September 20, 2024 by thechiefleader.com

Since 1897

Former FDNY chiefs arrested for pay-to-play corruption ploy

BY DUNCAN FREEMAN dfreeman@thechiefleader.com

Two former FDNY chiefs were arrested Monday on charges that they solicited nearly $200,000 in bribes between 2021 and 2023 in exchange for providing building owners and property developers with expedited inspections on about 30 different projects.

Anthony Saccavino and Brian Cordasco, formerly two top chiefs in the FDNY’s Bureau of Fire Prevention, were indicted on charges of bribery, wire fraud and providing false statements to the FBI.

The two men had been on modified duty since February when their homes and offices were searched by federal authorities. In a Monday morning press conference, Damian Williams, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York, said that the two chiefs created a “VIP lane for faster service,” accessed only through bribes paid to them through an intermediary.

“That’s classic pay-to-play corruption, and it will not be tolerated by this office,” Williams said.

The intermediary, a retired FDNY firefighter named Henry Santiago Jr., set up a business that, starting in 2021, promised the ability to expedite FDNY plan reviews and inspections, prosecutors allege. Santiago solicited money from business owners and developers that he then shared with Saccavino and Cordasco — sometimes in FDNY headquarters or during swanky steakhouse dinners — in exchange for moving Sanitago’s

clients to the front of the line.

FDNY inspections are typically conducted on a first-come, firstserved basis but, at the time of the alleged crimes, the Fire Prevention Bureau was contending with a massive backlog of inspections due to the pandemic that resulted in an average wait time of over two months. Several projects whose agents paid Santiago saw their sites inspected and plans approved in a matter of weeks, the indictment says.

Williams said Santiago had pleaded guilty last week and was cooperating with investigators. Santiago also set up a separate business that provided developers with fire guards to keep 24-hour watch over buildings that had yet to implement fire suppression systems. Saccavino and Cordasco were paid from this business to supervise fire guards at the same time they oversaw the FDNY division that regulates the guards, the indictment alleges.

According to city payroll data, Saccavino, 59, and Cordasco, 49, made $241,119 and $235,462, respectively, last year. They retired earlier this year.

‘Shakes confidence’

The federal charges of lying to the FBI stem from February interviews federal agents conducted with Saccavino and Cordasco, during which both denied that they had received payments from

Sergeants union, city clash over salary scales

Some in the rank make less than the cops they supervise, SBA says

BY RICHARD KHAVKINE richardk@thechiefleader.com

The head of the NYPD sergeants’ union says the city’s proposed contract offer for his members is decidedly unfair given that its pay scale in many cases provides newly promoted sergeants a lower salary than the officers they supervise.

Additionally, the salary ladder is skewed such that some recently promoted sergeants are earning more than sergeants who have years in the rank, according to the Sergeants Benevolent Association.

Taken together, those aspects have the potential to sow discord and strain relationships among members, the union said in a note to SBA members. It could also negatively impact police work.

The union’s president, Vincent Vallelong, said the SBA has conveyed to the Office of Labor Relations how the lag in pay is impacting morale among its members. City labor officials, though, have refused to budge as unit bargaining drags on without a resolution, he said.

Of the roughly 4,500 sergeants on the force, about 1,400 are making less than a police officer, Vallelong said. “Why am I going to settle a deal when they’re not looking to correct the problem with at least 1,400 members,” including many who scored high on their promotion test, he said.

The disparities in pay between sergeants and those they supervise happen because those sergeants

were promoted before the ratification of some NYPD contracts. Conversely, nearly 900 newly promoted sergeants are paid more than those who ascended to the rank before them because they were placed on a higher step on the salary scale when they were party to the enhanced terms of a new contract for police officers. According to Vallelong, newly promoted sergeants will only surpass police officers making top pay when they themselves reach max pay for the rank. It can take four full years, or five salary steps, for sergeants to start earning more than the detectives and officers they are supervising, according to the salary chart compiled by the union. Vallelong said the city’s labor negotiators were not bargaining in good faith. The deal was presented as “a take it or leave it” offer at the end of July, he said. Vallelong added that Renee Campion, the commissioner Office of Labor Relations, has said that what the SBA is requesting would break the established wage pattern. “You basically need to get to the fifth step in order to be making more than a police officer,” he said in an interview last week. “All I’m asking you for is to correct these

See SERGEANTS, page 7

BY DUNCAN FREEMAN dfreeman@thechiefleader.com

First responders suffering from illnesses related to the September 11th terrorist attacks could finally learn what the city knew about the toxic cloud that lingered above ground and downtown for months after the attacks under a City Council resolution proposed last week.

The binding resolution, introduced by Council Member Gale Brewer, would compel the city’s Department of Investigation to probe City Hall and city agencies for information about the airborne toxins, details that have so far been withheld from the public. Brewer said she introduced the resolution to get answers for a community of survivors and heroes that has been seeking them for more than two decades.

“This is public information, this is not private information, and it should be available to the public in a transparent fashion,” Brewer said in an interview Sept. 11. “Every bit of information should be available for people undergoing treatment. This could be beneficial to people who are sick, which is incredibly important.”

More than twice the number of people who were killed in the immediate aftermath of the attacks have since passed away from illnesses tied to their time on the pile or downtown. More than 130,000 people are enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

Lawsuits from survivors and freedom of information act requests from advocates have failed to compel the city to release information about the toxic cloud. Elected offi-

cials have also tried to get the information, with representatives Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman appealing to Mayor Eric Adams directly in a letter in April.

“The City still refuses to be transparent about what the Giuliani Administration knew about the danger of the toxins that covered lower Manhattan and Western Brooklyn at the same time it was publicly stating that it was safe for the public to return to the area surrounding Ground Zero,” the representatives wrote. “To this day, thousands of New Yorkers and countless first responders continue to deal with the health impacts of the toxins that were in the air at that time. The City dishonors these men and women, many now dead, by refusing to open

Chief Anthony Saccavino, the head of the Fire Prevention Bureau, pictured, and his deputy, Chief Brian Cordasco, were arrested Monday on charges of bribery, wire fraud and providing false statements to investigators.

Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

The president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, Vincent Vallelong, and Mayor Eric Adams shook hands following the city’s announcement of a tentative 5-year contract agreement with the Uniformed Officers Coalition in June of last year. The SBA has yet to agree to salary terms with the city during the subsequent unit bargaining portion of the contract deal.

See CHIEFS, page 7

Restaurant inspections declined in FY24

Report cites staff shortage at Health Department for 17% drop

BY CRYSTAL LEWIS clewis@thechiefleader.com

A shortage of inspectors has resulted in a 17-percent drop in the number of restaurants inspected over the last fiscal year, according to the recently published Mayor’s Management Report.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene conducted health inspections at 66.4 percent of restaurants, a decline from the 83.4 percent of restaurants inspected in FY 2023.

The report attributed the decrease to a shortage of inspectors.

“There absolutely is a shortage of public health inspectors. From what I’ve heard, it’s as low as 20 percent and as high as 35 percent,” said Carmen De León, the president of District Council 37’s Local 768, which represents public health sanitarians who perform food safety and rodent inspections at the city’s 25,000 restaurants, bars and nightclubs.

The shortages were particularly bad among senior inspectors, who supervise the sanitarians. “From what I know [the city is] trying to hire field inspectors, but they’re not hiring senior inspectors,” she said during a phone interview Tuesday.

De León said that there have been attrition issues for years. “They can get somebody in the door, but they’re usually gone in one-to-two years,” she explained.

A recently published report found that the percentage of restaurants

city that have been inspected has decreased due to a

The head of the union that represents the

health sanitarians, estimated that the

Low pay has contributed to the retention issues. De León said that the sanitarians start out earning about $50,000. Working conditions caused by understaffing have been a factor as well. “My members, their morale is low because they can’t do the level of inspections the city deserves and they feel bad about it,” she said. “I hear it all the time.”

The union leader is hoping that the city will review and revise some of the requirements for the job, including that they call for a four-year degree. The Adams administration has been working to reform the minimum qualifications for several

as 35 percent.

entry-level civil service titles.

“There’s nothing wrong with expanding the pool of candidates,” De León said, arguing that the types of degrees that are qualified for the position could potentially be reconsidered. “That’s one of the things that needs to be looked at.”

She also questioned the process for public health sanitarians seeking to become Level IIs, which requires them to not only go through a food safety certification program but to also get a satisfactory review. “That’s one of the things the local will be looking to address,” she said.

A spokesperson for the Health

Department said that the agency’s food safety program “is actively recruiting to bring on staff and is currently training a class of new restaurant inspectors. Over July and August of this year (Fiscal Year 25), the Health Department inspected 37% more restaurants compared to July and August of 2023.”

Vacancy rate declines

The Mayor’s Management Report, released Tuesday, also found that the Health Department conducted 150,000 initial rodent inspections in FY 2024, which was 29,000 fewer than during the previous fiscal year. The report also attributed this decline to staffing challenges.

In a statement, the department said that it has added pest control staff and is “training hundreds of New Yorkers on the best ways to control rats on their property, including as part of the City’s Rat Pack initiative. For example, this year alone, we have had about 800 participants join our trainings and over 6,000 people have participated in Rat Academy since 2019.”

The spokesperson added, “The Health Department works day-andnight to ensure livability, health and hygiene are protected and promoted. New Yorkers deserve rat-free streets and restaurants that follow food service rules.”

Although staffing shortages have plagued the municipal workforce since the onset of the pandemic, the city’s vacancy rate has declined, according to data from the City Comptroller’s Office. The city had 15,777 vacancies as of Aug. 31, or a 5.27 percent vacancy rate, quite a bit

lower than the peak rate of 8.4 per-

cent in December 2022.

City Hall recently announced that nearly 8,500 New Yorkers were connected with employment, training or workforce development at 26 hiring halls that were held between February and July. The hiring halls hosted a range of private, nonprofit and public-sector employers. Despite these strides, staffing challenges are still evident. According to the report, they include a 47-percent decrease in enforcement activity over the last fiscal year by Department of Environmental Protection officers who patrol the city’s drinking water supply.

That agency’s vacancy rate exceeds the citywide average, at 12.37 percent, according to the City Comptroller’s Office. And Bruce Mateer, the Environmental Police Benevolent Association’s citywide secretary, previously told The Chief that their attrition rate was high, particularly among young officers.

DEP did not immediately return a request for comment.

But the report did find that hiring efforts, particularly at the Human Resources Administration and NYCHA, have helped improve service. The percentage of cash assistance applications that were processed by HRA within the required 30 days increased from 28.8 percent in FY 2023 to 42.4 percent last fiscal year thanks to the city’s efforts to fill vacancies.

The number of applications processed on time managed to increase as the number of applications received also rose by 14 percent. However, that figure was still well below pre-pandemic levels — in FY 2020, the timeliness rate was 91.9 percent.

Bird Union, Audubon agree on tentative contract

Provisional deal follows 2.5 years of negotiations, NLRB complaints

BY RICHARD KHAVKINE richardk@thechiefleader.com

The union representing about 260 workers and the National Audubon Society have reached a tentative contract agreement, averting a planned employee walkout that had been scheduled for three days last week. If approved by the rank and file, the provisional three-year deal between the Bird Union and the New York City-based conservation organization would culminate roughly two and half years of negotiations. The tentative contract includes 7-percent annual pay raises for Bird Union members, which would be achieved through a 3-percent annual across-the-board increase and up to 4 percent in potential merit

increases. The deal would also establish a foundation of union rights, among them just-cause protections, representation and due process, as well as a grievance and arbitration procedure, according to a spokesperson with the Communications Workers of America, with which the Bird Union is affiliated.

Union members would also win the right to appeal their merit score to the society’s labor relations department. And they would get 12

OSA TRAINING COURSE

FOR THE 2024 A SSOCIATE STAFF ANALYST EXAM

The Department of Citywide Administrative Services has scheduled an Associate Staff Analyst exam later this year Filing for the exam runs from September 4-24, 2024 The Notice of Exam, including the date of the written exam, will be posted on DCAS’s website (http://nyc gov/examsforjobs) at the beginning of the filing period

As the union representing Associate Staff Analysts, the Organization of Staff Analysts will offer one-on-one application assistance from September 9-20, 2024 In addition, an 8 week classroom-style training class will be offered from September 30th through November 22nd from 6-9pm

# # # # # # # # # #

Application assistance and exam training will be held at the OSA office, 220 East 23rd Street, Ste 707, between Second and Third Aves. Assistance is free for those in OSA-represented titles If you don’t work for the City or you are not in an OSA-represented title, you can get our assistance by paying $97.50 in a money order payable to “OSART.”

To set up an appointment for application assistance or to sign up for exam training, call George Morgan at (212) 686-1229 between 8am and 3pm weekdays Complete and print the OSART form on the “Exams, Lists & Training” tab of the OSA website (www osaunion org) and bring it, along with your money order, to your application assistance session or your first classroom training session.

The schedule and materials for the training classes will be posted on the union website (www osaunion org) under the “Exams, Lists and Training” tab, along with videos of prior training in our title series

weeks of fully paid parental leave, a six-fold increase from the previous two weeks of paid leave. The ratification vote is scheduled for Sept. 20-23.

“We are incredibly proud of our fellow Bird Union-CWA Local 1180 members and their solidarity that has sustained us through more than two years of negotiations. For every member who has walked a practice picket line, spoken out for the contract they deserved, or joined their coworkers for a union action, you built this,” the Bird Union’s bargaining committee said in a statement.

“In negotiating and organizing for a first contract, our members have built a foundation for the future of all Audubon workers to have a voice on the job.”

The Society, also in a statement, said it was “pleased to have reached a mutually beneficial tentative agreement with the Bird Union.”

The Bird Union’s bargaining unit includes full time and regular part-time workers in Audubon’s development, finance, IT, marketing, content, communications, conservation and other departments.

Although negotiations, which are being overseen by a federal mediator, were said to have yielded tentative agreements on several issues months ago, the two sides had remained far apart on the big-ticket items of salary and benefits.

The provisional agreement’s announcement followed by about three weeks a finding from the National Labor Relations Board that Audubon management has run afoul of federal labor laws by “failing and refusing to bargain” with the union representing members over a first contract.

Among other issues, the NLRB found that Audubon negotiators have refused to furnish the union with pro-forma financials, summaries of operating costs and detailed rundowns of wage and fringe benefit costs for non-union employees, all of which the board said are “necessary for, and relevant to, the Union’s performance of its duties as

the exclusive collective-bargaining representative.”

The complaint also said that the conservation organization hindered negotiations by refusing to provide salary surveys and other documents the board said were necessary and relevant to contract talks.

The board was also critical of Audubon for offering benefits to non-represented staff but not union members. The benefits, which the organization started offering in April 2023 as contract negotiations entered their second year, include increased family-leave time, Fridays off between Memorial Day and Labor Day, student loan assistance and a bonus and recognition program, among others.

The board’s complaint, signed by the NLRB’s regional director for the New York City region, John D. Doyle Jr., called that arrangement discriminatory and “inherently destructive of the rights guaranteed employees” under federal labor law.

About a week later, the Bird Union, organized under the auspices of New York City-based Communications Workers of America Local 1180, announced it would strike for three days starting Sept. 10.

A hearing on the complaint’s findings is scheduled for Dec. 9 in New York City. According to the CWA, the Audubon Society filed a counterclaim arguing that the NLRB’s structure is unconstitutional. In part, the filing argues that the board’s framework violates the separation of powers doctrine since the NLRB’s administrative judges and board members are shielded from dismissal. That argument and others are similar to those made by SpaceX, Elon Musk’s company, earlier this year.

If successful, SpaceX’s challenge, which has been joined by Starbucks, Amazon and Trader Joe’s, could in effect dismantle the NLRB and significantly alter how organizing campaigns and elections are governed, as well as how workers’ rights and other worker-employer disputes are resolved.

Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

across the

shortage of inspectors.

restaurant inspectors, known as public

vacancy rate was as high

Courtesy of the Bird Union

Unionized workers with the National Audubon Society rallied outside at the northern Colorado location where the nonprofit held its leadership conference last November. The Bird Union, which represents about 260 of the organization’s workers, and the conservation organization have reached a tentative agreement on a contract.

NLRB, DOJ team up to protect workers

BY CRYSTAL LEWIS clewis@thechiefleader.com

Federal labor law is the groundwork that guarantees workers will get a fair shake in the workplace, and it’s that foundation that has guided Jennifer Abruzzo during her tenure as the National Labor Relations Board’s general counsel.

