By Joe Maniscalco

One of the unions New York City municipal retirees charge wields too much power inside the Municipal Labor Committee [MLC] and is helping to bulldoze workers into an inferior Medicare Advantage health insurance plan is being called “autocratic” and “anti-democratic” by some of its own members.

By BOB HENNELLY

Aiming to reset the debate over the future of the healthcare provided retired New York City civil servants, the president of the largest municipal union insists he wants the City Council to change the city’s administrative code — not to force retirees into a controversial Medicare Advantage Plan as critics claim — but to preserve all city unions’ collective bargaining rights.

By Steve Wishnia

With New York State beginning to license its first legal adult-use marijuana farms and stores, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union [RWDSU] is preparing to organize workers in the industry — even though most of the businesses that will employ them haven’t opened yet.

By Joe Maniscalco

The City of New York’s ongoing drive to force present and future municipal retirees into a for-profit Medicare Advantage healthcare system is exposing some of the most influential union leaders in town to charges of being “scabs” and betraying workers — but the head of the organization formed to help block the looming switch says there is a way out of the mess.

BY BOB HENNELLY

Last month’s brutal on-duty murder of FDNY EMS Lieutenant Alison Russo-Elling, who was posthumously promoted to Captain, is no longer front page news in a city that’s struggling to recover its pre-pandemic equilibrium.

By Bob Hennelly

A split within the Municipal Labor Committee over the future of the healthcare coverage for New York City’s 250,000 municipal retirees is playing out behind the scenes at the City Council over a controversial MLC proposal to change the city’s Administrative Code 12-126 that requires the City Council’s approval.

By Steve Wishnia

A proposed New York City law to abolish 24-hour shifts for home health-care workers has near-universal support — but only in principle. Opponents wanna know how to pay for it.

By Bob Hennelly

A veteran FDNY EMS Lieutenant was stabbed multiple times while she went to grab a late lunch on Thursday afternoon less than a block from her EMS Station in Queens. FDNY EMS Lt. Alison Russo-Elling, 61, was transported in critical condition to Mt. Sinai Hospital where she died from her injuries, according to a statement released by the FDNY.

By Bob Hennelly

In this week’s episode of Stuck Nation Radio, New York City Firefighter Regina Wilson, former president of the Vulcan Society, an affinity group composed of FDNY’s Black employees, discusses the status of race and gender equity within the fire department - plus the end of the vax mandate for municipal workers, and the ongoing battle for single payer healthcare.

By Joe Maniscalco

Amazon, in its quest to stamp out the smoldering sparks of unionization first ignited at its JFK8 fulfillment center in Staten Island, N.Y., earlier this year, is attempting to roll up the entire history of the American labor movement—the weekend, the eight-hour day, livable wages, safety standards, job protections, pensions—and incinerate it.

By Bob Hennelly

On this episode of Stuck Nation Radio we spotlight New Jersey public workers facing a major healthcare premium spike; the cloudy future for New York City civil service retirees healthcare; and a call to action from Rev. Dr. William Barber.