The Chief

07/25/2024

NYPD post-pandemic exodus eases, but some argue more officers are needed to lift overtime burden on overworked cops.

Officer attrition at the NYPD, although still above pre-pandemic norms, eased somewhat in the first half of the year. Through the end of June, 1,119 officers had retired and 395 had resigned, …

07/23/2024

Volunteer firefighters in New York fear that a proposed OSHA regulation could make it difficult for them to continue operating

Regulations proposed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration would strap volunteer departments with exorbitant costs and make it difficult for them to continue operating, an advocate …

07/21/2024

Unscrupulous contractors in the city are employing recently arrived Central American immigrants, many of them women, on construction jobs and then not paying them. The Workers Justice Project - Proyecto Justicia Laboral said dozens of workers are owed a total of more than $100,000 in unpaid wages from just five employers.

For several weeks earlier this year, Maria Reyes, a recent arrival from Ecuador, installed, repaired and finished drywall at a 23-story residential project under construction on West 96th Street on …

07/18/2024

A last-minute infusion of New York City Council cash was not enough to save the jobs of dozens of community composting workers.

A last-minute infusion of $6.245 million into the city’s budget for community composting programs has not been enough to save programs run by several of the nonprofits providing the service and …

06/12/2024

Governor Kathy Hochul's congestion pricing "pause" could cost TWU Local 100 tradespeople $3.2 billion in work.

Labor leaders were nearly unanimous in lauding Governor Kathy Hochul’s directive to “indefinitely pause” the MTA’s congestion pricing plan. Designed to alleviate traffic bottlenecks …

05/21/2024

“We need these cuts to be rolled back and we need more than that,” said George Sarah Olken, the president of the Brooklyn Library Guild. “Everyone loves libraries. Everyone wants libraries to be open more, except for the mayor.”

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/city-libraries-face-prospect-of-5-day-weeks,52374

05/20/2024

As part of the budget cuts imposed by Mayor Eric Adams in the last two years, the FDNY has trimmed its overtime spending, instituted a partial hiring freeze and, most drastically, terminated employees whose health issues preclude them from working in the field.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/probationary-firefighters-death-spotlights-department-terminations,52372

05/17/2024

Nail salon workers are more likely to experience reproductive health issues and pregnancy complications, a recent report from the New York Healthy Nail Salons Coalition found.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/nail-salon-workers-face-higher-rate-of-reproductive-issues-survey-finds,52338

05/17/2024

A staffing company must pay more than $2.7 million to more than 300 temporary clerical employees working at several NYC Health + Hospitals facilities for misclassifying the workers, according to a settlement announced by the City Comptroller’s office.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/misclassified-clerical-workers-owed-27m,52303

05/16/2024

An increase in the incidence of a rat-borne disease in city residents, among them Department of Sanitation workers, has officials concerned even as mitigation methods appear to show that the ubiquitous rodent's population in the five boroughs could be declining.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/outbreak-of-rat-borne-disease-concerns-citys-strongest,52337

05/16/2024

“When corporations repeatedly use and abuse warehouse workers, they show us that their number one obligation is to their profits. This bill would guarantee that we have basic standards in place to protect warehouse workers from the worst of corporate greed and move us one step further towards true worker justice.”

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/federal-warehouse-worker-protection-bill-introduced,52367

05/15/2024

James Parra, who worked as a paraprofessional at the Brooklyn Arbor Elementary School in Williamsburg for eight years, was terminated May 1 after he was involved in several disciplinary meetings related to posts on his personal social media accounts condemning the killings of Palestinians.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/educators-say-they-were-forced-out-for-their-pro-palestinian-views,52373

05/15/2024

Warehouse workers, nurses, teachers, lawyers, librarians and union organizers from across the five boroughs joined 4,500 of their unionized colleagues for more than 300 workshops and panels.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/at-chicagos-labor-notes-conference-the-sense-of-solidarity-was-palpable,52301

05/14/2024

Pregnant bus operators suing New York City Transit for allegedly failing to provide them with reasonable accommodations urged the authority to address the issue.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/pregnant-bus-operators-demand-accommodations-from-mta,52362

05/14/2024

“We weren’t prepared for that day,” said Jerome Bridges, an employee at a Buffalo grocery store where 10 people were shot and killed on May 14, 2022. “That day was horrible for me. I still have nightmares from time to time.”

