By Bob Hennelly

Courtesy of InsiderNJ

This past week, our region and the great world beyond woke up to reports of the indictment of Mayor Eric Adams on what turned out to be corruption charges. This unprecedented development comes amidst the climax of the most consequential presidential election since 1864 when our nation was caught up in the Civil War.

By Joe Maniscalco

“UFT, DC37 have to stop f——-g with our healthcare…stop selling out our retirees…stop f——-g over actives.”

A couple of weeks ago, a group New York City municipal retirees fighting the City of New York’s ongoing campaign to strip them of their existing Medicare benefits and push them into a profit-driven “Medicare Dis-Advantage” plan took to the streets of Manhattan to denounce the scheme and to advocate passage of the New York Health Act.

By Bob Hennelly

On this episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour, we talk to DC 37 Local 3621 FDNY EMS President Vinnie Variale about a really alarming increase in EMS response times for medical emergencies that are now averaging over ten minutes. Only one in five heart attack victims is actually surviving—the worst survival rate in more than ten years. 

By Bob Hennelly

Another weekend, another Adams administration bombshell served up late on Saturday night with an NYPD tweet from interim police commissioner Thomas Donlon that “federal authorities executed search warrants” at his residences and that they “took materials that came into my possession approximately 20 years ago and are unrelated to my work with the New York City Police Department.”

By Rebecca Wishnia

On Sept. 19, I was to review the opening-night performance of the Verdi Requiem at the San Francisco Symphony. The downbeat never came: The performance was canceled due to a strike by the chorus singers—members of the American Guild of Musical Artists. I went to the picket lines.

By Joe Maniscalco

After helping to spearhead the ongoing campaign to push 250,000 New York City municipal retirees into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage plan, UFT President Michael Mulgrew now says the union is “firmly against a Medicare Advantage plan for our retirees.”

By Steve Wishnia

“We will not stand for racism, bias, and discrimination,” Brooklyn Assemblymember Stefanie Zinerman told about 100 health-care workers on the sidewalk outside Interfaith Medical Center September 18. “We love pets. We do not eat pets!”

By Phil Cohen

Part II – Still Desperate for Work

I resumed aggressively searching help wanted sections in newspapers for an employer not likely to require background checks, and finally found an ad for a job soliciting magazine subscriptions by phone, located on Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn. I called and was told to report for work that afternoon at 4 p.m.

By Bob Hennelly

While labor is our focus on the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour, we do have to keep an eye on City Hall in NYC which is in the midst of labor negotiations with both the Doctors Council SEIU and the FDNY EMS unions.

By Joe Maniscalco

UFT President Michael Mulgrew may have officially backed out on the City of New York’s ongoing campaign to push 250,000 municipal retirees into a profit-driven “Medicare Dis-Advantage” health insurance they do not want—he still insists it doesn’t pose the threat opponents say it does.

By Bob Hennelly

Chants of “What do we want? A fair contract! When do we want it? Now!” boomed throughout the concrete canyons around 230 Park Ave. in mid-town  this week as  250 members of Law360’s unionized staff  hit the bricks in an unfair labor practice strike against their highly profitable employer.

By Steve Wishnia

With the Teamsters the only large U.S. union that has not endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, many members are seething at General President Sean O’Brien for speaking at the Republican national convention in July.

By Bob Hennelly

Courtesy of InsiderNJ

This Labor Day workers who hoped the state’s court system would end Trenton’s exemption for Atlantic City’s casinos from the state’s 2006 Smoke-Free Air Act that entitles workers to work in a smoke free environment were dealt a real disappointment by a judge who sided with the casino industry to keep the oppressively toxic exemption in place.

Editor’s Note: This is Part I of Phil’s three-part sequel to his previous Work-Bites series centering on his dangerous days scratching out a living as a New York City cabbie. The story picks up a year after those events...

By Phil Cohen

To live outside the law you must be honest – Bob Dylan

In March, 1970 I returned to New York City flat broke after a year of bumming around the country, confident in my ability to easily find work and slide back into my old lifestyle. Instead, I found myself homeless and without options.

By Bob Hennelly

On this episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour, we look at the UAW’s decision to leave the New Jersey AFL-CIO following the contentious fight over smoking inside Atlantic City casinos. We also talk to midwives from the Bronx is search of a fare contract for the vital work they do.

By Bob Hennelly

WBAI, Pacifica Radio in New York City, presents a radio screening of Bridget Gormley's award-winning film, "Dust: The Lingering Legacy of 9/11” on September 8, from 1 to 3 p.m.  The program will also be rebroadcast on September 11, from 9 to 11 a.m.

By Steve Wishnia

Some 500 Uber and Lyft drivers rallied near City Hall September 4, announcing that they will go on strike October 23 if the app-cab companies don’t stop locking out drivers to avoid having to pay them minimum wage.

By Bob Hennelly

The Stuck Nation Labor Radio is celebrating Labor Day—and its third anniversary on the air.

This Labor Day, the union movement is on the march around the country with members taking risks  collectively to improve their circumstances, that of their families and the communities where they live in a way we have not seen in recent American history. 

By Joe Maniscalco

Congress Member Yvette D. Clarke [NY-9th District] this week became the latest high-powered figure to denounce—as modern day slavery—the round-the-clock shifts older immigrant women of color are still being forced to work in New York City’s home care industry.

By Steve Wishnia

A strike at two Buffalo-area nursing homes has been averted after the main owner agreed Aug. 26 to sign a contract he’d previously reneged on