Stuck Nation Radio: Discrimination in the FDNY; Vax Mandates, And the Battle for Universal Healthcare

FDNY Firefighter Regina Wilson, past president of the Vulcan Society. Photo courtesy of FDNY.

By Bob Hennelly

In this week’s episode of Stuck Nation Radio, New York City Firefighter Regina Wilson, former president of the Vulcan Society, an affinity group composed of FDNY’s Black employees, discusses the status of race and gender equity within the fire department. The Vulcan Society initiated a landmark racial discrimination law suit that was settled for $98 million in 2014. That settlement required the City of New York to address longstanding racial discrimination within the city’s Fire Department which kept the number of Black firefighters down to just three percent. Despite some progress since the settlement, significant institutional issues remain. Those issues were outlined last week in riveting testimony before the New York City Council, which is considering a package of bills aimed at addressing ongoing racial and gender discrimination within the FDNY. 

In the second segment, we hear from New York City Councilman Robert Holden from Queens about the ongoing fallout from Mayor de Blasio’s vaccine mandate that the city continues to impose on all New York City civil servants. This policy has resulted in over 1,500 terminations of city workers at a time when NYC’s municipal workforce faces a serious labor shortage that’s slowing down everything from fire inspections to the construction of affordable housing.  

Finally, we have a conversation with New York State Senator Gustavo Rivera from the Bronx. He chairs the New York State Senate Health Committee. Senator Rivera, along with Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, has been leading the fight for the New York Health Act which would create a single-payer healthcare system in New York State with the goal of providing universal healthcare for all New Yorkers. The New York Health Act has been hotly debated within New York State’s labor movement with some unions, like SEIU1199, strongly backing it, while others maintain it would lead to higher costs for union members who for years gave up wage gains to hold on to their healthcare.