The National Labor Relations Act “is about equalizing bargaining power between employers and employees,” Abruzzo said at a forum held at CUNY School of Law in her home borough of Queens Sept. 12. “It’s a pro-worker statute and so that’s the lens within which I’ve worked everyday that I’ve worked at the NLRB.”

Late last month, the NLRB, the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, the Department of Labor and the Federal Trade Commission announced that the agencies have signed a memorandum of under-

standing to collaborate on labor issues in antitrust merger investigations to further protect workers.

Abruzzo, who was joined by Jonathan Kanter, the assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, said this “whole government” approach to addressing enforcing workers’ rights began in recent years.

“When we started out, both of us in 2021, there wasn’t that relationship, no one was thinking like that.

We were all kind of siloed and the Biden-Harris administration was all about ‘Get out of your silos. Start talking to one another,’” she said.

“The fact that we were able to educate each other about what we do and how there is so much interplay, it just helps everybody — communities, the economy, everything.”

Kanter noted that, for the first time ever, a merger was blocked on a labor theory when a federal judge barred a proposal for Penguin Ran-

dom House to buy Simon & Schus-

ter in 2022. The DOJ argued that the merger would lessen competition and decrease author compensation.

“We were particularly concerned about the people who write books, who would as a result of this merger would get less money. These are professional authors who rely on advances in one year to fund their research. And we won,” Kanter told students and reporters gathered at the law school’s auditorium.

“When we see a concentrated economy, one that is dominated by monopolies … the harm isn’t just to consumers, the harm isn’t just to competitors — the harm is to workers, people who benefit from that competition,” he noted. Kanter added that the case “provided a framework for us … to say ‘OK, when a merger comes in, we’re not just going to look at it to determine whether it’s going to raise prices or reduce output or squash innovation, we’re also going to look at to make sure that it doesn’t harm the ability of workers to get the benefits of competition.’”

Misclassification rampant

The misclassification of employees was another area where antitrust laws and labor laws have intersected. Kanter pointed to the 2021

OK divest motion

BY DUNCAN FREEMAN dfreeman@thechiefleader.com

Jeff Oshins, the president of District Council 37 Local 3005, resigned from his post Sept. 11, just days before the union was set to hold a special meeting to discuss divesting members’ pensions from Israeli stocks and bonds.

The president of Local 3005 since it was formed in 2018, Oshins has yet to publicly cite a reason for his resignation as head of the roughly 1,000-member local. Some members were informed of Oshins’ resignation on Sept. 12 by Samantha Rappa-Giovagnoli, the union’s new president. Oshins, in a phone call with The Chief that day, said he had no comment. After rank-and-file members felt that their discussions about divestment were being blocked by Oshins, 63 of them signed a petition that forced Oshins to schedule an open conversation on the topic. That followed nearly two years of conflict between Oshins and rank and file members who felt that the union leader was stifling member engagement and preventing internal discussion about the conflict in the Gaza Strip. Rappa-Giovagnoli convened the pre-planned special meeting on divestment Monday night. Around 90 members voted overwhelmingly to pass a motion calling for divestment.

“Local 3005 shall support a statement of divestment of NYCERS pensions from all Israeli bonds and holdings in industries that fund and profit from the ongoing genocide in Palestine,” the motion reads. Union leadership must post the motion on the local’s website and send a letter to NYCERS board, according to the motion.

Members who attended the meeting said that there was over an hour of debate and discussion about the motion, the conflict in the Gaza Strip and possible legal ramifications. After a delay during which Rappa-Giovagnoli briefly left the meeting, 92 percent of members in attendance voted in support of the motion.

“I was frustrated at first but I’m glad with the outcome,” said Adeeba A. Khan, a city research scientist who sanctioned the motion. “We were extremely happy when the motion passed. It felt like we were finally heard.”

This is the first time a DC 37 local has passed a motion calling for divestment from Israeli stocks and bonds since the current conflict in the Gaza Strip began. In June, City Council staffers represented by the Association of Legislative

Employees became the first group of public sector workers in the city to pass an Israeli divestment resolution.

Rappa-Giovagnoli, the vice president under Oshins, did not return several phone calls or an email.

‘Very much aligned’

Although he’s left union leadership, Oshins plans to stay in his job as a city research scientist in the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. An automated response from his email read, in part, “effective 9/11/24, please note that I am no longer the President of Local 3005 since I have decided to step down.”

Members involved in collecting signatures for Monday’s meeting were blindsided by Oshins’ resignation.

“Obviously it’s very surprising, we were not anticipating this at all,” said Kate Klein, a Local 3005 member who, like Oshins, works as a city research scientist at the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. “We wish Jeff the best.”

But Klein said that she expects Rappa-Giovagnoli to be more sympathetic to rank and file engagement and open to having discussions on issues members are passionate about.

“As far as I can tell [Rappa-Giovagnoli and I] are very much aligned on being open, being transparent and allowing members to participate in meetings in a democratic manner.” she said. “Samantha is much more aligned with our goals. She’s always been open to new ideas.”

Since Rappa-Giovagnoli has taken the union’s reins, the local’s website has been updated to reflect her position change and it now lists Kimani Barley as the vice president.

The website also now lists two chairpersons of the local’s membership committee that, before Friday, were vacant posts.

Last year, some members asked Oshins to revive the membership committee to aid member onboarding and engagement. Oshins rebuffed that request and it sat dormant.

Oshins, a third-generation union member, is also a DC 37 executive board vice president. Henry Garrido, DC 37’s executive director, said that Oshins’ resignation took him by surprise and that two have not spoken since the local president announced his resignation in an email. “Jeff is a good guy, he served well in his presidency,” Garrido said, adding that he didn’t know the reason for Oshins’ resignation.

Supreme Court decision, National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston, which determined that the NCAA’s compensation rules restricting what forms of compensation colleges and universities were allowed to provide to student athletes violated antitrust laws.

Last year, the NLRB filed a complaint against the University of Southern California alleging that student-athletes should be classified as employees. That case is still pending. Abruzzo noted that even the term “student-athlete” diminishes their status, instead opting to refer to them as “players at academic institutions.”

“They are employees. Every moment of their lives is consumed with playing and the rules and the regulations,” she said. “These people need to be treated appropriately and … they should be afforded the worker protections that every employee has [such as] safety protections.”

Abruzzo added that misclassification has a chilling effect, making it harder for misclassified employees to report labor and safety violations because they aren’t covered under labor laws. “We’ve seen it in many different places, it’s not just gig workers. It’s happening everywhere,” she told reporters following the event.

In recent years, the NLRB has also increased enforcement against non-compete agreements and training repayment agreement provisions, known as TRAPs.

“We had a case of a company in the beauty industry, where if [a worker] left within one year they’d have to pay the company back $75,000 for on-the-job training,” Abruzzo explained. “It’s absurd, but the point is it stops worker mobility. It stops collective action to improve working conditions.”

Kantor credited Doha Mekki, the principal deputy assistant attorney general of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, as a pioneer who brought antitrust and labor policies together. But for inspiring his own passion to help workers, he credited his grandfather, who worked as a union plumber in Brooklyn.

“We would drive by a school and he would beam with pride because he helped install the plumbing at that school,” he said. “I had the opportunity to meet with farmers and they remind me of my grandfather.”

He added, “The work that we do has consequences. One of the things that had gone wrong in antitrust is it became technocratic, it became about math instead of people. And it’s important that we remember that the work we do affects real people.”

The National Labor Relations Board has filed a complaint against the University of Southern California arguing that student athletes should be classified as employees. Jennifer Abruzzo, the NLRB’s general counsel, and Jonathan Kanter, of the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, discussed a recent partnership between the agencies to collaborate on labor issues at a forum held Sept. 12. at the CUNY School of Law. Above, USC Trojans guard JuJu Watkins during an April 1 game against the UConn Huskies at Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.

Brian Murphy/Icon Sportswire via AP Images

BEN AUGUST Publisher RICHARD KHAVKINE Editor

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Loyal to a fault

To The ediTor:

Now that NYPD Police Commissioner Edward Caban has resigned, the question will be what other heads in Mayor Eric Adams’ administration will be lopped off in the wake of the investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI.

While neither Adams nor any of his officials have been formally charged with any crimes, there are serious concerns about whether Adams and his staff can perform the difficult jobs of law enforcement and other work by city agencies while under the pressure of serious investigations.

