Posts tagged New York City
Nurses union holding ‘Day of Action’ amid contract negotiations
March 3, 2023 // Public sector nurses are not legally allowed to strike because they are municipal workers. Any strike would be illegal and come with penalties, and even possible arrest for union leaders. They say they have other tools they can use but are not ruling out the possibility of an illegal strike.
Judge orders ex-jail union boss to be freed in bribery case
February 27, 2023 // Norman Seabrook originally was sentenced to 58 months in prison on his federal conviction for taking bribes to put $20 million in union pension money into a risky hedge fund. The union lost $19 million. But U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein said Seabrook's sentence is now unfair — because a co-defendant appealed and got his own prison term reduced to just over a year. “There is now an unjust disparity” between the defendants' sentences, Hellerstein wrote in an opinion Thursday. Hellerstein himself originally sentenced both defendants.
COVID vaccine mandate for New York City workers ends, unions pushing for back pay
February 14, 2023 // The city's mandate for public workers ended Friday, after nearly 2,000 municipal workers were let go during the pandemic because they refused to be vaccinated.
New York City teachers union holds ‘teach-in’ protest over wages
February 7, 2023 // United Federation of Teachers (UFT), held a “teach-in” protest last week, where teachers reported to work, but did not teach classes. Instead, teachers gathered in a room to discuss issues of their choosing, such as political subjects like environmental justice or labor. On UFT’s website, the union wrote that the teach-in protest is to “encourage engagement and activism,” but the purpose of this week’s protest is to call for a new contract. UFT said that the protest will “engage in a discussion about the power of our contract in shaping our experience as educators and then brainstorm actions your school can organize as part of our fight for the contract we deserve.”
City Workers Losing Patience With Slow Crawl to Union Contracts
January 31, 2023 // Most city employees are now working under expired labor contracts that lapsed as far back as 2020 — frustrating rank-and-file union members whose anticipated pay raises are tied up in an escalating battle over proposed changes to retired colleagues’ health coverage. Nearly all of the city’s roughly 300,000 unionized staff are working under expired collective bargaining agreements. They include members of the city’s largest public sector unions, District Council 37 (DC37) and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT). Administrative workers, school crossing guards, teachers, police detectives, sanitation workers and health technicians are among those eager to bargain for raises as well as potential new benefits, such as flexibility to work remotely.
U.S. labor strikes went up almost 50% between 2021 and 2022
January 18, 2023 // Union membership and strike activity has fallen in the decades since King’s death. But more recently, that has been changing. The number of strikes in the United States rose almost 50% between 2021 and 2022, according to Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. That pickup in activity has momentum.
The REI Union Effort Spreads To Another City
January 13, 2023 // REI workers in Northeast Ohio are aiming to make their store the third to unionize in less than a year, according to the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). The labor group said in a statement Wednesday that a “majority” of employees at the REI store in the Cleveland suburb of Orange Village had signed union cards and submitted a petition for a union election to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The board must ensure sufficient interest in unionizing before scheduling a vote.
Chicago Principals A Step Closer To Unionizing As Bill Moves To Illinois Governor’s Desk
January 10, 2023 // Chicago’s principals have been unable to unionize because they were considered managerial employees under state law. HB 5107 changes the definition of managerial employees to district employees who have a significant role in the negotiations of collective bargaining agreements or who create employer-wide management policies and practices. The Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, a professional membership organization that advocates for issues affecting principals and administrators, has fought for years for this change. Cristina Pacione-Zayas, Robert Peters,
11 Plead Guilty in Construction Union Bribery Scheme
December 23, 2022 // Cahill was the ring leader of the scheme, accepting envelopes stuffed with cash in restaurant restrooms from a construction contractor whose name was not revealed by the attorney’s office. Cahill introduced the contractor to many of the 10 others who pleaded guilty. Some of the other union officials accepted anywhere from thousands to tens of thousands of dollars in illegal payments. Cahill also directed the contractor on how to win union favors yet not have to hire union workers. According to the attorney’s office, the contractor would pay the bribes to the union officials to win projects in the jurisdiction of Steamfitters Local 638 in New York City and Long Island and Plumbers Local Union 200 in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
NYC’s New School tells students to attend class while professors strike
November 17, 2022 // Part-time professors at Manhattan’s New School went on strike on Wednesday — but the progressive university wants students to cross the picket line to keep attending classes while their instructors fight for better wages. Parents were stunned when they received an email from the university on Wednesday that said that despite the professor strike, the school “remains open and instructional activities are ongoing.” The school, which can cost upwards of $60,000 per year, said it’s encouraging students to keep up with their work through an “alternative instructional plan