Work-Bites.com

On this episode of the “Iron Bill” Hohlfeld Show, Bill talks to retired locomotive engineer and Railroad Workers United [RWU] member Mark Burrows about the unfolding train derailment disaster in East Palestine, Ohio — and why members of the RWU say it is time for public ownership of the nation’s railway system.

By Joe Maniscalco

To no one’s surprise, but to the absolute horror of many — Mayor Eric Adams’ administration and the heads of the Municipal Labor Committee [MLC] have gone ahead and thrown back the blast doors on the nukes pointed at traditional Medicare health insurance in New York City and started the countdown to launch.

By Bob Hennelly

It came as no surprise to Maurice Walls, a proud TWU Local 100 elevator mechanic, that a recent City Council analysis found the MTA and its union workforce did a much better job keeping its escalator and elevators operating than the contractors doing that work for sites where real estate developers are responsible for their operation.

By Steve Wishnia

Better pay and job security, especially for adjunct and lower-paid full-time staff, are among the main priorities for the Professional Staff Congress as it prepares to negotiate a new contract with the City University of New York.

By Joe Maniscalco

The City of New York, like other places around the country, is plowing ahead with its long, laborious campaign to push municipal retirees into a for-profit Medicare Advantage program. The Municipal Labor Committee [MLC] — the umbrella organization representing public sector unions in the city — is set to present members with a “side-by-side comparison” between what retirees already have and “summary of the proposed contract” on Thursday, March 2.

By Bob Hennelly

New York labor unions are in the forefront of the latest drive to secure permanent funding for the 9/11 World Trade Center Health Program, which is set to run out of funding without Congressional action.

By Bob Hennelly

On the last Monday of Black History Month, it’s important for the labor movement to reflect on the sad reality that in the half a century since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. America's vast racial wealth divide has endured and, in some regards, gotten worse.

Work-Bites.com

On this inaugural episode of the “Iron Bill” Hohlfeld Show, we jump right in and confront the issue of union member malaise in the post-Covid era economy with Gina Liberti, adjunct professor and president of the Rockland Community College Adjunct Faculty Association in New York.

By Bob Hennelly

A New York City Council bill that aims to bring transparency and accountability to NYC’s opaque hospital pricing via a consumer-friendly website is a step closer to consideration by the full body after a Feb. 23 hearing.

By Bob Hennelly

On this episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour, we get an update from Doctors Council SEIU President Dr. Frank Proscia and Allina Mercy Hospital physician Dr. Amber Galarowicz about the campaign to organize physicians in the state of Minnesota.

In the second half of the show, we hear about two recent labor wins here in New York and New England…

By Steve Wishnia 

The city has reached a tentative contract deal with District Council 37, the union representing more than a quarter of the municipal workforce, Mayor Eric Adams announced Feb. 17.

By Bob Hennelly

While the abused residents of East Palestine, Ohio packed their local high school gym on Wednesday night to sort through the contradictory messaging from officials, freight trains with vast quantities of toxic chemicals rumbled through equally vulnerable and unprepared corridor communities across America. 

By Joe Maniscalco

The prospect of Bill de Blasio succeeding Marty Walsh as U.S. Labor Secretary immediately sparked incredulous feelings of horror and hilarity amongst working class New Yorkers who know the former mayor’s record best.

By Bob Hennelly

On this episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour FDNY firefighter Regina Wilson — president of the Vulcan Society, the fraternal organization that represents Black firefighters, EMS, fire inspectors and civilian employees — discusses what’s been accomplished and what’s left to do after the City of New York’s 2014 settlement of a federal racial discrimination lawsuit.

By Bob Hennelly

Speculation in the New York Post that former Mayor Bill de Blasio and former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney were both angling to succeed outgoing U.S. Secretary Marty Walsh was received with a mix of laughter and outright disdain during an informal survey of several New York City union leaders.

By Steve Wishnia

State Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens) and Assemblymember Latoya Joyner (D-Bronx), the chairs of the labor committees in their houses of the Legislature, have introduced a bill to require employers to take measures to protect their workers against extreme heat and cold.

Work-Bites.com

Husband, father, author, educator, Ironworker - Bill Hohlfeld has been all of these things and more in his life. Now, he continues his trade union activism as host of his own podcast for Work-Bites.com.

By Bob Hennelly

Throughout the recent hazardous chemical freight train derailment in Ohio and the four-day ordeal that followed while the flaming wreck was stabilized, the one perspective that was consistently missing from the reporting was that of the union railroad workers. It didn’t matter if it was the New York Times, the Washington Post, or the Associated Press , the reporting relied on interviews with local, state and federal officials as well as statements from the Norfolk Southern, the rail carrier but not the perspective of their union workers.

Special to Work-Bites.com

Being the leader of the pack certainly has its perks. But as the protagonist of Jennifer Bateman Grace’s latest installment of ‘This Is Working’ relates, it can also tear your freakin’ heart out and trample it on the ground — especially around the holidays. But it’s all in a day’s work for the working class. Enjoy!

By Bob Hennelly

Here are the full show notes for this week’s edition of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour: