(NEW YORK CITY) - Confirmation that five members from the same Emergency Medical Service Station in Astoria, Queens have been diagnosed with COVID-19 has their Unions concerned it’s a harbinger of a second wave of the virus. A spokesman for the Fire Department confirmed that they had been placed on medical leave from Station 49, but denied that there more»

(OCEANSIDE, NEW YORK) - Under the rubbery scowl of Scabby the Rat, about 100 Union Ironworkers protested outside Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital last week, demanding the hospital stop using a Brooklyn subcontractor with a history of cheating Workers to build the steel framework for its new utility plant. The hospital is using $158 million in Federal more»

(NASSAU COUNTY, NEW YORK) - There are parts of Mike Vikara’s job that he can’t talk about with just anyone and it’s not because he’s a Government Employee with top secret clearance or a mathematical physicist who deals with concepts few would understand. It’s because he works in a morgue. Vikara (pictured below) is a Forensic more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - The COVID-19 Pandemic has killed nearly 25,000 New York City residents, but while the worst of the public health crisis may have passed, its dire toll has triggered a second crisis. Shutting down huge swaths of the economy was necessary to save lives, but the deep freeze on economic activity has plunged the city into its worst fiscal more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - With a possible second wave of COVID-19 cases on the horizon as the result of new hotspots of the Coronavirus emerging throughout New York City, The Broadway League announced theater performances are expected to remain postponed until June 2021. “With nearly (97,000) Workers ‘who rely on Broadway for their livelihood and an more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - After striking Faculty and Staff caused the Brooklyn Friends School (BFS) to close for three days last week, the administration at the Quaker private school finally ceded to the BFS Union’s demands Wednesday evening (October 8th). Students were back in school the following day, on Thursday. Head of School Crissy Cáceres and more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - New York State should enact a law giving Workers a voice in setting Contagious-Disease Safety Standards for their industries, several City Unions urged at a rally in Greenwich Village earlier this week (on Wednesday, October 7th). “Who are the experts when it comes to safety in the workplace? ‘The workers,’” more»

LaborPress.org Editor’s Note: Ben Kimmel is a Member of International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 94, as well as a Mental Health First Aid Instructor, Certified Recovery Coach, Certified Professional Life Coach and Peer & Wellness Advocate. He can be reached at bennyk1972@gmail.com. A scaffolding accident at 250 Vesey Street in more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - The New Yorker Union celebrated Monday (September 5th) after reaching an agreement with owner Condé Nast for a specific Labor Protection in its contract shortly before a planned picket. After 95 years, Staffers at The New Yorker will no longer be at-will Employees, NewsGuild of New York President Susan DeCarava told CNN Business. more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - The Negotiating Committee of the Brooklyn Friends School Union has called for today (Monday, October 5th) as the start date for a Strike if the School does not withdraw its petition to decertify the Union. The Strike date was set after the Union voted by 96% to authorize a Strike - if necessary (120 voted yes to five no’s). The more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - As a group of Teachers facing layoffs tried to negotiate better terms with the Bright Horizons chain of child-care centers just before the start of October, a group of parents, children and other Teachers milled about under a construction scaffold outside on West 23rd Street. A little girl sat in a stroller holding a sign that read: more»

(NEW YORK CITY) – Scabby the Rat made an appearance outside CBS Morning News in New York City this week, courtesy of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 1212, which is demanding respect from the national News Organization after filing more than 20 grievances against the company for bypassing its Union Contract and more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - There’s a new standoff over safety at New York City Public Schools. On Sunday (September 28th), the Union representing Principals called for a takeover of city schools by New York State, CBS2’s Hazel Sanchez reported. In-person learning begins on Tuesday and Thursday of this week. The Council of Schools Supervisors & more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - The Musicians who perform and make music for television shows such as the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Dancing with the Stars and Jimmy Kimmel Live! have delivered a letter to the entertainment industry’s major television networks demanding fair wages, fair health coverage and equal residuals for work used on streaming platforms. more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - The attack on the World Trade Center may have been nearly 20 years ago, but the aftermath of 9/11 still reverberates for those who were tasked to put out the fires and clean up the rubble from what was left of the iconic buildings in lower Manhattan. Earlier this month, 27 Members of the FDNY who died from 9/11-related diseases related to more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - Dozens of Yellow Taxi Cab Drivers shut down Manhattan-bound traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge late last week (Thursday, September 17th) in a desperate call for relief from Mayor de Blasio. With tourism all but gone in the city and the bulk of Manhattan’s offices nearly empty, Yellow Taxi Driver-Owners have found it impossible to make more»

(NEW YORK CITY) – Last week, angry Hunter College Educators rallied outside the campus demanding random COVID-19 testing, room-by-room ventilation inspections and contact tracing. “Why are Hunter Campus Schools students, Teachers and Staff ‘not entitled to the same safety standards as all other New York City public school students?’ more»

