Listen: The Pushback Against Mayor Eric Adams’ Attempts to go ‘Radio Silent’
By Bob Hennelly
On this episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour, we dedicate the entire show to Mayor Eric Adams’ push to start encrypting NYPD radio traffic, which has up to now been accessible to both the public and the news media in real time.
Listen: Capitol Hill Fails WTC Survivors—Again!
By Bob Hennelly
On this episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour, we talk with UFA President Ansbro about the last minute collapse of a bi-partisan bill to fully fund the 9/11 WTC Health Program, as well as the dangerous spike in FDNY EMS response times where shockingly only one-in-five heart attack victims in New York City survives.
Strike Looms as NYC Turns its Back on Doctors Working at Public Hospitals
By Steve Wishnia
Doctors at four of New York’s 11 public hospitals have overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike after more than a year of futile contract talks.
The vote at Jacobi Medical Center and North Central Bronx Hospital in the Bronx, Queens Hospital Center, and South Brooklyn Health, announced Dec. 19, was 97% in favor of a possible walkout, the Doctors Council SEIU said. The union represents more than 2,500 doctors at the ten hospitals where New York City Health + Hospitals has contracts with affiliates to hire them.
The Hangers were the Last Straw…
By Ryn Gargulinski
The hangers on the floor were the last straw. The hangers had been accompanied by tissue paper squares and plastic bags on the floor, with more papers, bags, hangers and random shirts strewn across the front counter next to the register.
That’s what I walked into one morning at the shirt shop at my part-time gig – a colossal mess. My mind went into tantrum overdrive.
Listen: Who’s Caring for NYC Docs?/Gearing Up For Trump Deportation Battle…
By Bob Hennelly
On this episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour, we hear from two New York City physicians with the Doctors Council, SEIU about the lack of progress with management at Health + Hospitals Corporation, the city’s public hospital system.
Cops Clashed with Amazon Strikers in NYC—So, How Do We Avoid an Ugly Repeat of History?
By Joe Maniscalco
The ugly confrontation between NYPD officers and striking Amazon drivers outside the corporation’s DBK4 Distribution Center in Maspeth, Queens last Thursday continues a long history of law enforcement clamping down hard on labor uprisings across the United States.
So, what happens next? And how should the House of Labor react?
NYC Council Member Calls out Speaker’s Inaction As Retirees Continue to Suffer Uncertain Future
By Joe Maniscalco
The New York City council member championing a bill to protect the Traditional Medicare benefits of retirees from privatization this week rejected the idea that it’s okay for his colleagues to continue sitting around and letting the courts decide what happens next.
Listen: NY Airport Workers ‘Raise Up’ as Others Continue to Struggle
By Bob Hennelly
On this episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour, we hear how through months of collective action ten thousand members of 32 BJ SEIU working at the region’s airports run by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will see a significant pay boost of $2.25 over the next 13 months—and $25 by 2032.
State’s Highest Court Delivers Another ‘Monumental Victory’ for New York City Retirees!
By Steve Wishnia
New York State’s highest court on Dec. 17 unanimously ruled that the city must pay for traditional Medicare for its retired employees and can’t offer them only a private Medicare Advantage plan.
NYC Council ‘Progressives’ Keep Ignoring Chris Marte’s Bill to Protect City Retirees’ Medicare
By Steve Wishnia
New York City Councilmember Christopher Marte (D-Manhattan) is lead sponsor of the bill that would require NYC to continue offering retired municipal workers traditional Medicare plans, instead of switching them to for-profit Medicare Advantage plans—but none of his 17 colleagues in the Council’s Progressive Caucus have signed on as cosponsors.
NYC Retirees Occupy Union HQ to Protest Medicare Advantage Push—AFL-CIO Says it Opposes Any Effort to Reduce Choice
By Joe Maniscalco
New York City Municipal retirees fighting back against the campaign to strip them of their Traditional Medicare coverage and into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage plan were once again denied a seat at the table this week, so just like the late Shirley Chisholm urged—they brought folding chairs.
