Work-Bites

WBAI’s “What’s Going On?” program and host Bob Hennelly devoted a special three-hour live broadcast on March 15 to New York City labor’s march against the Department of Government Efficiency’s cuts. We bring you the exclusive coverage in its entirety below:

By Joe Maniscalco

On Saturday March 15, scores of trade unionists, retirees, laid off workers, and their families took to the streets of NYC to march against the Trump administration's draconian cuts to the federal workforce. Here’s what the scene looked like on Broadway…

By Joe Maniscalco

“We definitely need to do something.”

Scores of working class New Yorkers—including laid off federal workers and anxious retirees—already pushed to the wall three months into the new Trump administration took to the streets of Lower Manhattan this weekend in a rebellious act of defiance that helped dispel some of the fear many have been experiencing.

By Joe Maniscaclo

On Wednesday, March 12, New York City home attendants forced to work round-the-clock shifts, while being paid for roughly half the time, attempted to deliver a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul calling out her role in perpetuating "violence against women." Building security outside the governor's Third Avenue offices refused to accept their letter. This is what the scene looked like:

By Joe Maniscalco

New York City home care workers hoping on Wednesday afternoon to deliver a direct appeal to Governor Kathy Hochul to declare round-the-clock work in the industry as “violence against women” were instead told to take their letter and walk it over to the nearest Post Office.

By Joe Maniscalco

New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams launched her mayoral campaign over the weekend hoping to distinguish herself from that other Adams already in office.

By Joe Maniscalco 

Arguably the most potent and powerful figure in the labor movement today has just declared that American workers—no matter what you do or what sector you’re in—now have “very few options but to join together to organize for a general strike.”

By Joe Maniscalco

The Chinese-American Planning Council, the highly influential social services organization at the heart of NYC’s battle to end round-the-clock shifts in the home care industry, may insist those slavish 24-hour shifts are unfair to workers—at least 80 home attendants working for its subsidiary are still doing them.

By Bob Hennelly

On this episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour, we’re talking about UAW 9A telling its members not back Eric Adams or Andrew Cuomo for mayor. Last week, UAW Region 9A Director Brandon Mancilla and Jane Fox, a member of UAW 2325 and chair of UAW Region 9A NYC Area Political Council, strongly urged union members and their supporters  NOT to rank former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Eric Adams in the upcoming June Primary.

By Steve Wishnia

Contract talks at Kaleida Health, the largest health-care provider in Western New York, began March 4. The almost 8,000 workers involved are seeking “improved staffing levels and added safety protections in the workplace,” according to the two unions representing them, 1199SEIU and Communications Workers of America Local 1168.

By Joe Maniscalco

New York City’s already ugly battle to end round-the-clock shifts in the home care industry took a brutal turn this past week outside the Chinese-American Planning Council’s 60th Anniversary gala on Wall Street when police hauled off 14 people and charged them with disorderly conduct.

By Ryn Gargulinski

So that means you’re unemployed? That was the first question I would often get when I started full-time freelancing in 2009, and the question usually came from someone in pastel-colored scrubs.

By Bob Hennelly

The Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour is kicking off Women’s History Month reflecting on the recent loss of civil rights leader Hazel Dukes, 92. FDNY Firefighter Regina Wilson, outgoing president of the Vulcan Society and the Vice President of the International Association of Black Professional Firefighters, talks about Dukes’ legacy, as well as the Trump administration’s assault on the federal civil service.

By Steve Wishnia

Donald Trump and JD Vance treated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky like two petty mobsters telling a bodega owner that they now own 50% of his business, two thin-skinned bullies berating him for “disrespect” because he wasn’t gushing thank-yous for the great deal they were giving him.

By Joe Maniscalco

None of the six candidates trying hard to succeed Mayor Eric Adams at last night’s nearly 2-hour mayoral forum at DC37 stood up for New York City municipal retirees fighting back against the Medicare Advantage push—save one.

By Bob Hennelly

On this episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour, Anne Goldman, RN, head of the Federation of Nurses/UFT and Rebecca Morogiello, RN, and case manager at NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, join us to explain how the need for safer staffing prompted the union’s recent vote to strike when their current contract expires later this week on Feb. 28.

By Joe Maniscalco

Pending New York City Council legislation aimed at stopping embattled Mayor Eric Adams from stripping municipal retirees of their Traditional Medicare health insurance benefits recently picked up added traction and three new cosponsors.

By Steve Wishnia

“How do you spell corruption? E-L-O-N!” about 250 picketers chanted in front of 26 Federal Plaza Feb. 19, in the first of two lower Manhattan protests to defend federal workers from the personnel purge by Donald Trump and his hectobillionaire hatchet man, Elon Musk. Five hours later, a crowd of about 750 filled the concrete island in Foley Square for an after-work rally.

War Stories By Phil Cohen

During the spring of 2008, 49-year-old Steve Garrett worked a second shift in the ICQA (Incoming Quality Control Assurance) Department at the Kmart Distribution Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. This small department was responsible for inventory control, product inspection, and organizing storage space in the huge warehouse. Forklifts were used to transport pallets of merchandise for these purposes.

By Bob Hennelly

On this episode of the Stuck Nation Labor Radio Hour, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is talking about the status of embattled Mayor Eric Adams.