(NEW YORK CITY) – New York City may have agreed to delay in-person classes for 10 days amid a potential Strike from the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), but for some parents it’s not enough to ensure the safety of their youngest loved ones. Earlier this month, Tanesha Grant, the former Administrator for the Wall of Moms Chapter in New York, more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - Correction Officers Benevolent Association (COBA) Leader Benny Boscio may just be two months into his presidency, but he’s ready to see some changes to the Incarceration System, especially as his Members have to currently work through the COVID-19 Pandemic. “I’ve ‘been a part of the Union for three-quarters of my more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - Wearing orange-and-black facemasks and waving “I AM WORTHY” signs that evoked the landmark 1968 Strike by Sanitation Workers in Memphis, more than 200 Construction Workers rallied in Manhattan on Tuesday (September 15th), as Laborers’ Local 79 and the Mason Tenders District Council launched a campaign against the more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - The Presidential Election of 2020 is just weeks away and to garner more votes, Danielle Deiseroth - a Climate Data Analyst for Data for Progress and recent panelist for the DNC Climate Council, believes Democrats need to campaign on Green Jobs now more than ever. “We tested the figures,” she said, “(and there are) more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - For months now, Thomas Schumacher's dining room table has been taken over by a master list of every Broadway show that's seeking to reopen or schedule an opening night - from the established "The Lion King" to the new "Diana: A True Musical Story." Since the COVID-19 Pandemic-related shutdowns, the Disney Theatrical Group President and more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - Local One Elevator Constructors have been crucial to the shaping of New York and New Jersey’s skylines for over a century. The Union represents about 3,200 Members living and working across the five boroughs, Long Island, Westchester County, Rockland County and New Jersey. Their trained and certified Members specialize in more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - The Trump Administration has secretly siphoned nearly $4 million away from a program that tracks and treats FDNY Firefighters and Medics suffering from 9/11 related illnesses, The New York Daily News has learned. The Treasury Department mysteriously started withholding parts of payments - nearly four years ago - meant to cover medical more»

(BROOKLYN, NEW YORK) - Last week made it abundantly clear to an increasingly impotent New York City Mayor looking to axe 22,000 Municipal Employees from their jobs and force Public School Teachers back into poorly ventilated classrooms in the middle of a pandemic - that he could very well have a genuine Working Class rebellion erupt on his watch. Late last more»

(NEW YORK CITY) – New York City is delaying layoffs for 22,000 City Workers after a Municipal Labor Union asked for more time to try and pressure the State Legislature to consider increasing the city’s long-term borrowing capacity, Mayor de Blasio said. Agencies were set to be notified Monday of the October 1st Employee layoffs, but now the de more»

Donald Trump has launched an all-out assault on Workers’ Rights and the Labor Movement. In many respects, the Trump Administration has followed in the footsteps of Republican Ronald Reagan - who wrote the book on weakening Unions. Trump has taken aim at Unions mostly through the National Labor Relations Board, (NLRB) whose job it is to protect more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - Scores of angry Municipal Workers and elected officials rallied Thursday (September 3rd) to denounce doomsday plans to lay off up to 22,000 city Employees amid a multi-billion-dollar budget deficit caused by the Coronavirus Pandemic. Urban Park Ranger Charlie Walden said he was already laid off in June and fears the worst is yet to come: more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - The MORE Movement, a collective of United Federation of Teachers (UFT) Members, associates of school communities and their allies, held an emergency meeting this past weekend to discuss authorizing a possible Teachers’ Strike due to safety concerns surrounding Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to reopen schools during the ongoing more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - Amid a still active pandemic, decades of underfunded schools with poor ventilation, and poor planning by the New York City Department of Education, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) is taking its first steps toward something it hasn’t done for 45 years: Strike. The UFT’s Executive Board is expected to vote today more»

(NEW YORK CITY) – Last week, Take It Back - a coalition consisting of multiple Construction Trade Unions (New York State Laborers Local 731, Local 1010 and Local 79; Cement & Concrete Workers District Council 16; Bricklayers Local 1; Tile, Marble and Terrazzo Local 7; and Heat and Frost Insulators Local 12) held a rally at 250 Vesey Street in more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - On Wednesday (August 26th), Monumental Women - an all-volunteer, not-for-profit organization created in 2014, unveiled a statue (Pictured Above/LaborPress.org Photo) seven years in the making, a monument of Women’s Rights Pioneers Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The organization was created with the more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - The loss of nearly 50 City University of New York (CUNY) Employees to the COVID-19 crisis is forcing the Union representing Faculty and Staff, as well as the heads of Hunter College Campus Schools (HCCS), to urge the delay of in-person classes scheduled for today (Wednesday, August 26th). The gravely concerned who took part in an August more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - New York State Senator Michael Gianaris (Democrat/Working Families) stood with Public and Private Sector Workers to announce a new Bill that will set up enforceable standards for workplace safety and carry penalties for employers who violate the standards. Gianaris made the announcement outside Bellevue Hospital in New York City as more»

