May 18, 2012
By Dan Miller

On Mother’s Day, Sunday May 13, more than 50 Mothers and girls from Queens who are survivers of Domestic Violence joined 1,000 others to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge in the inaugural Milagros Day Worldwide Walk to celebrate their freedom from the abuse they once lived with by joining Dawn Diaz, founder of Milagros Day Worldwide.

May 17, 2012
By Marc Bussanich, LaborPress City Reporter
 
The federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics just released 4th quarter 2011 Airline Financial Data which reveals that the nations’ major airlines are doing financially great. But yet at Terminal 4 at JFK Airport yesterday, May 16, passenger service workers being organized by SEIU 32BJ marched through the terminal to protest their low wages and lack of benefits.

May 16, 2012

Just as LaborPress was ready to interview Kevin Harrington of TWU Local 100, we learned that an individual was struck by an oncoming L train this morning. According to the union, two to three fatalities occur each week. Harrington noted that the common perception is that each fatality is a suicide, but many times individuals are struck because they're inadvertently pushed off narrow platforms or they're inebriated. Harrington, who's the Vice President of the union's Rapid Transit Operations and represents all train operators and conductors in the system, said a close friend couldn't return to work as a train operator because of the trauma he suffered after someone jumped in front of his train.

Click here to view LP's interview with Kevin Harrington

On May 17, 2012 Employees of the New York City Housing Authority will hold a lunchtime informational picket from 12 Noon to 1PM outside of the offices of NYCHA at 250 Broadway in lower Manhattan near City Hall.

The focus of the pickets will be NYCHA's continuing diversion of scarce funds to outside management and construction consultants and companies, like Boston Consulting. Local 375 of DC 37, which represents civil servants in NYCHA including project managers, designers, and architects says that NYCHA is pouring tens of millions of dollars into consultant profits rather than using their scarce budget dollars to improve and upgrade housing projects.

Contact: Local 375, DC 37: 212-815-1376

May 16, 2012
By Samantha Saly

New Yorkers may recognize the Metropolitan College of New York name from advertisements in city subway cars alongside those for the college’s competition—for-profit institutions that prey on vulnerable populations. A non-profit, private college, MCNY’s mission is to provide a “purpose-centered education,” said MCNY President Vinton Thompson. “The correlation between lifetime earnings and the level of education people achieve is well-established. The differential in earning potential between people who have bachelors degrees and people who don’t has gotten larger, not smaller.”

May 16, 2012
 
Jack Kittle, IUPAT DC 9’s Political Director, said, “It’s not about union or non-union, it’s about exploited workers,” while pointing out the differences between two distinct work sites. Kittle talked with LaborPress about a range of issues DC 9 painters, glaziers, metal polishers and other tradesmen encounter on the job, as well as the union’s efforts in organizing new members and exposing contractors skirting prevailing wages.  

Click here to view LP’s interview with Jack Kittle

May 16, 2012
By Harry Kelber

It should disturb working people that President Obama and the Republicans have agreed on a list of spending cuts, amounting to a trillion dollars or more, without revealing precisely where the cuts will take place or how deep they will be.

Obama has publicly agreed that "entitlements" (Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid) must be cut. In a speech to an Associated Press meeting on April 3, the President boasted: "I've got the most liberal Democrats in Congress who are prepared to make significant changes in entitlements that go against their political interests."

May 16, 2012
Around Town - By Neal Tepel





The In-State Private Equity Program, which was founded in 2000 and made its first investment in 2001, partners with private equity managers who seek to invest in New York state companies that require capital for growth or to refinance ownership. The program provides investment returns consistent with the risk of private equity while also expanding the availability of capital for New York businesses. 

Highlights of the In-State Private Equity Program (as of March 2012) include: 
 

May 15, 2012
By Samantha Saly

“Real Talk, Real Time,” a radio show hosted by the President of the New York City Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association brings unionpolitics, support for working men and women, and a love of the city to the airwaves.

The Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association is the largest municipal jail union in the nation and the second largest law enforcement union in New York City. The radio show on WWRL 1600 AM brings President and show host Norman Seabrook into discussions with union allies such as Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, whom Seabrook endorsed for New York’s 6th Congressional District on his April 20 show.

May 15, 2012

Raglan George Jr., Executive Director of DC 1707, spoke angrily on the steps of City Hall about how Mayor Bloomberg's EarlyLearn proposal will not only prevent children from receiving high-quality, low-cost childcare and education, but will also contribute to job losses among his members. George told LaborPress that the union is hoping that a federal judge grants the injunction it filed against the City to prevent the implementation of EarlyLearn, while it also works with the City Council to address EarlyLearn's funding shortfalls.

Click here to view LP's Interview with Raglan George Jr.