‘Asian Worker Stories’ — Too Powerful to Be Ignored
By Joe Maniscalco
Things are bad for U.S. workers and they only appear to be getting worse. But how much do any of us who have never had to do it, know about what it’s really like being a migrant worker forced to leave behind everything and everyone that matters to us just to survive?
Saving Your Sanity Amidst the Medicare Dis-Advantage Fiasco
By Ryn Gargulinski
Greed. Lies. Betrayal. Rage. While these sound like great ingredients for a soap opera or action thriller, they are less than ideal for real life. Yet they are the key components in the real-life fight New York City retirees are waging against being shuttled into the aptly nicknamed Medicare Dis-Advantage Plan.
Listen: Inside Trump’s Gaza Grab, Musk’s Treasury Takeover…
By Bob Hennelly
On the latest episode of WBAI’s “What’s Going On?” radio show, Palestinian rights activist and author Linda Sarsour talks about Donald Trump’s Gaza grab.
NYC Retirees to UFT Prez: How Do You Spell ‘H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y’, Michael?
By Joe Maniscalco
UFT President Michael Mulgrew wants members of the New York City Council to introduce and pass new legislation giving hard-working paraprofessionals a sorely-needed $10K salary boost. But hold on, if those same City Council people are treating pending legislation protecting the Traditional Medicare benefits of municipals retirees like an ugly green hunk of Kryptonite—why are they rallying behind this effort?
Mitchell-Lama Housing With Union Legacy Under Siege
By Adrian Spencer
East River Landing, once a beacon of affordable housing, is in now in crisis
East River Landing, a Mitchell-Lama cooperative in East Harlem, has long stood as a symbol of affordable housing for working families. Established in 1974 by Local 1199 Drug and Hospital Workers’ Union (now 1199 SEIU), the cooperative was designed to provide safe, affordable homes for its members. Today, it houses 1,594 apartments, many occupied by union retirees and their families. However, under Metro Management Development Company and its principal officer David Baron, this beacon of affordability is now a flashpoint for mismanagement, neglect, and frustration.
Frustrated Rochester Home-Care Workers OK Strike
By Steve Wishnia
Frustrated after eight months of fruitless negotiations to reach their first union contract, professional and clinical home health-care workers in Rochester have voted to authorize a strike of up to three days long.
Listen: A. Philip Randolph Still Speaks to Us Today
By Bob Hennelly
Join WBAI’s "What’s Going On?” at 7 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 3, to reflect on the labor-civil rights connection as well as the essential contribution made by A. Philip Randolph to both movements. For Randolph, an avowed socialist, enduring economic empowerment was won through the kind of collective action required by union organizing.
Just Sour Grapes From ‘Muppety Maoists’ Or a ‘Hostile Takeover By the International’?
By Joe Maniscalco
We now know that the head of the union representing more than 40,000 New York City Transit workers is officially out. Former TWU Local 100 President Richard Davis resigned under pressure last week, amidst ugly allegations of “inappropriate sexual behavior” and outrageous abuse of power.
But why just now, many rank and file members wonder—when these kinds of complaints have been swirling around for years?
Let’s Take Back Billions in 2025 to Advance the Wellbeing of All New Yorkers
By Ray Rogers
It’s Time to End New York's Multi-Billion-Dollar Stock Transfer Tax Rebate To Wealthy Wall Streeters
While infrastructures throughout New York State are crumbling and critical public services are grossly underfunded or non-existent, the message for years emanating from the offices of Gov. Kathy Hochul, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins is "now is not the right time." Well, maybe now is not the right time for them but most certainly it is the "right time" for millions of suffering New Yorkers.
Can New York City’s DOI Pierce the 9/11 WTC Coverup?
By Bob Hennelly
For years now, members of Congress and 9/11 WTC advocates have been rebuffed in their bid for the records maintained by the Giuliani and Bloomberg administrations about what they knew and when they knew it regarding the deadly air in lower Manhattan and western Brooklyn following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Inside the Split Decision on NYC H+H Doctors’ Contract
By Steve Wishnia
Doctors at seven of New York City’s public hospitals have voted to ratify the tentative contract agreement reached Jan. 13, but physicians at three others voted to reject it, the Doctors Council SEIU announced Jan. 27.
Listen: Pushing Back Against Trumpian Assaults on Workers; Nurses Fight Union-Busting
By Bob Hennelly
Last Thursday, federal immigration officers executed a warrantless raid at an Ironbound business in Newark, New Jersey. Undocumented workers and American citizens—as well as a U.S. military veteran—were all swept up in the raid.
Union Representing NYC Transit Workers in Leadership Crisis
By Joe Maniscalco
“Out sick—or just “out” period?
TWU Local 100, the union representing New York City Transit workers, says embattled President Richard Davis is currently “out sick until further notice. But opponents of the recently re-elected union head contend he’s done and the International is taking over.
Listen: Trump 2.0 Fallout; MLK’s Ties to TWU Trade Unionists
By Bob Hennelly
On this Inauguration/MLK edition of Pacifica Radio’s We Decide: America at the Crossroads with Jenna Flanagan—our panel of commentators, including “Attitude with Arne Arnesen” host Arne Arnesen and Washington-based investigative reporter and editor Dave Levinthal take a look at what having Trump back in the White House means for the country.
NYC Doctors Urge ‘No’ Vote On Proposed Contract
By Steve Wishnia
Doctors in the New York City Health + Hospitals system reached what their union called a “groundbreaking new contract” agreement Jan. 13—but a group of members is urging a vote against ratifying the tentative deal, saying it doesn’t do enough to address the system’s “physician staffing crisis.”
United Healthcare’s ‘Sir Andy’ Lampooned on Wall Street!
By Bob Hennelly
This week, the big health care story was United Healthcare Group’s latest earnings report—the first since the murder of CEO Brian Thompson here in New York City on December.
Surviving Frank Rizzo’s Philadelphia
War Stories By Phil Cohen
In 1943, Frank Rizzo joined the Philadelphia Police Department, worked his way up through the ranks to captain, and was eventually appointed police commissioner in 1967. He not only supported, but encouraged police brutality, racism, and corruption throughout the department. Four years later, he was elected mayor.
Listen: Centerlight Bosses Cut Off Battling Nurses in New York
By Bob Hennelly
The death toll from the Los Angeles wildfires rose to 24 with another 16 people missing and the body count likely to rise. Over the weekend, firefighters made progress containing the Palisades and Eaton fires.
The New York City Council Doesn’t ‘Give a S#*t’ About Retirees!!
By Joe Maniscalco
A delegation of New York City Municipal retirees and supporters fighting back against ongoing efforts to push 250,000 former civil servants into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage health insurance plan emerged from a meeting with Council Member Erik Bottcher on Friday with arguably the most clear-eyed assessment of the ongoing crisis delivered thus far.
Medicare Advantage Peddlers Are Concerned About Retirees’ Anxiety!?!
By Joe Maniscalco
Whether you rightly want to it gall or chutzpah, the corporate profiteers peddling Medicare Advantage health insurance plans to retirees across the country have once again revealed just how craven and hollow inside they really are with their preposterous new ads promising recipients $900 grocery allowances.