By Steve Wishnia

The new cleaning contractor at two recently sold Manhattan office buildings is cutting workers’ pay by almost 30% and eliminating their health-insurance coverage, according to the SEIU 32BJ union.

By Joe Maniscalco

The New York City Housing Authority does not yet have the green light it needs to go ahead with plans to demolish the Fulton & Elliott-Chelsea public houses on Manhattan’s west side, but tenants say that hasn’t stopped them from telling residents the buildings are coming down and they have to go.

By Joe Maniscalco

The New York City Housing Authority’s scorched earth campaign to get rid of Fulton & Elliott-Chelsea [FEC] tenants refusing to leave their homes on Manhattan’ west side entered an even uglier phase this past week, but a Civil Court Judge’s ruling on Friday is giving residents at least some hope.

Work-Bites

Editor’s Note: Striking Starbucks baristas kicking off the “Red Cup Rebellion” in Brooklyn on Nov. 13 had a lot to say about their struggle against CEO Brian Niccol. But they also had plenty to say about the struggle all workers are engaged in, too. Here’s barista Rey Saho on the subject. 

The only reason we have fair work week protections here is because fast food and retail workers in this city organized and fought for it. Throughout history the capitalist class has never given us anything.

By Joe Maniscalco

Starbucks baristas launched their “Red Cup Rebellion” this past week in more than 40 cities across the country promising to escalate the walkout until it becomes the “largest, longest strike in company history.”

By Joe Maniscalco

Outgoing FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker on Thursday downplayed the significance of increasing emergency response times across New York City saying that his department is purposely “elevating” the alarming figures.

By Joe Maniscalco

Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani will be sworn in on Jan. 1 2026, but New York City public housing tenants currently being forced out of their homes in Chelsea want the 34-year-old Democratic Socialist to know that he has an “urban genocide” happening on his hands right now.

By Joe Maniscalco

Just launched this fall, the State University of New York’s Reconnect program is providing residents with an opportunity to change course or add a whole new chapter to their working lives with an Associate’s Degree in more than 120 different areas of study.

And the cost? It’s free.

By Steve Wishnia

Tenants in three Chelsea public housing buildings slated to be demolished argued Nov. 5 for a court order to stop the New York City Housing Authority [NYCHA] from trying to evict them or pressuring them to sign new leases accepting relocation.

By Joe Maniscalco

Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani declared victory on Tuesday night promising working class New Yorkers a “bold vision of what we will achieve, rather than a list of excuses for what we are too timid to attempt.”

Editor’s Note: The following is a response to Marianne Pizzitola’s open letter to mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani which was published here on Oct. 27.

The article “An Open Letter to Zohran Mamdani: Why Are You Ignoring NYC Retirees?,” written by Marianne Pizzitola and published in the October 27 issue of Work-Bites, is a distorted publicity attempt to help elect disgraced former governor Andrew Cuomo.

By Joe Maniscalco

The New York City Housing Authority stepped up its efforts to clear out the elderly residents living in the Chelsea Addition in Manhattan this week, forcibly attempting to relocate one resident against her will, according to reports and flatly telling everyone there that their building “will be demolished.”

By Steve Wishnia

City Council staffers rallied outside City Hall Oct. 29, urging the lawmakers not to take advantage of a loophole in their union contract that lets re-elected incumbents fire their aides without any reason during the first 60 days of their second term.

By Steve Wishnia

More than two-thirds of Uber and Lyft drivers who were “deactivated” say they did not receive any notice before their access to the apps was cut off, according to a survey of 341 fired drivers conducted by the New York Taxi Workers Alliance (NYTWA) and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF).

Editor’s Note: Marianne Pizzitola is a retired EMS worker and president of the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees.

Dear Zohran,

You speak often about fighting hate, combatting racism, Islamophobia, and injustice, and I respect that. But I must ask: do our values not extend to older New Yorkers?

Editor’s Note: Harry Weiner worked for the New York City Housing Authority for more than 30 years and is a member of the Council of Municipal Retiree Organizations [COMRO]. This is his open letter to comedy legend and Elliott-Chelsea public housing product Whoopie Goldberg. 

Dear Whoopi:

I’m writing to you as a fellow senior citizen with similar  good memories of Elliott-Chelsea Houses, which is in the midst of a crisis. When I worked there in the 1980’s as a Housing Assistant, they were both very desirable “projects” to live in…safe, well maintained  and a sense of community prevailed. Indeed, it was a source of pride that you were a former resident.

By Steve Wishnia

“What’s at stake here is our democracy,” Charles Jenkins, president of the New York chapter of the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, told Work-Bites as thousands of people assembled by Canal Street on the cool, sunny morning of Oct. 18.

By Joe Maniscalco

A humble memorial appeared inside the lobby of NYCHA’s Chelsea Addition on W. 27 Drive in Manhattan earlier this week honoring the life of a beloved neighbor who recently passed away with the threat of eviction weighing heavily on her heart.

By Joe Maniscalco

New York City retiree Harry Weiner spent just over 30 years working for the New York City Housing Authority before retiring back in 2008. After about a decade working out of 250 Broadway at the start of his career, Weiner decided to take a field assignment at the Elliott-Chelsea Houses on W.26th Street in Manhattan as a Housing Assistant.