October 18, 2024

Cab drivers demand city’s support to meet wheelchair mandate

BY RICHARD KHAVKINE richardk@thechiefleader.com

City cab drivers and their union say that proposed Taxi and Limousine Commission rules mandating that all new cabs need to be wheelchair accessible will bankrupt cabbies already burdened by plummeting income.

The TLC rules are designed to comply with a federal judge’s recent order that half of the city’s active taxi fleet be composed of wheelchair accessible vehicles (WAVs) by March 31 of next year. The city agency must also ensure that 50 percent of all cabs, including those not in operation, are WAVs by the end of 2028, according to U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels, who has presided over the case since its inception.

The judge’s stipulations follow from the 2014 settlement of a class-action suit charging that the TLC was violating the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, though, says the timeline is impractical and, for some drivers, even onerous. “We need a timeline that is sustainable, that is not going to crush our members,” the president of the Taxi Workers Alliance, Bhairavi Desai, told the TLC Oct. 10. “We believe in the accessibility mandate, but it cannot come at the expense of the drivers.”  Desai and a dozen or so yellow cab drivers had gathered outside the City Hall gates to address the TLC commissioners remotely during the commission’s meeting since, Desai said, the TLC declined to allow in-person comments at its monthly meeting. She and the drivers urged the TLC

and

to not eliminate a provision that allows older cabs to stay on the road beyond their mandatory retirement age as long as they pass inspection. Without those exemptions, the driv-

ers will have to

See TAXIS, page 2

Clerical local to hold election following administratorship

BY CRYSTAL LEWIS clewis@thechiefleader.com

For the first time since it was placed under administratorship over two years ago, District Council 37’s Local 1549 will hold elections for officer positions.

Nominations took place Oct. 1 at a general membership meeting. Local 1549 represents more than 10,000 clerical workers across the city, including secretaries, clerical aides and police communication technicians.

The local was placed under administratorship by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in September 2022 after a draft audit found “serious” financial deficiencies and “numerous violations of AFSCME’s Financial Standards code.” The local’s longtime president, Eddie Rodriguez, and the union’s other officers, were immediately removed from their positions, and Rodriguez was expelled months after the administratorship was imposed.

Two slates are running in the November election: the Members In Charge slate, headed by Anthony Lackhan, and the Team Forward slate, which is headed by Debbie-Ann Gutierrez. Two other Local 1549 members, Alvin Carter and Nicole Gates, are running for president as independent candidates.

are taking place. “They were upset at the time that the local was placed under administratorship,” she said during a phone interview.

Lackhan said that, if elected, one of his first goals is to focus on training shop stewards once they are elected. “Without shop stewards, the administration fails because that’s the first person the members look to see,” he explained.

Earlier this year, the union held elections for chapter chairs and six delegate positions, the latter won by, among others, Lackhan, Carter, Gates and Wang.

Back to members

Gutierrez noted that she wants to “bring back integrity and trust in the union” by advocating full transparency. “I also want to establish a mentoring program — we need to start bridging the gap between the new generation and the senior members,” she said.

Lackhan said that he wants to increase member engagement and focus on training members on what to expect as a member and all of the advantages that the union can provide. “It makes you a stronger member, and it also helps to retain workers in the city,” he said.

Unions

Members In Charge’s William Banfield is running for executive price president against Vanessa Reed of Team Forward, while MIC’s Honda Wang is challenging Team Forward’s Yolanda Holliday for the local’s secretary-treasurer position. Lackhan and Wang brought the charges against Local 1549’s officers that initially prompted AFSCME’s draft audit of the local’s finances.

“I’m grateful to AFSCME for what they have done. But [what the election means] is that members will actually have a choice,” Lackhan, a longtime shop steward who has been a member of Local 1549 since 2010, said during a phone interview. Gutierrez, a grievance representative who has been a member of the local for 33 years, said that the members were “happy” that the elections

He noted that his parents were government workers in Trinidad, and that other members of his family also work for the city. Lackhan explained that he decided to run in this year’s election because “I want to make sure their healthcare and pension is taken care of.”

Gutierrez, who first became active in the union when she ran to become a shop steward in 1996, said that one of the biggest issues Local 1549 members are facing is short-staffing in nearly every city agency. During her years on the job, she said she’s witnessed many breaches of labor law, including contract violations. “It’s been challenging. The union and management need to have a partnership to find the best resolution for our members,” she said.

Wang, an analyst at the city’s

See LOCAL 1549, page 3

BY ROBERT MLADINICH

Throughout the international law enforcement community, retired NYPD Lieutenant Commander Vernon Geberth is known as the “Godfather of Homicide” and “the cop who wrote the book on murder.”

Over the course of his stellar career, which began with his appointment to the NYPD in 1965, he personally investigated, supervised, assessed or consulted on over 8,000 death cases nationwide. As the commander of the Bronx Homicide Task Force, his unit averaged 400 murder investigations a year.

Geberth was the longtime primary instructor at the NYPD’s fabled homicide training course and in fact had written not one but several books on all aspects of murder investigations. Among the titles of his 10 textbooks are “Practical Homicide Investigation Checklist and Field Guide,” “Practical Homicide Investigation: Tactics, Procedures, and Forensic Techniques” and “Sex-Related Homicide and Death Investigations and Autoerotic Deaths: Practical Forensic and Investigative Perspectives” with co-author forensic pathologist Amy Sauvageau.

Geberth spent his childhood in Mt. Vernon, where he developed his fierce work ethic. He served as an altar boy who once traipsed through a blizzard on foot to get to church on time, and worked as a newspaper delivery boy and lifeguard. He was also a Boy Scout and a bugle player for the VFW.

For as long as he can remember, Geberth’s primary goal was to join the NYPD. To that end, he got himself appointed to the New York World’s Fair Police Department as a wide-eyed 21-year-old in 1964. The provisional department was composed of retired NYPD superior officers who told the young, ambitious Geberth “not to screw up” because he might get on the real job when his name came up.   Geberth was sworn into the NYPD in April 1965. Before he established himself as one of the nation’s leading authorities on homicide, he was a street cop, compiling a dizzying array of experiences. These included his tenure as a young officer in the NYPD’s legendary Tactical Patrol Force (TPF), an elite and incorruptible unit specifically created in 1959 to augment precinct personnel in crime-ridden communities and maintain crowd control during the violent protests of the late 1960s.

“I absolutely loved the spit and polish of the TPF,” said the now 81-year-old Geberth. “It was one of the only units you didn’t need a hook to get into. It was filled with gung-ho cops dedicated to doing good police work. It was like being in the Green Berets as opposed to the regular Army. In my opinion, it was the best unit the NYPD ever put together.”   In April 1971, Geberth was in his personal car returning from

Courtesy of Vernon Geberth Vernon Geberth as an NYPD tactical patrol officer. He later became an authority on homicide investigations.

Rebecca White/The Chief

Members of District Council 37’s Local 1549 will vote in the local’s first officer election since the union was placed under administratorship by its parent union AFSCME in 2022. Anthony Lackhan, who is running for president with the Members in Charge slate, will face off against Debbie-Ann Gutierrez of the Team Forward slate and independent candidates Alvin Carter and Nicole Gates.

Richard Khavkine/The Chief

Members of the Taxi Workers Alliance outside the City Hall gates on Broadway, from where they addressed the Oct. 10 meeting of the Taxi and Limousine Commission remotely. They were asking the commission to provide drivers increased support if they are to purchase wheelchair accessible vehicles, as mandated by a court order. Above, Richard Chow, an owner-operator of a yellow cab,

to his right, the union’s president, Bhairavi Desai.

Teamsters locals first to endorse for mayor

Say Senator Ramos is ‘loyal to the working class’

BY DUNCAN FREEMAN

dfreeman@thechiefleader.com

Eight months before what is shaping up to be a consequential primary, two Teamsters locals have already made their choice for mayor clear.  Representatives from International Brotherhood of the Teamsters locals 804 and 808 last week gathered at 808’s Long Island City union hall to endorse State Senator Jessica Ramos, the chair of that’s chamber’s Labor Committee. In doing so, they became the first labor unions representing workers in New York City to endorse a candidate.