Adams has one of the faults that is clearly seen in many politicians, most notably, Donald Trump. That is, Adams prioritizes loyalty to him over the competence and integrity of the people he chooses to work in his administration.

This is clearly seen in his stubborn defense of officials who have been under investigation and have been sued over serious issues. In contrast to loyalty to his closest friends, we have the case of Keechant Sewell, former police commissioner, who was either forced out or resigned apparently over her insistence to charge and penalize the chief of department, Jeffrey Maddrey, for interfering with an arrest of a former police officer accused of drawing his gun as he chased three youths.

For any leader, loyalty of his or her subordinates is important, but it is not more important than integrity and competence. Many City Council members and community leaders don’t trust Adams to choose leaders of city agencies who prioritize honesty, integrity

WAKE-UP CALL

and impartiality over loyalty to the mayor.

Michael J. Gorman

The writer is a retired NYPD lieutenant and an attorney.

Pardon these fibs

To The ediTor:

Projection is a psychological term that describes a person attributing his or her faults to someone else. When Donald Trump claimed that Kamala Harris lied throughout the debate, he was doing exactly that.

Trump has said that the reason he’d rather run as a Republican than a Democrat is because Republicans are more likely to believe anything he says. He was fully testing that theory during the debate. Migrants eat people’s pets? Abortions are allowed at nine months?

Babies are executed?

He asked why Harris hadn’t done anything during her three-and-ahalf years as vice president. In fact, the vice president has no power unless the president dies or is removed. The proper question would be how come Trump did such a terrible job as president.

Also, there’s the continued red-baiting of the Democrats as “Marxists” or “Socialists.” But things that have helped many, such as Social Security, Medicare and labor unions have been hit with those labels. The exact definition of socialism, let alone Marxism, does not define what Democrats or even Bernie Sanders support.

It’s often been said that many Trump supporters are worse than him. This is evident when some of them attempted an insurrection

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD by Denberg

and most others continued to support him after that. The fact that so many of them will believe anything he says about migrants shows how hatred fuels their support. Unless there is a sudden awakening of conscience and intelligence among Trump supporters, we will continue to have a problem, even with a Harris victory. It’s a major problem for this country as long as tens of millions of people continue to support a man who is that evil.

Richard Warren

Life imitates art

To The ediTor:

Given Donald Trump’s obsession with fictional characters such as Hannibal Lecter, I wondered which one best described his performance

at the Sept. 10 debate. Two immediately came to mind.

At times, Trump channeled Howard Beale (portrayed by Peter Finch in “Network”), shouting “Our country is being lost. We’re a failing nation … you’re going to end up in World War III.” Not much different from Beale’s mantra of “I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.” At other times, SNL’s “Grumpy Old Man” (played by Dana Carvey) seemed more appropriate as Trump’s rambling and ranting sounded a lot like “I don’t like things now compared to the way they used to be. In my day, 52 years ago, the states decided women’s reproduction which led to back alley abortions. And we liked it.”

I would be remiss if I didn’t add one more fictional character that captures Trump, the Family Circus

comic strip’s ghost “Not Me,” who shows up whenever the kids are caught red-handed. When pressed on his role in the January 6 insurrection, Trump claimed “I had nothing to do with that other than they asked me to make a speech. I showed up for a speech.” What a coward! If it weren’t so sad, it would be comical. A major political party once represented by Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Nelson Rockefeller now offers an individual like “this,” as VP Kamala Harris so aptly referred to Trump during the debate, for the nation’s highest office. Even sadder is the fact that tens of millions of Americans will vote for “this” come November.

Joseph Cannisi

The leopard frog and eastern perch are not alone

BY RON ISAAC

What do the Atlantic leopard frog and the eastern pirate perch have in common with optimistic New Yorkers? All are endangered. So is the slimy eel, which is surprising, since legacy politicians are not a threatened species.

The middle class hardly even has a footing on the slippery slope anymore and the slope itself is barely structurally sound. But there is vestigial hope to cling onto. Were it not for labor unions and their genius for creating traction, the slope would have crumbled away all together.

The Department of Treasury released a report last year that clearly illustrated that fact. Data irrefutably shows that gender and race-blind union membership and income are joined at the hip. Prosperity, at least relative to abject poverty, is within reach. Still, though, a formidable stretch. Yet since the 1970s, “income has become more volatile, the amount of time spent on vacation has fallen, and middle-class Americans are less prepared for retirement. Intergenerational mobility has declined — 90 percent of children born in the 1940s earned more than their parents did at age 30, while only half of children born in the mid-1980s did the same,” a Treasury Department story noted last year. Statistics lend themselves to special effects more spectacular than can any fireworks display or Hollywood film. But it is indisputable that the up-and-coming generation is down and retreating when it comes to disposable assets and purchasing power. It is generally conceded that people who identify as “conservative” tend to be hostile to unions, while self-styled “progressives” are friendlier, though specious reasoning might conclude that the difference is over the means to economic self-determination, not the goal. Maybe we should abandon labels altogether, since their reference points are seismically unstable. Democrats are almost always more sympathetic to labor than are Republicans. But there are surprises. I’m no fan of Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley, but his deliciously merciless interrogation of Boeing’s CEO was not a grilling, it was a skewering. From reading a transcript without knowing its author, he sounds like a staunch

unionist. Of course he’s not, despite taking pro-labor positions on Big Pharma, limiting bank executive pay and capping credit card interest rates.

We should neither give up on even our most intractable foes. Nor be taken for granted even by serial allies. Doesn’t happen often, but it does occur.

Labor unions must be prominent actors in the big picture of national politics, but shop stewards and chapter leaders, while still prioritizing broader issues, must be primarily focused on fierce advocacy on the local level.

If a constituent were to shove their union representative onto subway tracks as a train enters the station, and the victim’s boss jumps down at grave risk to themselves and rescues the representative from certain death in the nick of time, and should thereafter there be a work-related grievance between that same cowardly member and heroic boss, the representative must no less advocate with tenacity to prevail on behalf of

their member. The labor movement, professional sports and the military are closer to the ideal of bigotry-avoidance than are most other areas.

But is it possible to be color-blind and culture-inclusive while embedding consciousness of these differences in providing business contracts and economic opportunities?

State legislation awaiting Governor Hochul’s signature would create a separate racial classification for Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) people who have historically been classified as white.

“I think this is going to be a game-changer for so many Arab American business owners,” said Debbie Almontaser, a former public-school principal, cofounder of the Yemeni American Merchants Association and CEO of Bridging Cultures Group. She feels that Middle Eastern and North African people have received “zero privilege” and have suffered discrimination in housing and have been foreclosed from lucrative entrepreneurial bids

sound like a unionist, but clearly is not.

because of their identity.

All because they were viewed as white. The solution is to be a beneficiary of an injustice, no longer a victim of it.

If they eventually achieve certification as minority and women-owned business enterprises (MWBE), it will give them a leg up on procurement contracts and expedite, in the words of Mayor Eric Adams, “a more equitable business landscape.”

According to the U.S. Census, Arabs are white/Caucasian, because they “have origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East or North Africa.” That has been the conventional scientific designation. Are the criteria for that determination legitimately rooted or arbitrarily contrived and driven by hostile intellectual proclivities with ulterior motives? In any case, should people be free to self-identify as with gender? Should any race be more or less eligible for economic opportunity? What limits, if any, should be

imposed upon tracking race?

What of those on the flip side of the protected divide?

Is anthropology an academic or a political subject? Is scholarship wherever it may lead in pursuit of objective knowledge even possible in this explosive climate? I wish that whatever the settlement is, it does no collateral damage to worthy folks who fail the means test of being in a favored class and are themselves innocent of any past unjust exclusions. Such issues are complex. Youth will need to think critically about fair and nondiscriminatory solutions. Are high schools and colleges reliable laboratories for inquiry?

The City Council is trying to revive the proliferation of school newspapers. According to a study by a professor at Baruch College, as of two years ago, only around one-quarter of city high schools had a student newspaper. If “best practices” are modeled on the chicanery of contemporary on-air journalism, it would be better not to bother. The same is true of debating societies.

Unless it is on a higher level than bare-knuckle brawling, it might as well be lumped with journalism as voodoo electives.

Journalism and debating clubs thrived even during the turbulent civil rights and Vietnam war era, but are now like the Broadway and 91st IRT subway station that was closed down a half-century ago and is now a relic you can spot as a willo-the wisp looking out a 1 train, not taking time to blink or you’ll miss it. Maybe not.

