By Bob Hennelly

The miraculous rescue of 18 children from an aggressive fire at an illegal daycare center in Queens this week is helping to highlight a national crisis that’s only gotten worse with the closure of 16,000 licensed childcare centers across the country.

By Joe Maniscalco

Despite the roughly $340 million employers spend each year to crush their unionization efforts, American workers are filing more union petitions than they have at any time since 2016, and they’re winning more than 70 percent of workplace elections. So, how come most still don’t have a signed union contract after more than a year of trying?

BY RILEY JAMES

When my daughter was in second grade, she appeared in a school play as a member of the White House Press Corps. She could have tried out for the role of president, or vice president, or Secret Service agent, but she knew the role she wanted, because she wanted to be a journalist just like me, and she got it.

By Timothy Sheard

Editor’s Note: Tim Sheard is the founder of Work-Bites’ publishing partner Hard Ball and Little Heroes Press. We’re happy to share this little vignette of old-time New York City with you. Have a great work week!

My dad was a New York City newspaper reporter in the 1940's and 50's. On most mornings, he and his fellow reporters would clock in at work, and then go to the pub to start drinking.

By Steve Wishnia

Along with multiple vows to investigate the “weaponization” of federal agencies against the peaceful tourists who visited the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, another ritual of the Republicans taking control of the House this month was once again changing the name of the Committee on Education and Labor to the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

By Joe Maniscalco

Last week’s New York City Council hearing on changing Administrative Code 12-126 made two already obvious things a helluva lot clearer. They are as follows:

By Steve Wishnia

The Supreme Court heard a three-headed argument Jan. 10 in a case on whether employers have the right to sue unions in state court for property lost or damaged during a strike.

By Steve Wishnia

The Supreme Court is about to consider whether employers can sue unions for perishable goods lost during a strike by claiming they’re intentional property damage.

By Bob Hennelly with Joe Maniscalco

We’ve already reported extensively on the curious case of Postmaster Louis Dejoy and why he’s still has the job after, you know, trying to systematically dismantle the entire United States Postal Service. You can check out some of that earlier reporting here.

On the latest episode of the Stuck Nation Radio Labor Hour, NY Metro Postal Union President Jonathan Smith [APWU] discusses what he says is a growing disconnect between national union leaders and local unions regarding Louie DeJoy.

By Bob Hennelly

The last-minute decision by Congressional leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, to take the $3.7 billion in funding for the 9/11 WTC Health Program out of the $1.7 trillion Omnibus spending bill is being blasted as a betrayal by 9/11 WTC civilian survivors and the unions that represent essential workers that continue to lose members to WTC diseases.

Special to Work-Bites.com

Somehow, you just know when your temp job involves toxic waste things are not gonna go well. In this episode of “This Is Working” artist Jenner Bateman Grace interviews a worker who’s on-the-job experiences are both horrifying and hilarious…happy holidays! [WATCH IT NOW]

By Bob Hennelly

Courtesy of InsiderNJ

While the issue of Congress imposing an unpopular rail contract on the nation’s 115,000 workers that lacked paid sick time to precent a strike may have faded from the headlines, a series of high energy union rallies across the country on Dec. 13 are adding pressure on President Biden to issue an executive order mandating paid sick days for rail workers.

By Joe Maniscalco

Jennifer Bateman Grace has thought a lot about working — the nature of work, what it means to work, and what our work means to us. Those deep meditations have now resulted in an ongoing series of whimsical YouTube video shorts about working in America today — and they’re every bit as insightful as they are fun to watch.

By Bob Hennelly

Courtesy of InsiderNJ

It’s been a week since President Biden and a Democratic Congress took the draconian step of imposing a labor pact that most of the nation’s 125,000 rail workers voted down because it lacked more than one sick day per year. The last time this happened was in 1992 when President George W. Bush did it.

By Bob Hennelly

In the first direct vote ever by the rank-and-file of the United Auto Workers, members voted by a nearly two-to-one margin for someone other than Ray Curry, the incumbent president. But thanks to the crowded field no one candidate emerged with the 50 percent threshold necessary to avoid a run-off early next year.

By Bob Hennelly

The House of Representatives voted Nov. 30 to impose a tentative pact reached between the nation’s freight railroads and labor leaders back in September. The deal was subsequently rejected by the rank and file of four of the industry’s larger unions but approved by several others. The 290 to 137 bipartisan House vote came after President Biden requested Congressional intervention to head off “a potentially crippling national rail shutdown” on Dec. 9.

By Bob Hennelly with Joe Maniscalco

Despite two consecutive losses in court and ample evidence that Medicare Advantage is a bad deal for seniors — the City of New York continues to push it’s municipal retirees into a privatized for-profit health insurance plan.

The Adams administration and the heads of the Municipal Labor Committee insist healthcare costs are bleeding the city dry.

By Joe Maniscalco

Organizing working class power against entrenched systems of economic exploitation and oppression can take a lot out of you. But Standing Up: Tales of Struggle authors Ellen Bravo and Larry Miller also want you to know that it can fill you with something, too — love.

By Steve Wishnia

“Are you guys striking?” a young woman in a wool cap and ponytail asks a barista handing out flyers in front of a Starbucks in Queens, November 17.

Yes, says barista Faith Bianchi, giving her a short overview about the workers seeking benefits. “I was going to get some lattes, but I won’t,” the woman answers. A man standing nearby holds a “No Contract, No Coffee” sign, its red and green colors matching the holiday cups Starbucks is giving away.

By Bob Hennelly

With just 24 hours to go before the deadline for ballots to be postmarked for the election of the United Auto Workers leadership by the rank and file — one of the candidates for the top post wants a federal court to extend the process for another 30 days due to “widespread reports that workers are unaware of the election” and incumbent union officials have failed to get the word out to the members.