Among the bills and initiatives Ramos has shepherded that received the support of the Teamsters locals are last year’s legislation increasing the minimum wage and the Warehouse Worker Protection Act, which directly benefited the United Parcel Service warehouse workers in Local 804. She’s also pushed Teamster-supported legislation to protect workers from extreme temperatures and another bill aimed at preventing warehouse workers from sustaining injuries on the job.

But Chris Silvera, the secretary treasurer of Local 808, said that while Ramos’ “meaningful” actions in Albany were a major factor in the local’s backing of the Queens lawmaker, her labor background and the relationship she’s built with the Teamsters in the last two decades were just as important. Ramos’ commitment to unions and the working class, he said, sets her apart from the many “political hacks and political players” he’s met in 34 years as Local 808’s secretary-treasurer.   “I met her when she was a con-

tributor in a meaningful way on the grassroots level,” Silvera said at the union hall. “She’s always remaining loyal to the working class.”

Among other pro-worker and pro-labor bills Ramos has pushed for are safety protections for construction, retail and warehouse workers, improved unemployment benefits for immigrant workers and harsher penalties for wage theft.

Ramos also has a background working for prominent unions in the city; spending three years as a communications staffer for Local 371 of District Council 37, the Social Service Employees Union, and four with Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ. Silvera represents around 1,500

members, half of whom, like the longtime union leader, work as track maintainers for Metro-North Railroad. The other half of the membership are building service workers at Peter Cooper Village and several other communities.  Local 804, a much larger local, represents more than 8,000 drivers, warehouse workers and other UPS employees across the five boroughs and Long Island.

‘She shows up’

Josh Pomeranz, Local 804’s director of operations, said after announcing the endorsement that Ramos “has been so consistent and unwavering in her support for

Council resolution would toss ‘dirty’ laundry contractor

Measure calls on hospitals, others to contract with industrial launderers that follow labor law

BY CRYSTAL LEWIS clewis@thechiefleader.com

Amid concerns that a laundry cleaning company that is contracted with several health care facilities across the city has endangered workers, a City Council resolution introduced last week would call on hospitals to contract with industrial laundry companies that uphold labor, safety and wage laws.

Laundry workers at FDR Services Corp. have alleged for years that they have been forced to work in sweatshop-like conditions at the company’s factory on Long Island. The company, which cleans and delivers linens for several hospitals and nursing homes in the city, including Richmond University Medical Center and, until last January, NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn, has also failed to settle a contract on behalf of the 175 employees, whose previous pact expired in 2017.

The resolution, introduced by Council Member Carmen De La Rosa Oct. 10, targets the Hempstead-based laundry provider, noting that while “most” industrial laundry operators serving hospitals in the city adhere to area standards, some have “repeatedly violated state and federal health, safety and labor laws.”

In 2019, FDR Services Corp. was fined $17,390 by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration for five serious violations,

including failing to keep the floors in a clean and safe condition. And in 2021, State Attorney General Letitia James found that FDR had unlawfully fired seven employees who took off of work after they contracted Covid a year earlier. The AG’s office ordered the workers reinstated and recovered $400,000 from the laundry services provider.

The National Labor Relations Board has also investigated more than a dozen federal labor law violations at the company since 2018.

The Council’s resolution calls on health care facilities to “contract with industrial laundry companies that respect workers’ legal rights and adhere to area standards for wages and benefits.”

“FDR Services workers have blown the whistle on the horrific, abusive conditions they have faced. These low-wage, Latina immigrants regularly handle contaminated hospital and nursing home linens far dirtier than household laundry,” De La Rosa said in a statement accompanying the resolution. “They have endured extreme heat, harsh chemicals, dangerous machines, rats, roaches, and lack of hot water. Enough is enough. These workers deserve better. And so do all the patients, staff, and visitors at New York City hospitals and nursing homes who rely on the laundry and linen services provided by FDR Services.”

FDR Services Corp. did not return a request for comment.

The workers, who are represented by the Laundry, Distribution, and Food Service Joint Board, Workers United/SEIU, continue to call on FDR to settle a contract that restores the workers’ health care

benefits and improves safety and working conditions.