Listen: If President Joe Biden was so Pro-Labor, Why Did Hard-Pressed Voters Reject His Heir Apparent?
By Bob Hennelly
On this episode of “We Decide: America at the Crossroads 2024 from WBAI and the Pacifica Radio Network hosted by Jenna Flanagan—we’re going down to North Carolina to see just what activists working with the Rev. Dr. William Barber and the Moral Monday movement are doing to bring more transparency to what they contend is an ongoing anti-democratic power grab by the state GOP.
The Real Reason Why Democrats are Losing Ground—Failing the Working Class Just Like This!
By Joe Maniscalco
“This is why.”
Advocates for home care workers in New York are holding up the ongoing failure to end slavish 24-hour shifts, coupled with the state Department of Labor’s sudden decision to scrap a widespread probe into wage theft as prime examples of why Democrats and progressives are losing ground to Republicans and the right wing.
Hard Knocks in Kabul and Beyond…
WAR STORIES By Phil Cohen
Editor’s Note: This is the final installment of Phil’s three-part saga chronicling his harrowing days trying to survive on the streets of Tehran and Kabul just prior to the Iranian Revolution and Russia's invasion of Afghanistan.
We finally arrived at Kabul’s bus station at 10 p.m., where several taxis waited outside. I glanced at my notes for the recommended hotel and appropriate cab fare, entered the rear door of the first car in line, stated my destination, requested the price upfront, and was told an amount consistent with my information.
Welcome to the Tenth Century!
WAR STORIES By Phil Cohen
Editor’s Note: This is Part II of Phil’s three-part saga chronicling his harrowing days trying to eke out a living on the streets of Tehran and Kabul just prior to the Iranian Revolution and Russia's invasion of Afghanistan.
The guards aroused travelers at dawn and pointed us toward several white vans lined up near the crossing. I was instructed to board one of them, surrendered my bedroll to be tied on the roof but forcibly knocked the driver’s hand away as he reached for the guitar. When the rear door finally closed, I found myself in the most crowded environment I’d ever experienced. It made the New York subway during rush hour seem spacious by comparison.
Davis in Denial: Medicare Advantage Foes Refute TWU Local 100 Prez’s Claims of ‘Enhancing’ Retiree Benefits
By Joe Maniscalco
They work on the same subway tracks and roads. They help move the same people throughout New York City. But Metropolitan Transit Authority employees represented by TWU Local 100 and the Subway-Surface Supervisors Association do not experience retirement the same.
Listen: Strike At Strand; TWU Local 100 Prez Doubles Down on Medicare Advantage Push—And More
By Bob Hennelly
While union density in the U.S. continues to be about half of what it was in the 1980s there are significant signs of a major rebound.
On the Streets of Tehran and Kabul…
WAR STORIES By Phil Cohen
Editor’s Note: This is Part I of Phil’s three-part saga chronicling his harrowing days trying to eke out a living on the streets of Tehran and Kabul just prior to the Iranian Revolution and Russia's invasion of Afghanistan.
The road goes on forever and the party never ends – Robert Earl Keen
In 1976, I’d been driving medallion taxis in New York City for two years, working several long night shifts per week, sufficient to pay the rent on my small apartment. I found myself living a lifestyle similar to the Robert De Niro character in Taxi Driver, the ultimate cinematic portrayal of a lonely job in the heart of urban ugliness, violence and alienation.
Listen: Sounding Off on the Brutality of the American Healthcare System
By Bob Hennelly
In this edition of WBAI’s What's Going On, co-host retired FDNY EMT Marianne Pizzitola, president of the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees and WBAI’s interim program director Keziah Glow speak with Dr. Steve Auerbach, a retired captain in the U.S. Public Health Service.
Medicare Dis-Advantage Creates the Haves and the Have Nots Inside New York City Transit
By Joe Maniscalco
They work on the same New York City subway tracks and roads. They help move the same people. But Metropolitan Transit Authority employees represented by TWU Local 100 and the Subway-Surface Supervisors Association do not retire the same.