By Bob Hennelly

It’s 48 days until former President Trump drops the former and just becomes President Trump again on Inauguration Day, which next year, ironically coincides with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King holiday.

By Bob Hennelly

President-Elect Trump’s Secretary of Labor selection of Rep. Lori Chavez-De Remer, one of only three Republicans to support the PRO-Act, which would greatly strengthen the hand of new unions’ bargaining their first contract, was called “significant” by United Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten. 

By Steve Wishnia

Amazon delivery drivers in Queens are demanding the company oust a union-busting firm after one of its “persuaders” repeatedly called a pro-union driver a “faggot” on Nov. 27.

By Bob Hennelly

This episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour with Keziah Glow is dedicated to 32 BJ SEIU’s campaign to organize building service workers here in New York, New Jersey, and in ten other states—including the anti-union, right to work south. Collective action is now more vital than ever.

By Steve Wishnia

Editor’s Note: This is part two of a special two-part Work-Bites Report. Click here for part one.

The city public hospitals’ system of hiring doctors through private affiliates is devastating morale and endangering patient care, several doctors tell Work-Bites.

By Ryn Gargulinski

You can find bad bosses as easily as you can find mushy cucumbers in Florida or rats in New York City. But let’s not forget there are a ton of good bosses out there as well. OK, maybe not a ton. But enough to bring joy to our hearts, meaning to our work and a smile to our face every time we set out to work on a project for them.

By Steve Wishnia

Editor’s Note: This is part one of a special two-part Work-Bites report.

The prolonged contract dispute between doctors at the city’s public hospitals and the three private affiliates that New York City Health + Hospitals has outsourced their employment to is coming to a boil.

By Bob Hennelly

The Republican Party sweep of the White House and Congress has prompted fierce debate within the Democratic Party as to what went wrong who's responsible for the loss. Here in New York State, Democrats did manage to flip three House seats. But 2024 saw Trump pick 95,000 votes in New York City while Democrats loss a half-million votes,  according to the New York Times. 

By Joe Maniscalco

The New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees [NYCOPSR] is set to officially endorse attorney and independent candidate for mayor Jim Walden at Cadman Plaza in Brooklyn on Monday, Nov. 25.

By Bob Hennelly

On this episode of We Decide: America at the Crossroads with Jenna Flanagan, we speak with Marianne Pizzitola, retired FDNY/EMT and president of the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees and Alex Lawson, executive director of Social Security Works who discuss the growing national anxiety about the privatization of Medicare through profit-driven Medicare Advantage plans. 

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.

By Joe Maniscalco

You know the old saying, “Good guys finish last.” Even at Christmas.

But whoever said that didn’t have a fighting labor union behind them well prepared to work a little holiday magic on behalf of the rank & file.

WAR STORIES By Phil Cohen

Editor’s Note: This is Part II of “The Conveyor Belt Incident.” Check out Part I here.

Fighting for Cicero

At noon on June 1, I sat at the long table in the plant conference room with Cicero and the executive board to prep for the president’s grievance hearing. An hour later, management took their places across from us.

By Joe Maniscalco

Right now, Donald Trump is prepping to make good on a campaign pledge to begin deporting millions of hard-working  immigrants on Day One of his new administration.

WAR STORIES By Phil Cohen

Prologue

The most important part of a collective bargaining agreement lies in two simple words:  Just Cause.  Sometimes buried within the most unlikely contract article, you’ll find, “The company can discipline or fire employees for just cause.”

By Bob Hennelly

Dariel Vasquez, an 18-year-old New York State Parks employee and volunteer firefighter was recently killed battling a forest fire at Sterling Forest in Greenwood Lake, New York.

By Bob Hennelly

In the immediate aftermath of Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat, the Washington Post op-ed page blamed the Democratic Party for its embrace of progressivism. This ignores entirely the decision to move the party to the center to accommodate  Rep. Lynn Cheney and her small army of disaffected Republicans who had been exiled out of their own party.

By Bob Hennelly

What does Trump’s election mean for the struggle to save Medicare from privatization? Health insurance industry whistleblower Wendell Potter tells all. Plus, New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees President Marianne Pizzitola sits down with TWU Local 100 retiree Luis Uribe…

By Steve Wishnia

In a disastrous election that saw the most anti-labor President in recent history returned to the White House and labor champion Sherrod Brown of Ohio unseated from the Senate, several states voted to raise the minimum wage, enable workers to earn paid sick time off, and increase union rights for app-taxi drivers and cannabis workers.

By Joe Maniscalco

Having spent the last three years following New York City retirees and their counterparts in other states beat back repeated attempts to force them into profit-driven Medicare Advantage health insurance, we at Work-Bites are probably feeling less anxious about what comes next in this frightening country than some others might be today.