“We applaud New York City Member Carmen De La Rosa for introducing this bold resolution that supports worker justice and public health. FDR Services Corp. must stop endangering its employees and sign a new union contract immediately,” Megan Chambers and Alberto Arroyo, co-managers of the Laundry, Distribution and Food Service Joint Board, Workers United/SEIU, said in a joint statement. “Our members worked through the worst of the pandemic, under horrific conditions, and they did so without a contract. These essential workers deserve to be treated fairly and with respect.”

They continued, “We urge all hospital and nursing home customers of FDR Services Corp. to support this campaign for worker justice and a fair new union contract. Better working conditions, including good healthcare, and improved job quality at FDR Services Corp. will also benefit the hospitals and nursing homes who rely on the services our members provide.”

Several elected officials, including State Senator Andrew Gounardes and City Council Member Alexa Avilés, also sent a letter to NYU-Langone last fall calling on the hospital to cut its financial ties with FDR.

“I urge FDR Services Corp to negotiate a fair new union contract immediately with their workers. If FDR Services Corp fails to clean up its act, city hospitals and nursing homes should stop giving valuable healthcare dollars to this lawbreaking company,” De La Rosa said.

A City Council resolution introduced last week calls on health care facilities across the city to contract with laundry service providers that follow labor and safety laws. Members of the Laundry, Distribution, and Food Service Joint Board, Workers United/ SEIU rallied against alleged mistreatment of laundry workers employed by FDR Service Corp. at a press conference outside of NYU Langone HospitalBrooklyn in October 2023.

Council Member Alexa Avilés

that I’m going to work as hard every day as they do.”

“I’m the real labor candidate in this race,” she said.

In another sign of her focus on the labor vote, Ramos has hired Charlene Obernauer, the former executive director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, as her campaign manager.

The contest to be the Democratic Party’s standard bearer — and, as seems increasingly probable, the city’s next mayor — is still some distance away, and the race’s dynamics are sure to shift.

Much, of course, will depend on whether Mayor Eric Adams is among those vying for the nomination. Should he resign in the wake of his federal corruption indictment or be forced out of office, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams would take his place and quickly schedule a nonpartisan special election to be held within 80 days. If Adams leaves office after March 25, Williams would serve out the rest of his term and the June primary and November general election would go ahead as scheduled.

working people.”

“There is no question that she will be a good mayor for working New Yorkers.”

Tony Rosario, a former UPS driver who is now an organizer in Local 804, said that Ramos has advocated for fired Local 804 members and attended rallies during the union’s contract campaign last summer.

“She shows up every time we need her,” he told the union officials and members Oct. 8. “I am definitely in favor of [Ramos] and all she’s done for us, and I know the rest of 804 is too.”

Ramos said that the two early labor endorsements “show New Yorkers who I am, that I have the best intentions for working families and

Another potential scrambler to the race would be the entry of former Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is said to be plotting a comeback from his 2021 resignation.

Silvera, the Local 808 leader, said that he would never support Cuomo because of the former governor’s difficult relationship with the Working Families Party and his periodic “threats” to certain unions.

He doesn’t think the city has gotten better under Adams either, but believes that Ramos could make a difference.

“She has never wavered,” Silvera said. “It’s time for New York not to elect a billionaire, not to elect a popular politician, but to elect someone who came up through a union.”

TAXIS: Cabbies call for city help

Continued from Page 1

some cases driving them further into debt, Desai said. The extensions also allow drivers to save money they can apply toward the purchase of new, accessible vehicles, she said.

The union leader said obliging drivers to buy new, accessible cabs disregards what has befallen the taxi industry in the last decade. She noted that at the time the settlement was announced a decade ago, yellow cab drivers made nearly 500,000 daily trips.

That number was cut in more than half by the explosion of appbased ride services Uber and Lyft in the mid-2010s. The pandemic cut further into daily trips, such that yellow cabs now make fewer than 100,000 daily trips, Desai said.

Consequently, medallion owners, many of them operating their own cabs, have seen the average value of their medallions plunge from a high of over $1 million in 2013 to a low of under $80,000 in 2021, bankrupting some drivers or putting them severely in debt.

