News, Notes & A Bunch Of Observations Made While Getting Back To Covering The Western New York Labor Community Full Tilt In 2012:

First off, WNYLaborToday.com hopes that all our Viewers/Readers had a tremendous Holiday Season and Christmas.  It’s also our hope that Santa brought everyone, including those in the Western New York Labor Movement, everything that they wanted – because you know that you’ve all been good!  With that said, Your Regional, On-Line Labor Newspaper would like to wish everyone a healthy and prosperous New Year and Our Best in 2012!

You more than likely noticed that WNYLaborToday.com slowed down its Labor News Coverage down over the Holiday Season so we too could enjoy Christmas and New Year’s.  In fact, we took the opportunity to head out of town and traveled to Denver, Colorado to spend the Holidays with family.  It was the first time that I had the opportunity to visit the City of Denver and I came away not only impressed, but depressed that even with nine inches of snow on the ground – Denver found a way to not only physically impress, but take advantage of what it has, something that Buffalo - to a great degree - has not done over the years.  Two small cases in point: (1) While it’s set up like our Chippewa District, Larimer Square in Denver boasts many more cool and upscale restaurants and night clubs while closing out vehicle traffic so patrons can walk back and forth to sample its many different and eclectic offerings.  What really stood out were the strings and strings of large white lights that stretched from high atop buildings on one side of the street to the other – which created a warm roofing effect, even with the snow.  Horse-drawn carriages provided downtown transportation to several others areas where nightclubs and restaurants boomed, and what a nice touch that was; (2) Located on the corners of Denver’s major intersections were semi-large, back-lit signs that featured the names of the cross streets, which made it an extremely easy read.  Try driving around Buffalo and Western New York at night, squinting in order to try to make out the corner street signs – if you can see them at all.  On that note, why aren’t all the main lights on Route 33 heading in and out of the City from the Buffalo Niagara International Airport lit up at night?  You would think with the all cheap electric power we have coming from Niagara Falls that not only the 33, but all of Western New York should be lit up during the night-time hours!  It’s a sin they aren’t – especially when, all of a sudden, you’re plunged into darkness as you hit the Thruway exits or are heading back out to the airport.  What a nice message that sends to send our out-of-town visitors, huh?  All in all, Downtown Denver has it all: A booming Financial District; A Theater District; An Entertainment District; Gobs and gobs of restaurants, nightclubs and drinking establishments; Their Football Stadium; Their Pro Basketball/Pro Hockey Arena; Their Major League Aquarium; and – drum roll please: A Six Flags Amusement Park!  Geez, I didn’t even mention the nearby Denver Zoo, which I also got to see and also reminded me very much of the sprawling Toronto Zoo.  Now that’s one heck of a way to draw people, especially young families, into the Downtown Area – as well as to give them multiple reasons to stay and raise their families in Colorado.  But not us here in Buffalo.  Hell, we get excited about a hot dog shack opening up on our underutilized Waterfront that many of us – including myself – will never really see developed to its potential before we close out our lives.  It’s much like that promise that one day, we’ll see a new Peace Bridge – if we can first settle things with those pesky birds.  While it is a new year and there is reason for much optimism, Western New Yorkers can squarely point a finger at failed leadership over the years for not getting the job done.  Turf battles, ego and personalities have really stymied the growth of this area and it’s a real shame when one leaves to visit another City and sees what can be done by real leadership that’s focused on the positive - instead of the negative.  Well, as the eternal optimist says: You can either look at the cup as half full or half empty.  Problem is, here in Buffalo/Western New York, it really is hard to tell one way or the other.

