Listen: Alvarez Reacts to Trump Win; Barnes & Noble Workers Continue Push for 1st Contract
Workers at Barnes & Noble are still fighting to secure a first contract this week as we head into the height of the holiday shopping season.
By Bob Hennelly
The funeral for Dariel Vasquez, an 18 year-old volunteer firefighter and New York State Parks employee who was killed fighting a forest fire in Sterling Forest earlier this month, was held today in Haverstraw, New York.
Over the weekend that fire, which has already consumed 5,000 acres around Greenwood Lake, has required the evacuation of 165 homes. Public schools are closed today in Greenwood Lake. Drought conditions throughout the northeast have helped to spark brush fires in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut that have left thousands of acres charred.
Earlier, the national weather service issued an unusual statement warning of an elevated risk of the spread of wildfires in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Passaic and Union Counties.
According to the US Drought Monitor, close to half of the country’s lower 48 states are in drought, with much of the eastern U.S. reporting worsening conditions for the second week in a row.
The Times Union is reporting the drought could delay a $2 billion project to fix a major leak in New York City’s upstate Delaware Aqueduct that was shut down on Oct. 1stfor the final phase of the project.
Last week, President-elect Trump announced he will appoint former Republican Congressman from New York Lee Zeldin to lead the EPA and Chris Wright, a leading oil fracking executive and climate crisis denier to be Energy Secretary.
On this week’s edition of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour we have a post-election check in with Vinnie Alvarez, president of the New York City Central Labor Council, which represents more than 300 local unions representing more than a million workers. Why did so many union households either stay home or vote for Trump? Did Beltway Democrats not understand just how tight things were for working people in President Biden’s ‘miracle’ economy?
Just ahead of Black Friday, we also hear from Chelsea Connor, the National Director of Communications for the RWDSU, who talks about the union’s pivotal first contract with Barnes & Noble.
Aaron Lascano, a senior bookseller and RWDSU member, describes the challenges of working through the pandemic as well as the importance of the union in keeping both workers and Barnes & Noble customers safe during that crisis and its challenging aftermath.
Listen to the entire show below: