. in Harlem to protest the operations of a truck stop, which they say was opened in retaliation for their rejection of a gentrification project known as “One45.” Several rally speakers condemned the luxury real estate developer and former aide to Rudy Giuliani, Bruce Teitelbaum, for poisoning the community and worsening existing environmental issues, causing high rates of asthma and respiratory issues in children. The battle between the predominantly poor and working-class Black community and Teitelbaum began last year, when he proposed “One45,” a $700-million luxury high-rise residential complex that included only a small percentage of so-called “affordable” apartments. These units required a minimum household income of $112,000 to rent, whereas the median household income for the immediate area where One45 was slated to be built is only $36,804.

A Mobile Bank On Wheels Reaches Bronx Residents Where They Are

January 25, 2023 Emily Nonko, Next City. , , ,
The Bronx, New York City, New York - At the height of the pandemic, bank after bank began shuttering across the Bronx — between 2019 and 2021, seven banks closed 17 branches, with more than half happening in 2020, according to The Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development. The closures exacerbated an existing problem: prior to COVID-19, the Bronx had the fewest bank branches and the most check cashers and pawnshops per household in the state, possibly the country. Community organizers in the Bronx had spoken out about the closures since 2019. But they weren’t making headway with the banks, who claimed they lost money on those branches, or banking regulators, as both state and federal agencies claimed they lacked enforcement power to stop the closures. So those same organizers found a solution to address the problem themselves: a mobile banking branch, free to travel the 42-square-mile borough.

Amazon Labor Union Wins Again At National Labor Relations Board

January 20, 2023 Martha Grevatt, Workers.org. , , ,
“The ALU is officially a certified UNION! This is a HUGE moment for the labor movement! Solidarity everyone! Let’s continue to fight for what we deserve!” This jubilant statement was tweeted out Jan. 11 by the Amazon Labor Union after the National Labor Relations Board officially named it the sole bargaining representative for workers at Amazon’s JFK8 warehouse. The NLRB issued its ruling over nine months after the ALU won a representation election by a wide margin at the Staten Island, New York, facility. Rejecting all 25 of Amazon’s objections to the election results, the Board gave Amazon until Jan. 25 to file a “request for review.” Once the ALU won the election April 1, 2022, Amazon could have immediately begun negotiations with the union for a first contract. Instead the union-busting behemoth chose to delay its obligations by filing spurious charges, alleging election misconduct against the ALU and the NLRB.

Public Housing Residents Created A Model For Tenant Rights Activism

January 18, 2023 Adam Mahoney, Next City. , , ,
New York City, New York - The coronavirus pandemic laid bare the critical need for affordable housing across the United States. As millions lost their jobs, many Americans were only able to remain housed thanks to the advent of COVID-19 housing policies, including eviction moratoriums and rent freezes. In the last year, as these protections dwindled across the country, tenants in Black neighborhoods have taken up fights to improve housing access and have won significant battles. In Kansas City, Missouri, residents pushed city leaders to codify a right to legal counsel during eviction procedures for low-income residents as rents rose 10% last year. In Oakland, California, following a years-long rent strike against a landlord who wanted to kick out tenants to raise rents, voters made it illegal to evict people without reason, a win against displacement and gentrification.

As Nurses Strike, Hospital CEOs Pocket Millions

January 11, 2023 Matthew Cunningham-Cook, The Lever. , , , ,
As nurses from two New York hospitals fight for better treatment, the executives in charge have been boosting their own pay and slashing charity care. On Monday, 7,000 New York nurses at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan went on strike over massive short staffing. While a Montefiore spokesperson said “the union leadership’s decision will spark fear” in the public, and a Mount Sinai representative called the strike “reckless,” the hospitals have understaffed while boosting executive pay and slashing charity care.
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