‘Gestapo Nation’ - Inside the ICE Arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka
By Bob Hennelly
On Friday, federal immigration police seized Newark Mayor Ras Baraka off of a public street outside Delaney Hall, a controversial private prison, operated by the GEO Corporation, formerly known as Wackenhut Corrections Corporation. This for-profit, publicly traded, multinational employs 18,000 people at over 50 sites here and abroad.
Memo to Careerists Everywhere: Working Class People Need You to Get the Hell Outta the Way
By Joe Maniscalco
Two years ago at a Medicare rally for municipal retirees outside the gates of City Hall, IBT Local 831 retiree John Pinard expressed his utter astonishment and disbelief that a labor leader he considered “the most courageous fighter I’ve ever seen in my life” was trying to strip former civil servants like him of their traditional healthcare and push them into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage health insurance plan.
‘Well, Isn’t That Rich?’ — Speaker Adams Says She Will Do the Opposite of Cuomo and ‘Protect’ NYC Retirees
By Joe Maniscalco
New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams doesn’t think voters should believe Andrew Cuomo when he says he won’t try and push municipal retirees into a Medicare Advantage health insurance plan if he’s elected mayor this fall.
Solidarity vs. Cruelty: Thousands in NYC Protest Trump-Musk Destruction
By Steve Wishnia
Thousands of people crammed Foley Square May Day for a May 1 rally and march to protest basically everything the Trump-Musk regime is doing. “100 Days of Cruelty is Enough” read one sign.
NYC Home Care Workers and Retirees ‘Fight for Their Lives’ As City Council Speaker Focuses On Mayoral Bid
By Steve Wishnia
The amplified first half of a chant calling out City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams could be heard a block west of City Hall May 1, as several hundred people filled the sidewalk for a “Fight for Our Health and Lives” rally.
NYS Senator Drops Healthcare Bill a Year After Standing with Retirees Fighting Medicare Advantage Blitz
By Joe Maniscalco
Last year, State Senator Pete Harckham stood alongside municipal retirees and surviving 9/11 spouses in Albany, urging passage of a statewide bill protecting them from ongoing efforts to strip their traditional Medicare coverage and force them into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage plan.
Rebating the Stock Transfer Tax is Called the ‘Dumbest’ Thing NY Has Ever Done—So, Why Are We Still Doing it?
By Steve Wishnia
New York State has been rebating billions of dollars in stock-sales taxes to Wall Street for more than 40 years—and legislators and activists are making another try to change that.
NYC Retirees Like the Support They’re Getting From Mayoral Hopefuls
By Joe Maniscalco
New York City municipal retirees looking for a trusted ally in City Hall after current Mayor Eric Adams became hellbent on the Medicare Advantage push exited this past week’s mayoral forum at the CUNY Graduate Center generally feeling enthusiastic about the mixed field of candidates vying for their votes.
Fear of a Trump Monarchy Puts Tens of Thousands in the Streets…
By Joe Maniscalco
Elderly retail worker Thea Kindos stood out from the tens of thousands of other protesters who marched down 5th Avenue in New York City on Saturday afternoon to denounce the Trump administration and what many fear is his all-out assault on whatever might be left of American democracy.
Listen: Live Coverage of ‘Hands Off’ Day of Action
By Bob Hennelly
From noon until 3 p.m. today [Sat. April 5] WBAI's producers and public affairs team will bring you LIVE rolling coverage of the labor and social justice protests scheduled for New York City and Washington D.C. against the Trump/Musk junta's assault on workers' rights and the U.S. Constitution.
‘Don’t Tamper With My Pension!’: NYC Workers Protest Funding-Delay Scheme
By Steve Wishnia
Chanting “No more backroom deals,” about 100 people, mostly current and retired city workers, protested March 27 against a state-budget proposal that would delay fully funding pensions for almost 600,000 people until 2045.
NYC Council Runs Scared of Garrido, While Endorsements Anger Retirees
By Joe Maniscalco
District Council 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido continues to scare the bejesus out of the New York City Council.
In 2023, the head of the largest public sector union in town threatened to “withdraw support…money…endorsements—everything” from any New York City Council member blocking his attempts to help Mayor Eric Adams push the city’s 250,000 municipal retirees into a profit-driven Medicare Advantage health insurance plan.
And he hasn’t let up since.
Pressure on Hochul to Back Off on New Scheme to Cut NYC’s Pension Obligations
By Joe Maniscalco
Municipal workers—both active and retired—are being urged to rally outside New York State Governor Kathy Hochul’s Third Avenue offices on Thursday, March 27, to protest a new money-saving scheme many fear could blow holes in their pensions.
The Triangle Factory Fire Dead are Speaking to the Trump Era
By Steve Wishnia
Last weekend, I read my 5-year-old granddaughter Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers’ Strike of 1909, Michelle Markel’s children’s book about Clara Lemlich, the young woman who helped lead the “uprising of the 20,000”—the 1909-10 strike by women garment workers in New York.
Watch: Marchers Pack Broadway in Defiance of Trump, Musk
By Joe Maniscalco
On Saturday March 15, scores of trade unionists, retirees, laid off workers, and their families took to the streets of NYC to march against the Trump administration's draconian cuts to the federal workforce. Here’s what the scene looked like on Broadway…
Watch: NYC Home Care Workers Turned Away from Gov. Hochul’s Office
By Joe Maniscaclo
On Wednesday, March 12, New York City home attendants forced to work round-the-clock shifts, while being paid for roughly half the time, attempted to deliver a letter to Governor Kathy Hochul calling out her role in perpetuating "violence against women." Building security outside the governor's Third Avenue offices refused to accept their letter. This is what the scene looked like:
NYC Home Care Workers Refuse to Be Erased; March on Hochul’s Office
By Joe Maniscalco
New York City home care workers hoping on Wednesday afternoon to deliver a direct appeal to Governor Kathy Hochul to declare round-the-clock work in the industry as “violence against women” were instead told to take their letter and walk it over to the nearest Post Office.
NYC Retirees: ‘Who Needs Adrienne Adams As Mayor? Nobody!’
By Joe Maniscalco
New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams launched her mayoral campaign over the weekend hoping to distinguish herself from that other Adams already in office.
NYC Home Care Attendants Protest ‘Unlawful’ Arrests; Challenge CPC’s ‘Powerless’ Claim
By Joe Maniscalco
The Chinese-American Planning Council, the highly influential social services organization at the heart of NYC’s battle to end round-the-clock shifts in the home care industry, may insist those slavish 24-hour shifts are unfair to workers—at least 80 home attendants working for its subsidiary are still doing them.
Thousands of NY State Health Care Workers Are Still Fighting For Safe Staffing Despite Covid-Era Law
By Steve Wishnia
Contract talks at Kaleida Health, the largest health-care provider in Western New York, began March 4. The almost 8,000 workers involved are seeking “improved staffing levels and added safety protections in the workplace,” according to the two unions representing them, 1199SEIU and Communications Workers of America Local 1168.