Looking back at 2011, it was a pretty good and overall year for Organized Labor not only across the United States, but right here in Western New York.  It started with a Labor-driven victory that sent Kathy Hochul to Washington in an extremely heavily-weighted Republican 26th Congressional District over GOP Candidate and 1%er Jane Corwin (who hasn’t been heard from since).  Then came Labor victories involving the end of a lengthy lock-out of nearly 400 Union-Represented Employees at Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Western New York and a Master Contract Agreement between Kaleida and three area Unions: the Communications Workers of America (CWA), Service Employee International Union (SEIU) 1199 Healthcare Workers East and the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 17 in Buffalo’s growing Medical Corridor.  It was capped off with yet another amazing political victory - Democrat/Labor-Endorsed Candidate Mark Poloncarz sending Anti-Union/Anti-Worker Erie County Executive Chris “Da King” Collins packing in the November Election.  In addition, WNYLaborToday.com reported on a number of stories, including several involving local Teamster Unions that successfully organized new companies after being contacted by their employees.  What has transpired in this country over the past 12 months or more is helping show Unorganized Workers the real worth of having representation in their workplaces.  Hopefully more and more Workers will seek out Union Representation in their workplaces in the months to come.  Overall, the solidarity displayed by Western New York Labor was on full display in 2011, politically and in Collective Bargaining.  On a national level, beating back S.B. 5 in Ohio, successfully recalling several Republican State Lawmakers in Wisconsin and garnering more than 500,000 petition signatures to force an upcoming recall election of the Anti-Union/Anti-Worker Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (who initiated the GOP’s war on Workers’ Rights), were extremely big victories and showed the power of what Labor can still accomplish.  And you can throw in the growing Occupy Wall Street Movement that continues to amaze and bring together the 99% under one banner to ensure the 1% pays their fair share in taxes.  Hopefully, the Occupy Movement will now ratchet up its efforts and begin to inform and educate the masses on the importance of casting their vote in the upcoming elections.  While there was much to celebrate in 2011, Organized Labor cannot let its guard down.  The Year 2012 is yet another extremely important one, in light of the Presidential Election and the need to keep the incumbent Democrat in office.  While it never is easy, Working People – led by their champion Labor – has something more than the 1% will ever have – individual votes.  However, it will be imperative that Working People, what’s left of the Middle Class, the Working Poor and the Poor are educated on what the real issues are and what the ramifications will be if President Obama is not re-elected.   As CSEA (Civil Service Employees Association) Western Region 6 President Flo Tripi said at a recent Western New York AFL-CIO Labor Federation Political Action Meeting: “It will be very important to not only educate ‘our’ Members, but the general public, and it’s my hope WNYLaborToday.com will play a big role in accomplishing that.”  Your Regional, On-Line Labor Newspaper looks forward to continuing to get Labor’s message out – unimpeded – in the months to come.  However, WNYLaborToday.com will need additional and increased Union Support to continue to be Labor’s Media Vehicle here in Western New York.  Your Regional, On-Line Labor Newspaper needs Organized Labor to not only continually remind their individual Members that they indeed have their own source of Labor News to turn to, but stress the need to become individual subscribers to WNYLaborToday.com for just a yearly/one-time cost of $5.  If that can be accomplished, WNYLaborToday.com will become an even more important Voice for Labor in 2012 - one it can not only count on, but plug its Members into 24/7.  So instead of complaining how The Buffalo News, The Niagara Gazette, The Dunkirk Observer, The Jamestown Post Journal and The Olean Times Herald took yet another cheap shot at Organized Labor in one of its stories, it can count on its own media vehicle to do what no other outlet in the mainstream media will do – give Labor more than a fair shot to get its side of the story out to the Western New York public.

On another note, don’t forget to attend this Wednesday’s (January 4th) Public Meeting at 6 p.m. at John F. Kennedy High School - which is located at 305 Cayuga Creek Road in Sloan, where the Mail-Sending Public will finally get their chance to let the United States Postal Service (USPS) know what they think regarding plans to either keep the Buffalo Postal & Distribution Center open or merge it into a similar center in the City of Rochester.  American Postal Workers Union (APWU) Buffalo Local President Frank Resetarits tells WNYLaborToday.com; “We’re urging the mail-sending public to come down and voice their opinion of the proposed merging of the Buffalo Postal and Distribution Center into another in Rochester.  Now’s the time for people to voice their opinion and express their concerns.  After that hearing, the Postal Service will make a decision.”  For more information, please refer to the Labor News Story WNYLaborToday.com published on Friday, December 9th that was headlined: Merging Of Buffalo Postal & Distribution Center Into Similar Rochester Center Not Set In Stone, According To American Postal Workers Union Leader/USPS Plan To Reduce Operating Costs By $20 Billion Called “A Terrible Idea” By NALC Union Leader

And finally, WNYLaborToday.com doesn’t know if you saw this – but to no one’s surprise, the Members of the Don't Bypass Buffalo Coalition named Verizon Communications their Scrooge of the Year.  Citing policies that hurt the Middle Class, the Coalition said the designation is given to the greediest, most cold-hearted person or organization.  Verizon's decision not to extend its FiOS high-speed fiber optic service to the City of Buffalo was one of the reasons the Communications Giant got the Scrooge Award.  Said Don't Bypass Buffalo Coalition Co-Chair Ina Ferguson-Downing: "Verizon says their decision to bypass our poorest neighborhoods and communities of color wasn't intentional, it was just an engineering decision. We don't care why it's happening.  We just know it's not right.  Verizon continues to grow income inequality by investing only in wealthier suburban areas.  It's time for this to end so that we here in the City of Buffalo – students, families and businesses – can thrive."  Jim Anderson of Citizen Action New York added: "Verizon's corporate behavior in Buffalo is shameful.  Verizon has chosen to block the doorway of opportunity and advancement to residents of Buffalo by failing to provide access to the FIOS technology.  It's pure discrimination and corporate corruption."  Coalition Members also cite the on-going Labor Dispute between Verizon and the CWA as one of many reasons the company deserves its Scrooge of the Year Award.  They highlighted Verizon's policies of cutting jobs and benefits, along with its consistent policy of disinvestment in Urban Areas throughout Upstate New York - all the while collecting nearly $2 billion in public subsidies over the past three years.