The Chief

The Chief is a weekly newspaper and website reporting on local, state and national labor topics. The Chief's website is updated daily.

The Chief is a newspaper and website with a unique focus on labor and civil service, as well as on New York City and State government and associated labor unions. Founded in 1897 as an independent newspaper, it has recently expanded from writing solely about civil service to also include coverage of private-sector workers. A weekly print edition is available at newsstands throughout the city Thursday mornings.

11/26/2024

Six city workers were awarded the Sloan Public Service Award this year from the Fund for the City of New York, including Jade Bailey, the director of the New York City Department of Design and Construction Design-Build Unit, and Celestina Leon, the district manager at Brooklyn Community Board 4.

Celestina Leon, the district manager at Brooklyn’s Community Board 4 and recent winner of the Sloan Public Service Award, sought to become a writer but was having a hard time finding a job in publishing after graduating from college. “I wasn’t...

11/14/2024

According to a recent academic survey, nearly a quarter of rank-and-file NYPD officers who responded are “actively” planning either to leave the department for another law enforcement agency or to quit policing altogether.

The NYPD, already facing recruitment challenges following record numbers of departures in recent years, could be further stretched thin in coming years. According to results of a recently completed academic survey, 22.8 percent of...

11/10/2024

Scabby the Rat is in the midst of an month-long residency. The inflatable rodent, most commonly seen outside construction sites or side by side with striking workers, can now be glimpsed in a more rarefied atmosphere — a fine art gallery in .

Scabby the Rat is in the midst of an unprecedented month-long residency. An inflatable creature most commonly seen outside construction sites or side by side with striking workers, Scabby can now be …

10/22/2024

Dozens of members of the Professional Staff Congress/CUNY were arrested Monday evening during a protest where they demanded a better economic offer from CUNY as part of their push for a fair contract.

Dozens of professors and other staff with the Professional Staff Congress at CUNY were arrested Monday evening during a demonstration tied to a prolonged contract fight . More than 30 PSC members, …

10/18/2024

Chief columnist Ron Isaac riffs on what’s at stake in the upcoming manslaughter trial of Daniel Penny, the U.S. Marine Corps vet who strangled Jordan Neely to death on a subway train last year.

The trial of Daniel Penny begins soon. Two years have passed since the Marine Corps veteran choked Jordan Neely to death on a subway train. Motive of action and degree of intention are yet to be …

10/12/2024

Cab drivers and operators fear new NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission rules designed to meet a mandate that half of the city’s active taxi fleet be accessible by the end of next March will bankrupt drivers already burdened by plummeting income.

“We believe in the accessibility mandate, but it cannot come at the expense of the drivers," the the president of the city’s NY Taxi Workers Alliance said last week.

City cab drivers and their union say that proposed Taxi and Limousine Commission rules mandating that all new cabs need to be wheelchair accessible will bankrupt drivers already burdened by …

10/03/2024

Non-pedagogical CUNY employees represented by District Council 37, AFSCME and other unions have not yet received contractual raises or retroactive payments despite the fact that their contract was settled in January and ratified in February.

College assistants, custodians and other non-pedagogical employees at the City University of New York are growing increasingly frustrated as they await agreed-to raises and retroactive payments more …

10/02/2024

Hundreds of retired municipal workers rallied Monday, demanding that NYC Mayor's Office drop its plan to switch about 250,000 city retirees to a Medicare Advantage plan.

Roberta Gonzalez made $5,200 a year when she came to work for the city in 1973, as a clerk with what was then the Department of Health, Hospitals, and Sanitation. As the city’s fiscal picture grew …

09/24/2024

Following revelations that the city’s Covid czar during the de Blasio administration allegedly violated Covid rules by attending s*x parties during the height of the pandemic, members of the City Council's Common Sense Caucus and former city employees called on Mayor Eric Adams to reinstate city workers who were fired for refusing to comply with the Covid-era vaccine mandate.

Following revelations that Dr. Jay Varma, the city’s Covid czar during the de Blasio administration, attended s*x parties during the height of the pandemic, members of the City Council called on …

09/18/2024

The declining rate of restaurant inspections performed last fiscal year has been attributed to staffing shortages among inspectors, a recent report found. The president of District Council 37, AFSCME Local 768 believed that low pay and poor morale have caused problems with retention.

A shortage of inspectors has resulted in a 17-percent drop in the number of restaurants inspected over the last fiscal year, according to the recently published Mayor’s Management Report. During …

09/11/2024

Dozens of former NYC Department of Environmental Protection cops were shut out of retro pay even though most had been employed for the bulk of the time covered by a lengthy backdated contract between the NYC Mayor's Office and their former union, the troubled Law Enforcement Employees Benevolent Association.

Dozens of former city Department of Environmental Police Division officers are being denied back pay because they left the agency before the ratification of a lengthy retroactive contract between …

09/05/2024

Since May, dozens of UPS workers in a Queens facility have been forced to work nonconsecutive 4+ hour shifts. Workers say they don't have time to sleep or see their families and some now sleep inside the warehouse or in their cars between shifts.

The practice started because UPS eliminated the overnight shift in the Maspeth, Queens warehouse. Over 100 workers were given a choice: split their 6:30-3:30 A.M shift into 6:30-10:30 and 3:30-8 shifts, move to a different facility or become part-time.

In April, a month before UPS eliminated the overnight sorting shift at its massive hub in Maspeth, Queens, around 120 full-time warehouse workers were given a choice: they could take on fewer hours …

09/04/2024

NYC Probation officers OK new contract, but some veteran United Probation Officers Association members say the deal shortchanges their efforts.

City probation officers have overwhelmingly approved a contract with pay increases that conform to the civilian pattern but also includes considerable back payments and lump-sum ratification …

08/23/2024

As talks on a first contract run into a third year, National Audubon Society workers say they will strike in September. The announcement follows National Labor Relations Board findings that the conservation organization has run afoul of labor laws during negotiations.

Unionized workers at the National Audubon Society have announced that they will go on strike next month. The Bird Union, which represents about 260 workers at the New York City-based conservation …

08/15/2024

For the first time since the Empire Center has been keeping tabs on pension payouts, there is a “half millionaire retiree” among them. The retired health-care EVP and CEO was eligible to collect $503,128 a year in retirement benefits last year.

She was among 78 retirees who could take $200,000 or more in pensions payments from the NYSLRS - New York State & Local Retirement System in FY 2024, 44 percent more than the 54 who were eligible to receive that amount in FY 2023.

If you’re setting your sights on a comfortable retirement, you might want to consider a state gig in the health-care field. According to data compiled by the Empire Center, nine of the 10 …

08/03/2024

Six union officials were arrested Thursday after they blocked traffic in front of a high-end developer’s East 26th Street offices to protest its use of a shady demolition firm.

Hundreds of union laborers held a boisterous Thursday afternoon rally in the Flatiron District to hammer a luxury residential developer’s use of a notorious demolition firm. Laborers' Local 79 and …

08/01/2024

The World Trade Center Health Program faces another funding shortfall, but a bipartisan bill would permanently fund it through 2090.

With the World Trade Center Health Program once again facing a funding shortfall that could oblige it to turn away would-be enrollees within a few years, a bipartisan group of Congress members are …

07/31/2024

Claire Valdez, a worker and union leader originally from Lubbock, Texas, is seeking a seat in the New York State Assembly.

She says joining her union, Local 2110 of the UAW, changed her life.

The worst part of working at the combination Taco Bell and Pizza Hut Express was pumping hot water through the nacho cheese dispenser at closing. Mistreatment from customers, the constant …

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