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.

By Bob Hennelly

It’s Nov. 4 and tomorrow is Election Day. On this episode of Pacifica’s We Decide: America at the Crossroads, we look at how Close to 75 million Americans have already voted, and voters in North Carolina and Georgia have set early voting records. In nine states, officials reported half of the voters registered had already cast their ballots.

By Joe Maniscalco

The heads of New York City’s public sector unions are once again calling on Speaker Adrienne Adams [D-28th District] to spike efforts to safeguard the existing Medicare health insurance benefits thousands of municipal retirees and their families depend.

By Bob Hennelly

The other morning the quick drop in air temperature thanks to a near frost caused the loss of air in my tires requiring a stop by my local independently family owned gas station in Neptune, NJ.

By Joe Maniscalco

New York City Mayor Eric Adams attempted some nifty ducking and diving when Work-Bites correspondent Bob Hennelly asked him pointblank on Tuesday why his administration persists in promoting Medicare Advantage.

By Steve Wishnia

A state Supreme Court judge in Albany has annulled the state Department of Labor’s decision to cancel its investigations into wage theft from home health-care aides who worked 24-hour shifts but only got paid for 13 hours.

By Bob Hennelly

At this week’s regular press conference Mayor Adams refused to answer WABC-TV’s N.J. Burkett’s question  about when was the last time that he had spoken to former President Trump or his team.