Perhaps Columbia University and other campuses will rise to the occasion of spirited debate and balanced point of view. Will there be encampments to protest China’s genocide of the Uyghurs or other grievous persecutions on several continents?

On a lighter note, why are New York’s concert halls named after uber-rich donors, like David Geffen, Alice Tully and formerly Avery Fischer? Shouldn’t they instead be named in honor of great New York composers, like George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein? And stadiums should not be named after the wealthiest donor, but rather after a person who gloriously distinguished themselves and inspired New Yorkers there.

But it’ll always be The Chief. Not “Isaac’s Vanity Foul.”

Josh Hawley

Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley at the Missouri State Fair last month. He can

Longshoremen at key ports threaten strike over automation and

BY TOM KRISHER Associated Press

Determined to thwart the automating of their jobs, about 45,000 dockworkers along the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts are threatening to strike on Oct. 1, a move that would shut down ports that handle about half the nation’s cargo from ships.

The International Longshoremen’s Union is demanding significantly higher wages and a total ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container movements that are used in the loading or loading of freight at 36 U.S. ports. Whenever and however the dispute is resolved, it’s likely to affect how freight moves in and out of the United States for years to come.

If a strike were resolved within a few weeks, consumers probably wouldn’t notice any major shortages of retail goods. But a strike that persists for more than a month would likely cause a shortage of some consumer products, although most holiday retail goods have already arrived from overseas.

A prolonged strike would almost certainly hurt the U.S. economy. Even a brief strike would cause disruptions. Heavier vehicular traffic would be likely at key points around the country as cargo was diverted to West Coast ports, where workers belong to a different union not involved in the strike. And once the longshoremen’s union eventually returned to work, a ship backlog would likely result. For every day of a port strike, experts say it takes four to six days to clear it up.

“I think everyone’s a bit nervous about it,” said Mia Ginter, director of North America ocean shipping for C.H. Robinson, a logistics firm. “The rhetoric this time with the ILA is at a level we haven’t seen before.”

‘We’ll shut them down’

The longshoremen’s union and the United States Maritime Alliance, which represents the ports, haven’t met to negotiate since June, when the union said it suspended national talks to first complete local port agreements. No further national contract talks have been scheduled.

Harold Daggett, the union pres-

pay

ident, warned earlier this month that the longshoremen stood ready to strike once their contract expires on Sept. 30.

“We are very far apart,” Daggett said. “Mark my words, we’ll shut them down Oct. 1 if we don’t get the kind of wages we deserve.”

Top-scale port workers now earn a base pay of $39 an hour, or just over $81,000 a year. But with overtime and other benefits, some can make in excess of $200,000 annually. Neither the union nor the ports would discuss pay levels. But a 20192020 report by the Waterfront Commission, which oversees New York Harbor, said about a third of the longshoremen based there made $200,000 or more.

Daggett contends, though, that higher-paid longshoremen work up to 100 hours a week, most of it overtime, and sacrifice much of their family time in doing so.

The Maritime Alliance has said it’s committed to resuming talks and avoiding the first national longshoremen’s strike since 1977.

It has accused the union of having already decided in advance to walk

off the job.

“We need to sit down and negotiate a new agreement that avoids an unnecessary and costly strike that will be detrimental to both sides,” the alliance said in a statement.

In the case of a short-lived strike, industry experts say consumers wouldn’t likely notice shortages of store goods during the holiday shopping season. Most retailers had goods transported ahead of the usual pre-holiday shipping season, and they’re already stored in warehouses. Imports to ports are up 10 percent this year over 2023 on the East Coast and 20 percent on the West Coast, indicating that some freight was shipped in anticipation of a strike, said Ben Nolan, a transportation analyst with Stifel.

The longshoreman’s union, Nolan suggested, commands some leverage going into a presidential election, with memories still fresh of jammed ports and clogged supply chains that followed the pandemic recession. Unions also have drawn support this year from political candidates who have been courting the

raise over the course of a six-year contract. Daggett, the union president, said sizable pay raises would make up for the inflation spike of the past few years. He said the union members expect to be waging their biggest fight — against the automation of job functions at ports — well into the future.

“We do not believe that robotics should take over a human being’s job,” he said.

At the huge Port of Rotterdam, one of the world’s most automated ports, union workers pushed for early-retirement packages and work-time reductions as a means to preserve jobs. And in the end, mechanization didn’t cause significant job losses, a researcher from Erasmus University in the Netherlands found. Still, he predicted that automation could cut port jobs by 25 percent in the future.

labor vote.

“If ever there was a time that labor can get what they want,” Nolan said, “it’s right now.”

If a strike were to extend beyond a month or so, spot shortages of goods could develop. Some manufacturers could run short of parts, notably in the auto and pharmaceutical industries, which generally don’t stock large parts inventories.

Exports of autos and other goods that move through the East Coast also could be affected.

Analysts say the union’s initial demands included a 77 percent pay

U.S. ports trail their counterparts in Asia and Europe in the use of automation. Analysts note that most U.S. ports take longer to unload container ships than do those in Asia and Europe and suggest that without more automation, they could become even less competitive. Shippers might send more cargo to Mexican or Canadian ports and then on to the U.S. by rail or truck, said Eleftherios Iakovou, associate director of supply chain resilience at Texas A&M University.

In the meantime, if there is a strike, analysts say West Coast ports could pick up at least some additional freight that might be diverted from Eastern ports, especially from Asia. But they couldn’t handle it all. Neither could the U.S. rail system.

“The East Coast has grown a lot,” Nolan said. “There’s just no way to get around it.”

WTC: Call for toxic cloud details

Continued from Page 1

its 9/11 files to the public.”

This isn’t the first legislative attempt to get the city to release the information. Nadler and former Upper East Side Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney wrote then-Mayor Bill de Blasio in September 2021 requesting city documents about the air quality following the attacks.

Nadler last week said in a statement that he’s in support of Brewer’s resolution, arguing that the mayor’s lack of response to his letter “denies justice” to thousands of New Yorkers with 9/11 related illnesses. “New Yorkers deserve the truth — and I urge the City Council to take up this legislation to require the Department of Investigations to conduct a review of the records and disclose what the City knew while claiming it was safe for us to return to Ground Zero,” he said.

Brewer’s resolution mandates that the DOI submit a report to the City Council about its findings after two years. Brewer’s bill parlays a little known clause in the city charter that allows the City Council to order an investigation without the need for the mayor’s signature. Adams can’t veto the resolution.

A City Hall spokesperson said in a statement that the mayor’s office would review the legislation. “As a former first responder who worked the site at Ground Zero, Mayor Adams is unwavering in his support of the 9/11 victims, first responders, families, and survivors,” the spokesperson said.

The DOI declined to comment.

‘Uncover the facts’

Brewer said it’s the first time that she can remember the Council attempting to pass a binding resolution. It has the support of Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, making its passage more likely.

“Our city government owes New Yorkers transparency about its

knowledge on the toxins produced by the attacks,” Adams said in a statement. “This resolution takes a crucial step towards requiring disclosure of public health information, which should be considered a basic responsibility of government in a democracy.”

The legislation also garnered the support of Andrew Ansbro, the president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association. Ansbro, who responded on September 11th, noted that the FDNY has now buried the 369th and 370th member of the department to die from World Trade Center-related illnesses, more than the 343 members who perished that September morning.

“Those of us that are still alive owe it to the families of the sick and those who have passed to uncover the facts about what the city knew after the attacks, what they knew was there, and who made the decisions that have affected the lives of so many,” he said in a statement.

Ansbro and others have also been lobbying members of Congress to pass recently introduced legislation that would fund the WTC health program through 2033, as well as tweak the funding formula to ensure it remains solvent through 2090. Sponsors of the bill in both houses have warned that, due to the increasing number of first responders and survivors signing up, the program could run out of money by 2028.

Brewer said that getting the information out to the public is personal to her because she’s known many people who have passed away from illnesses that they contracted working at ground zero. She felt the resolution was needed after Adams didn’t fulfill Nadler and Goldman’s request.

“Some people in the city government say they don’t have it, other people say they don’t want to share it and so nothing happens,” she said. “What does the city know that could maybe be helpful to people?”

Seth Wenig/AP Photo

Container ships at the Port of New York and New Jersey in Elizabeth, N.J. The contract covering about 45,000 dockworkers expires Sept. 30.