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/retail-workers-push-for-bill-that-would-boost-safety,52292

05/13/2024

The phenomenon of occupational segregation, where women and people of color are disproportionately represented in the titles with the lowest median salaries, accounted for 95 percent of the racial and gender pay gap among city workers, according to the report.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/women-of-color-most-hurt-by-municipal-pay-gaps-council-finds,52329

05/13/2024

The reinstated academy classes, each with 600 recruits, have been included in the executive budget, Adams said during a noontime press event in West Harlem. The six-month classes will begin in July and October and graduate, respectively, in January and April next year.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/city-restores-2-nypd-academy-classes,52299

05/13/2024

Fire protection inspectors at the FDNY won a long-sought 25-year retirement pension option that will enable many inspectors to retire earlier than before, according to a provision included in the Fiscal Year 2025 New York State budget.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/fdny-inspectors-secured-25-and-out-pension-benefit,52315

04/22/2024

A coalition of city retirees has drafted a letter to President Joe Biden calling for the federal government to put a halt to the privatization of Medicare and instead expand the public health program.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/coalition-of-retirees-demand-stop-to-privatization-of-medicare,52265

04/21/2024

A property management company must pay $119,000 in wages and interest to six workers at a condominium in Queens because it failed to pay them prevailing wages for more than two years, according to a settlement announced Thursday by the city comptroller.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/queens-condo-workers-reap-119k-in-prevailing-wage-case,52262

04/20/2024

Unionized graduate student workers at Fordham University have voted to authorize a strike in a near unanimous vote after 19 months of sluggish contract negotiations.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/fordham-graduate-student-workers-ok-strike,52258

04/19/2024

“I have a very strong sense of right and wrong, and I sense that what they’re doing is wrong,” Pizzitola said during a long conversation a few weeks ago.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/assured-and-intent-pizzitola-battles-the-city-and-a-few-unions-too,52243

04/19/2024

The FDNY will be mandated to provide every member of their EMS service with body armor and training in both self-defense and de-escalation, according to two bills passed by the City Council Thursday.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/council-passes-ems-body-armor-self-defense-training-bills,52261

04/19/2024

A union representing laborers is pushing for Governor Kathy Hochul to enact a replacement for the 421-a affordable housing program that includes a $40 minimum wage for construction workers — but other unions say that the proposal is far too low.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/coalition-of-unions-opposes-minimum-construction-wage-proposed-by-mason-tenders-rebny,52237

04/17/2024

The administratorship imposed on the District Council 37 Retirees Association earlier this year has been upheld by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ judicial panel, which ruled that the association’s leadership “do not have the capacity or apparently the will to appropriately safeguard the assets of the organization.”

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/dc-37-retirees-association-administratorship-upheld-by-judicial-panel,52232

04/16/2024

Starbucks workers at more than 400 stores across the country have achieved the first step, unionizing their stores in a bottom-up, rank-and-file led approach, but those organizing gains have yet to result in a contract for thousands of workers.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/council-staffers-look-to-spread-their-union-movement-nationwide,52231

04/12/2024

More than 60 elected officials have signed onto a letter calling on Mayor Eric Adams and NYC Health + Hospitals to settle a contract with resident physicians in the city’s public hospital system, who haven’t received raises in four years.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/hplush-doctors-push-for-pay-parity-gets-backing-from-electeds,52227

04/11/2024

The nascent, independent union representing employees at the New York City Council and the legislative body’s leadership have reached a tentative agreement for a first contract that includes pattern raises and protections from firings without cause. It also establishes disciplinary procedures and provides for overtime pay scales, among other elements.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/council-staffers-get-first-ever-deal-with-city,52198

04/10/2024

A United Auto Workers local representing public defenders in New York declined to comply with a congressional subpoena this week, arguing in a letter to a House of Representatives committee that its demands exceed its jurisdiction and threaten workers’ free speech rights.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/uaw-lawyers-local-fights-congressional-subpoena,52170

04/09/2024

The state’s correction officers have a new contract, but the possible closure of as many as five prisons this year shades the pact with a measure of uncertainty for the more than 17,000 officers and other personnel covered by the deal.

Read more here: https://thechiefleader.com/stories/new-contract-for-state-cos-but-prison-closures-loom,52228