(BROOKLYN, NEW YORK) - The head of a 153-year-old Quak­er School in New York City says that ​“Quak­er val­ues” are the rea­son she is try­ing to dis­solve the school’s Labor Union by using a Trump Admin­is­tra­tion Labor Board rul­ing that allows reli­gious schools to exempt them­selves more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - The president of the city’s EMS union is bracing for hundreds of possible layoffs and City Hall officials are warning firefighter jobs could be on the chopping block too. Mayor Bill de Blasio is planning to send pink slips to 400 EMS Personnel as part of a projected layoff of 22,000 City Workers due to a deepening fiscal crisis, more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - The Union representing New York City’s Public School Teachers said its Members would not return to classrooms next month unless the city met their health and safety demands - including testing all students and Staff for Coronavirus and ensuring all schools have a Nurse. The announcement from the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), more»

“Women ‘can do it all,’” says Deb Cronin (pictured above), a former Beauty Queen and Pro Athlete, lifelong Artist, mother of two and now Union Carpenter in Massachusetts, “but ‘unless you have family members who do construction, there is no one there to pull you in.’” So how did she, at 50 years old, make the more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) under Republican President Donald Trump-installed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is asking the American Public to believe that removing nearly 700 mail processing machines from plants nationwide is just a “routine” cost-saving measure - and not a brazen attempt to steal the 2020 Presidential more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - Claiming the New York institution behaved in a “discriminatory and retaliatory” way and violated the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) by laying off Union Members, the New Museum Union has filed charges against its employer with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The charges arrive in the wake of two rounds of more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - It took 11 years, but Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1180 never gave up its fight with New York City Health + Hospitals to Unionize Assistant Directors. That battle finally paid off with a decision that granted the Union the right to accrete hundreds of Hospital Workers in the title. But just how many ADs there are more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - New York City has entered into a "historic" Project Labor Agreement (PLA) with the city’s Unionized Building and Construction Unions to provide Union jobs and access to Union Apprenticeships to low-income and minority New Yorkers on city projects as part of the Community Hiring NYC initiative, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced. De more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - On July 29th, 17 Transit Workers were awarded certificates attesting to their completion of three-year Apprenticeships in Skilled Trade Titles within New York City Transit. The certificates were awarded by Transit Workers Union (TWU) Local 100 President Tony Utano, Training and Upgrading Fund Director Charles Jenkins, in conjunction more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - When The Strand alerted its Employees it was reopening on June 22nd, managers sent re-hired Workers a three-page safety plan ahead of their return to the iconic Greenwich Village Bookstore. “I looked at it and I said, well, ‘they’re taking it seriously enough,’” said Employee Bill Magee, a Member of United more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - It looks like there won't be a Strike at Columbia University after the Union representing more than 600 Maintenance Workers, Electricians, Plumbers, Painters and Security Officers employed at four Columbia University Campuses announced the two sides have agreed in principle on a two-year contract. After months of negotiations, TWU Local more»

(NEW YORK CITY) – “We ‘need to have proper’ PPE (Personal Protection Equipment),” long-time Nurse Stephanie McGrath said at a small lunch-hour rally outside the Veterans Administration hospital on East 23rd Street Wednesday (August 5th). “The VA (Veterans Administration) supplies ‘are below standards.’” more»

With people cooped up at home, video game sales have spiked up almost 20% over a year ago - but against the backdrop of growing earnings, the industry is facing a reckoning over how it treats Workers. The business of making video games is often a passion project, said Dmitri Williams, an Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Southern more»

(QUEENS, NEW YORK) – St. John’s University Journalism Major Giovahn Dejoie, 19, had high hopes when he moved to Queens and started working at Eulen American in the Fall of 2019, but less than four months into his job as a JFK Airport Baggage Handler, Dejoie started to see red flags: “One of the ‘first things was pushing two more»

LaborPress.org Editor’s Note: Want to support Essential Front Line Workers? Wear a mask in public and push your U.S. Senators to back Hazard Pay and other vital protections for all those helping to keep the Nation running. Pictured above: Stop & Shop Employee and Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU)/United Food & Commercial more»

(NEW YORK CITY) - Aramis Palma cleans and disinfects buildings at Columbia University. It’s a position that’s become much more important because of the Coronavirus. “It’s ‘wonderful.’ ‘I love my job,’” Palma says. “We are ‘essential, essential’ personnel." But Palma’s among more»