For families of Key Bridge victims, a long search for justice begins

BY LEA SKENE Associated Press

Years after immigrating to the U.S. and settling in the Baltimore area, Maria del Carmen Castellón was working toward a new chapter of her family’s American dream, hoping to expand her successful food truck business into a Salvadoran restaurant. Her husband, Miguel Luna, was right there beside her. Years of welding and construction jobs had begun taking a toll on his health, but he kept working hard because he couldn’t afford to retire yet. He was filling potholes on an overnight shift when disaster struck. A massive container ship lost power and slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge, sending Luna and five other men plunging to their deaths as the steel span collapsed into the water below.

Several months later, Luna’s fam-

ily is still struggling to construct a future without him.

“That day, a wound was opened in my heart that will never heal, something I would not wish on anyone,” Castellón said in Spanish, speaking through a translator at a news conference Tuesday. She appeared alongside other victims’ relatives and attorneys to announce their plans to take legal action against the owner and manager of the Dali, arguing the companies acted with negligence and ignored problems on the ship before the March 26 collapse.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday sued the owner and manager of the ship that caused the collapse, seeking to recover more than $100 million that the government spent to clear the underwater debris and reopen the city’s port.

A last-minute mayday call from the ship’s pilot allowed police offi-

All six of the victims were Latino immigrants who came to the U.S. seeking opportunities for their families.

cers to stop traffic to the bridge, but they didn’t have time to alert the road work crew. Most of the men were sitting in their construction vehicles during a break and had no warning. One survived falling from the bridge by manually opening the window of his truck and climbing out into the frigid waters of the Patapsco River. All six of the victims were Latino immigrants who came to the U.S. seeking better-paying jobs and opportunities for their families. Most had lived in the country for many years, including Luna, who grew up in El Salvador. He left behind five

children.

Luna would often go straight from a construction shift to helping at the food truck, where his wife served up pupusas and other Salvadoran dishes. The business attracted a diverse clientele and had a loyal following in their close-knit Latino community south of Baltimore.

In seeking justice for her family, Castellón said, she hopes to prevent future tragedies by advocating for safer working conditions. She wants more robust protections for immigrant workers who too often find themselves taking dangerous jobs no one else is willing to do. She dis-

played a pair of her husband’s old welding uniforms, noting holes in the fabric caused by flying sparks.

The Dali is owned by Grace Ocean Private Ltd. and managed by Synergy Marine Group, both of Singapore. The companies filed a court petition days after the collapse seeking to limit their legal liability, a routine procedure for cases litigated under U.S. maritime law. The joint filing seeks to cap their liability at roughly $43.6 million in what could become the most expensive marine casualty case in history. A plan is underway to rebuild the bridge, but it could take years. Meanwhile, Castellón said she plans to continue pursuing her dream of opening a restaurant — now in her husband’s honor. “I know he is up there watching down on me, celebrating all of the victories with me,” she said. “I will continue to make him proud.”

Senior Rackets Investigator

The New York County District Attorney’s Office (DANY) has an opening for a Senior Rackets Investigator in its Investigation Bureau. In this position, under supervision, with some latitude for independent judgment and initiative, the Senior Investigator is responsible for conducting a wide variety of investigations. This is a sworn police officer position. The candidate must meet all qualifications to be certified as a police officer on the NYS DCJS Police registry. This position requires you have successfully completed police academy training in New York State, and you are required to pass a mandatory background check to carry a firearm. Please note: we are looking for candidates that have investigative skills for investigating homicide cases.

For a detailed job description and to apply, please go to https://www.manhattanda.org/careers/

The New York County District Attorney’s Office is an inclusive equal opportunity employer committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce and providing a work environment that is free from discrimination and harassment based upon any legally protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual’s sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.

Senior Rackets Investigator

The New York County District Attorney’s Office (DANY) has an opening for a Senior Rackets Investigator in its Investigation Bureau. In this position, under supervision, with some latitude for independent judgment and initiative, the Senior Investigator is responsible for conducting a wide variety of investigations. This is a sworn police officer position. The candidate must meet all qualifications to be certified as a police officer on the NYS DCJS Police registry. This position requires you have successfully completed police academy training in New York State, and you are required to pass a mandatory background check to carry a firearm. Please note: we are looking for candidates that have experience in investigating cyber-crime and terrorism cases. For a detailed job description and to apply, please go to https://www.manhattanda.org/careers/

Senior Rackets Investigator

For a detailed job description and to apply, please go to https://www.manhattanda.org/careers/

Senior Rackets Investigator

For a detailed job description and to apply, please go to https://www.manhattanda.org/careers/

protected status or protected characteristic, including but not limited to an individual’s sex, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, veteran status, gender identity, or pregnancy.

NOTICES

against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207, regd. agent upon whom and at which process may be served. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. 090924-4 9/13/24-10/18/24

Notice of Formation of BALDOR TECHNOLOGY LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/29/24. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. Purpose: Any lawful activity. 090924-3 9/13/24-10/18/24

NOTICE OF QUALIFICATION OF JusticeDirect Law Firm DC LLP. Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of NY (SSNY) on date 8/21/2024. Office location: New York County. LLP formed in DC on 5/20/2024. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The Post Office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLP served upon him/her is 228 Park Ave. S, PMB 62898, New York, NY 10003-1502. The principal business address of the LLP is 1035 19th Street South, Arlington, VA 22202. Certificate of LLP filed with Secretary of State of D.C. located at: Dept of Licensing & Consumer Protection Corporations Division, PO Box 712300, Philadelphia, PA 19171. Purpose: Law Firm. 091224-2 9/20/24-10/25/24

Notice is hereby given that a license, number pending, has been applied for by Regal Cinemas Inc to sell beer and wine at retail in a “tavern” (movie theatre) under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 6201 Fashion Dr, Bldg E, Nanuet, NY 10954 for on-premises consumption. 091224-3 9/20/24-9/27/24

Notice

premises consumption in a restaurant for the premises located at 247 E 50th St New York NY 10022. 091624-1 9/20/24-9/27/24

Notice is hereby given that an On-Premise Full Liquor License, Application ID NA-0340-24-133548

Notice

NYS Application ID NA-0240-24134798 has been applied for by 20X Hospitality at East Village LLC to sell beer, wine and cider at retail in a restaurant. For on premises consumption under the ABC law located at 328 E 6th St New York NY 10003.

retail for on premises consumption in a restaurant for the premises located at 55 W 27th St New York NY 10001. 091624-5 9/20/24-9/27/24

Notice is hereby given that an On-Premise Full Liquor License, Application ID CL-24-106200-01 has been applied for by Sushidelic LLC serving beer, wine, cider and liquor to be sold at retail for on premises consumption in a restaurant for the premises located at 177 Lafayette St New York NY 10013. 091624-6 9/20/24-9/27/24

NOTICE OF FORMATION OF Stephanie Peralta Coaching & Consulting

. Articles of Organization

SSNY

with

on 9/11/2023.

FAMILY COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK - COUNTY OF QUEENS. SUMMONS. Docket No. B-03452/24. In the Matter of the Application

Notice is hereby given that application NA-0340-24-134218 for Liquor has been applied for by the undersigned to sell Liquor at retail in a Restaurant under the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law at 29-11 23rd Ave, Astoria, NY 11105, Queens County for onpremises consumption; KOUZINA HOSPITALITY GROUP CORP. 091024-1 9/20/24-9/27/24 FAMILY COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK - KINGS COUNTY. B-13630-1/24. In the Matter of the Application of NEW ALTERNATIVES FOR CHILDREN, INC. for the Custody and Guardianship of the person AUSTIN PETIT FRERE DAMUS a/k/a AUSTIN PETIT FRERE AND JAYDEN MATT PETIT FRERE a/k/a JAYDEN PETIT FRERE Minors under the age of 18 years of age pursuant to Section 384b of the Social Services Law of the State of New York. In the Name of the People of the State of New York: TO: Herold Damus. A petition having been filed in the Court, alleging that the above-named children in the care of NEW ALTERNATIVES FOR CHILDREN should be committed to the guardianship and custody of NEW ALTERNATIVES FOR CHILDREN, an authorized agency; a copy of said Petition being annexed hereto; YOU ARE HEREBY SUMMONED to appear in PERSON before this Court located at 330 Jay Street, Brooklyn, New York on the 2nd day of December, 2024 from 2:30PM4:00PM of said day, before the Honorable Ben Darvil Jr., at Part 7, to show cause why the Court should not enter an Order committing the guardianship and custody of said children to the Petitioner, as provided by law. PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that upon your failure to appear, all of your parental rights in the child may be terminated. PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that your failure to appear shall constitute a denial of your interest in the children, which denial may result, without further notice, in the transfer or commitment of the children’s care, custody or guardianship or in the children’s adoption. PLEASE TAKE FURTHER NOTICE that you have the right to be represented by a lawyer and, if the Court finds that you are unable to pay for a lawyer, you have the

DCAS HIRING LIST

Police Administrative Aide

The Department of Citywide Administrative Services established a 461-name list for Police Administrative Aide on July 10, 2024. The list is based on Exam 4073, which was recently held. Readers should note that eligible lists change over their four-year life as candidates are added, removed, reinstated, or rescored. The list shown below is accurate as of the date of establishment but list standings can change as a result of appeals.

Some scores are prefixed by the letters v, d, p, s and r. The letter “v” designates a credit given to an honorably discharged veteran who has served during time of war. The letter “d” designates a credit given to an honorably discharged veteran who was disabled in combat. The letter “p” designates a “legacy credit” for a candidate whose parent died while engaged in the discharge of duties as a NYC Police Officer or Firefighter. The letter “s” designates a “legacy credit” for being the sibling of a Police Officer or Firefighter who was killed in the World Trade Center attack on Sept. 11, 2001. Finally, the letter “r” designates a resident of New York City.

JOB HIGHLIGHT

The current minimum salary is $36,045 per year and is subject to collective-bargaining increases. Following successful completion of a one-year probationary period, candidates are eligible for appointment to assignment level 2, which pays $45,811. The application fee is $54.

Traffic enforcement agent jobs with city at $46K in second year

rates. At assignment level I, traffic enforcement agents patrol an assigned area and enforce laws, rules and regulations relating to stopped and moving vehicles. Among other duties, they prepare and issue paper and electronic summonses for violations; prepare and issue summonses to vehicles and motorists; testify at administrative hearing offices and in court; and prepare reports. Traffic enforcement agents work outdoors in all types of weather and patrol on foot for long periods of time.

They must have a valid New York State driver’s license.

Assignment to traffic enforcement agents level III requires a tow-truck endorsement on an appointee’s license. Medical and psychological guidelines have been established for the position of traffic enforcement agents, and applicants will be examined to determine whether they can perform the essential functions of the position.

minal before their qualifications are verified. A passing score is 70 percent. The test may include questions which require written comprehension, written expression, memorization, problem sensitivity, information ordering, spatial orientation, deductive and inductive reasoning, mathematical reasoning and number facility.

EDUCATION, RESIDENCY

Applicants must have a highschool diploma or its educational equivalent. Residency requirements vary by title, appointing agency and length of service, and incumbents might need to be city residents within 90 days of their date of appointment. The position is subject to investigation before appointment and a fingerprint screening. Applicants are responsible for the $89.25 fee. The test number is 5339. More information on the position and testing requirements can be found online at www1.nyc.gov/site/dcas/index.pag The

ASSIGNMENT LEVELS

Appointments will be made to assignment level 1, but there are assignment levels at higher salary

REQUIREMENTS

Appointees will be required to successfully complete a training course prior to the end of the 12-month probationary period.

Eligibles may have to pass an additional medical screening before being placed at assignment level III and also must pass a drug screening prior to appointment. Assignment to traffic enforcement agent level IV requires qualification for special patrolman status from the NYPD.

Applicants will be given a multiple-choice test at a computer ter-

Applicants passing the test will have their names placed in final-score order on an eligible list and given a list number. Those meeting all requirements and conditions will be considered for appointment when their names are reached on the eligible list.

Applying and scheduling for this exam must be done through the Online Application System (OASys) at www.nyc.gov/examsforjobs.

UPCOMING EXAMS LEADING TO JOBS

Below is a roundup of New York City and State exams leading to public-service positions. Most of the jobs listed are located in the New York Metropolitan area and upstate.

There are residency requirements for many New York City jobs and for state law-enforcement positions.

Prospective applicants are advised to write or call the appropriate office to make sure they meet the qualifications needed to apply for an exam. For jobs for which no written tests are given, candidates will be rated on education and experience, or by oral tests or performance exams.

DCAS Computer-based Testing and Application Centers (CTACs) have re-opened to the public. However, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, walk-ins are no longer accepted and appointments must be scheduled online through OASys for eligible list or examination related inquiries.

All examination and eligible list related notifications will be sent by email only, you will no longer receive notifications via the US mail.

All new hires must be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, unless they have been granted a reasonable accommodation for religion or disability. If you are offered city employment, this requirement must be met by your date of hire, unless a reasonable accommodation for exemption is received and approved by the hiring agency.

For further information about where to apply to civil service exams and jobs, visit the thechief.org/exams.

The Federal Government has decentralized its personnel operations and holds few exams on a national or regional basis. Most Federal vacancies are filled by individual agencies based on education-and-experience evaluations. For information, contact the U.S. Office of Personnel Management or individual agencies, or see www.usajobs.gov.

69428010 Traffic Engineer II $63,873$132,688

86561010 Supervisor of Water Plant Operations

$110,000-$157,000

89584010 Crime Victim’s Advocate I, Bilingual (Haitian-Creole Speaking)

$36,864-$75,699

89585010 Crime Victim’s Advocate I, Bilingual (Mandarin Speaking)

$36,864-$75,699

89586010 Crime Victim’s Advocate I, Bilingual (Punjabi Speaking)

$36,864-$75,699

89587010 Crime Victim’s Advocate I, Bilingual (Spanish Speaking)

$36,864-$75,699 ➤ CLOSE OCTOBER 2

40382024 Clerk-Typist I / Typist-Clerk

60006410 Assistant Superintendent of Water Authority or District

$135,000-$155,000

62016010 Superintendent of Water Authority or District (Engineering) $120,000-$193,000

62510010 Crime Victim’s Advocate I $36,864-$75,699

Attorney’s office.

MOTOR VEHICLE OPERATOR–122 eligibles between Nos. 108 and 547 on List 8302 for 2 jobs in Department of Environmental Protection.

SCHOOL COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY SPECIALIST (DOE)–78 eligibles between Nos. 6 and 110 on List 3093 for 1 job in Department of Education.

SOCIAL WORKER–2 eligibles (Nos. 49 and 170) on List 4091 for any of 3 jobs in DOHMH.

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$29,306-$56,406; NHCC: $35,980$46,283 40392024 Clerk-Typist I, Bilingual (Spanish Speaking)/Typist-Clerk I, Bilingual (Spanish Speaking) $29,306-$56,406; NHCC: $35,980$46,283 40402024 Typist-Clerk, Bilingual (Mandarin Speaking) $29,306$56,406; NHCC: $35,980-$46,283 ➤ OPEN CONTINUOUSLY

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LABOR AROUND THE WORLD LABOR AROUND THE WORLD LABOR AROUND THE WORLD

UAW’s rift with Stellantis raises fear that some US autoworkers’ jobs could vanish

BY TOM KRISHER Associated Press

To Ruth Breeden, who assembles Ram trucks in this Detroit suburb, a simmering dispute between the United Auto Workers and Stellantis isn’t merely about whether her employer will reopen a distant factory in Illinois. To her, the standoff is a danger sign for all UAW workers.

Stellantis had pledged to reopen the factory in Belvidere, Illinois, under a contract it forged last year with the union. But the reopening was delayed given what the company calls unfavorable “market conditions.”

Stellantis says it will eventually reopen the plant. But no date has been given to restart it or open a new battery plant and a parts warehouse, both of which were also promised in the contract that ended the UAW’s strike against Stellantis last year. At stake are over 2,700 jobs.

Union leaders have threatened to strike, a move that could extend beyond Stellantis. Labor experts say its two Detroit-area rivals, Ford and General Motors, are watching as they consider strategies that include whether to move future production out of the U.S. Detroit automakers have been expanding production in Mexico for years. And after last fall’s strikes shut down a Ford truck plant, its CEO warned the company would rethink where it builds new vehicles.

“There’s plenty of history of the

China is raising its retirement age

It’s now among the youngest in the world’s major economies

BY HUIZHONG WU and EMILY WANG FUJIYAMA Associated Press

Starting next year, China will raise its retirement age for workers, which is now among the youngest in the world’s major economies, in an effort to address its shrinking population and aging work force.

The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the country’s legislature, passed the new policy Friday after a sudden announcement earlier in the week that it was reviewing the measure, state broadcaster CCTV announced.

The policy change will be carried out over 15 years, with the retirement age for men raised to 63 years, and for women to 55 or 58 years depending on their jobs. The current retirement age is 60 for men and 50 for women in blue-collar jobs and 55 for women doing white-collar work.

“We have more people coming into the retirement age, and so the pension fund is (facing) high pressure. That’s why I think it’s now time to act seriously,” said Xiujian Peng, a senior research fellow at Victoria University in Australia.

The previous retirement ages were set in the 1950’s, when life expectancy was only around 40 years, Peng said.

The policy will be implemented starting in January. The change will take effect progressively based on people’s birthdates.

Demographic pressures made the move long overdue, experts say. By the end of 2023, China counted nearly 300 million people over the age of 60. By 2035, that figure is projected to be 400 million, larger than the population of the U.S. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences had previously projected that the public pension fund will run out of money by that year. Pressure on social benefits such as pensions and social security is hardly a China-specific problem.

The U.S. also faces the issue as analysis shows that currently, the Social Security fund won’t be able to pay out full benefits to people by 2033.

“This is happening everywhere,” said Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. “But in China with its large elderly population, the challenge is much larger.”

U.S. manufacturing sector moving its operations to low-wage countries,” said Bob Bruno, a labor and employment relations professor at the University of Illinois. “It seems reasonable to me for the UAW to be concerned about not opening here, not investing here.”

In February 2023, the last Jeep Cherokee SUV rolled off the assembly line in Belvidere, about an hour

northwest of Chicago, and 1,350 workers were laid off. Stellantis had planned to close the factory.

Fain: Cooperation cost us jobs

After six-week strikes against all three Detroit automakers last fall, each company signed a new contract with the UAW. Stellantis agreed to reopen Belvidere Assem-

bly in 2027, with plans to build up to 100,000 electric and gas-powered midsize pickups annually.

It also agreed to open a parts hub in Belvidere this year and an electric-vehicle battery factory with 1,300 workers in 2028. In all, the company pledged $18.9 billion of U.S. investments during the contract, which runs until April 2028.

So promising was the prospect of reopening Belvidere that it drew a celebratory visit from President Joe Biden and a pledge of $335 million in federal dollars to revamp the 5-million-square-foot plant.

A year later, there’s no parts hub and no definitive plan to open the assembly and battery plants, setting off alarms among union members.

Stellantis said it would spend roughly $400 million to revamp three Michigan factories to build electric vehicles or parts. Breeden’s plant will receive about $235 million of the money, which was included in the contract.

Still, Breeden fears that CEO Carlos Tavares, who talks frequently about cutting costs, wants to move more production to low-wage Mexico, where the company already builds Ram pickups.

“The truth is Stellantis doesn’t want to invest in America,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a recent video.

Tavares has said that one reason Stellantis needs to slash costs is to make electric vehicles — which cost roughly 40 percent more to build than gas-powered cars do — afford-

able to typical customers.

Experts say the Belvidere matter could end up in court.

In August, Stellantis announced that it would stop making older Ram pickups at a plant in Warren, Michigan, and it will lay off up to 2,400 workers. It was the latest sign that Stellantis’ U.S. workers face an uncertain future, said Marick Masters, business professor emeritus at Wayne State University.

Stellantis said it stands by its commitment to Belvidere, but said it needs the delay so it can afford to remain competitive and preserve U.S. factory jobs.

“It is critical that the business case for all investments is aligned with market conditions and our ability to accommodate a wide range of consumer demands,” Stellantis said in a statement.

Fain scoffed at the notion that Detroit automakers will move production out of the U.S. because of a more aggressive union. He complained that over the past 20 years, automakers have closed or sold 65 factories during a period when the UAW was more cooperative.

“That’s hundreds of thousands of jobs that cost us,” Fain said.

In the meantime, the standoff with Stellantis over Belvidere has led the UAW to threaten to strike in October.

“We expect them to honor the commitment they made,” Fain said. “If they don’t, we put language in this agreement so that we can hold them accountable. And we’re going to.”

Boeing strike extends labor’s revival

UPS drivers, hotel workers, actors among those who have secured new dea

PRESS

ASSOCIATED

Aircraft assembly workers walked off the job at Boeing factories near Seattle and elsewhere earlier this month after union members voted overwhelmingly to go on strike.

Organized labor has made itself heard over the past year and the number of actions taken by unions has soared. There were 470 work stoppages — 466 strikes and 4 lockouts — involving about 539,000 workers last year, according to Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. The nearly 500 work stoppages resulted in approximately 24,874,522 strike days.

While the number of work stoppages increased by only 9 percent between 2022 and 2023, the number of workers involved in those work stoppages skyrocketed 141 percent to well over a half million workers, according to Cornell.

Unions including the UAW, the Teamsters and this week the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, say they made the sacrifices asked of them by their companies during the pandemic and rough economic conditions. Now, they say, it is time for

pay and benefits to catch up and workers appear more willing to strike.

Unions flex newfound muscle

Late last year the United Auto Workers union overwhelmingly ratified new contracts with Ford and Stellantis, along with a similar deal with General Motors, that would raise pay across the industry and force automakers to absorb higher costs.

The agreements, which run through April 2028, ended contentious talks that began in the summer of 2022 and led to six-week-long strikes at all three automakers.

The new contract agreements were widely seen as a victory for the UAW. The companies agreed to dramatically raise pay for topscale assembly plant workers, with increases and cost-of-living adjustments that would translate into 33-percent wage gains.

Top assembly plant workers were to receive immediate 11-percent raises and would earn roughly $42 an hour when the contracts expire in April of 2028.

And UPS workers who are members of the Teamsters union approved a tentative contract with the package delivery company last year. The run up to the approval was not smooth though, with contentious labor negotiations that threatened to disrupt package deliveries for millions of businesses

and households nationwide.

After negotiations broke down in early July 2023, Atlanta-based UPS reached a tentative contract agreement with the Teamsters just days before an Aug. 1 deadline.

UPS said at the time that by the end of the new contract, the average UPS full-time driver would make about $170,000 annually in pay and benefits.

And last month, thousands of hospitality union workers on the Las Vegas Strip reached a tentative deal with the Venetian and Palazzo resorts, a first for employees at the sprawling Italian-inspired complex that opened 25 years ago.

Bethany Khan, a union spokesperson, said the deal mirrors the major wins secured in recent contracts awarded to 40,000 hospitality workers at 18 Strip properties owned or operated by casino giants MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Resorts.

Those wins included a 32-percent pay increase over five years, housekeeping workload reductions and improved job security amid advancements in technology and artificial intelligence.

The bump in pay under those contracts will amount to an average $35 hourly wage by the end of the contracts, according to the union. Workers at these properties were making about $26 hourly with benefits before winning their latest contracts in November.

And unions representing 85,000 health care workers reached a tentative agreement with industry giant Kaiser Permanente in October 2023 following a strike over wages and staffing levels.

The deal included setting minimum hourly wages at $25 in California, where most of Kaiser’s facilities are located, and $23 in other states. Workers would also see a 21-percent wage increase over four years. And of course Hollywood studios and SAG-AFTRA eventually carved out a three-year deal in December 2023 that ended a nearly four-month strike, bringing an official finish to a labor strife that shook the entertainment industry for most of last year.

Members of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists approved a three-year contract. Control over the use of artificial intelligence was the most hardfought issue in the long, methodical negotiations. The contract also called for a 7-percent general pay increase with further hikes coming in the second and third years of the deal. The agreement also included a hard-won provision that temporarily derailed talks: the creation of a fund to pay performers for future viewings of their work on streaming services, in addition to traditional residuals paid for the showing of movies or series.

Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo

Teamsters and workers held a rally in downtown Los Angeles in July 2023 as a deadline neared in negotiations between the union and United Parcel Service.

Duncan Freeman/The Chief

UAW autoworkers at the Stellantis parts factory in Tappan, New York, during their strike last fall part of the nationwide action against the Big Three automakers. The union and workers fear the automaker could expand production in Mexico, threatening jobs.