“We need you to understand that there’s hundreds of owner drivers who have yet to see their debt forgiven,” Desai said.

A debt-relief agreement secured by the Taxi Workers Alliance in 2021 and backstopped by a city guarantee covered nearly 6,000 drivers. Since then, the city has expanded the amount of debt relief available to drivers and medallion owners. The expansion of the Medallion Relief Program has brought $470 million in debt relief for over 2,050 medallions, according to the TLC.

Desai, though, noting that the TLC’s Taxi Improvement Fund grant program has never been adjusted for inflation since its inception in 2016, urged the TLC to work to secure funding from the city, the state or even the federal government to help subsidize drivers’ transitions to WAVs.

The fund provides medallion owners of grants of up to $14,000 to “hack-up” cars into taxis with the installation of roof lights, meters, partitions and other accessories,

“They’re simply not enough,” Desai said of the grants. “We need more support.”

‘Impossible to survive’

Lansana Keita, who has been driving cab for nearly 24 years, recalled that nine drivers took their lives during a brief period before the pandemic when faced with crushing debt. He urged the TLC and the city to reform the grant model.

“These drivers, they are struggling. It’s not like the drivers are making money. They are struggling. The business is down 80 percent since 2014,” he said on the Broadway sidewalk before the TLC meeting got underway.

“No businessman will stay in

business when your business is down 80 percent. It’s impossible to survive,” he said. Keita, who drives an accessible cab, said he works seven days a week and upward of 12 hours a day to make ends meet. “They don’t want to end up being dependent,” he said of his fellow drivers. “They want to work and feed their families.”

Just 2 percent of cabs were wheelchair accessible about the time the suit was filed in 2011.

Nearly 4,000 yellow cabs, or 43 percent of the fleet’s 9,309 active cabs, are now accessible, according to the TLC.

The TLC’s chair, David Do, noted that accessibility “is a core part” of the commission’s mission  and that it has made “significant progress in building up an accessible fleet” in recent years, such that the fleet is the nation’s most accessible. He said that 90 percent of the time the average wait time for a WAV is at most 10 minutes.

But, noting the “fragile recovery” of the industry, he also acknowledged the challenge the court order poses for drivers, adding that TLC representatives had made that point in court.

“We told your stories, we told them that this would disproportionately impact drivers and that we just needed a little bit more time to meet this mandate,” Do said. He said the commission would consider upping the grants available to the Taxi Improvement Fund. But, he said, the TLC had no choice but to comply with Daniels’ order.  TLC Commissioner Paul Bader, noting the complexity of the matter, said it was clear that drivers need more support.

“The concerns that we’ve heard are legitimate concerns and I think it’s incumbent upon us to see as many options as we can come up with to alleviate some of these economic hardships that so many of these drivers are under and will continue to be under,” Bader said. “I think we have responsibilities to both the disability community as well as to our drivers to try to find some solutions that will alleviate these hardships in as many ways as we can.”

Duncan Freeman / The Chief State Senator Jessica Ramos with leadership of Teamster locals 804

808, who endorsed her last week. The two unions are the first to endorse a candidate for the Democratic Party primary for mayor scheduled for next June.

Richard Khavkine/The Chief A member of the Taxi Workers Alliance outside the City Hall gates Oct. 10.

Construction unions hail legislation creating accountability within the city’s procurement process

BY RICHARD KHAVKINE richardk@thechiefleader.com

Unions are cheering the passage of City Council legislation designed to create greater accountability within the construction bidding process.

The local law, which passed unanimously last Thursday, requires the city’s five-member Procurement Policy Board to establish procedures that will enable vendors or their reps to challenge procurement determinations.

Council Member Julie Won, the bill’s prime sponsor, said the legislation, formally known as Intro 803, would reform the city’s bidding process, which she suggested was open to manipulation.

“The current Adams administration has wasted millions of taxpayer dollars in questionable contracts,” she said at Thursday’s press event preceding the Council’s meeting.

Won, the chair of the Council’s Committee on Contracts, cited a $150 million no-bid contract awarded to a company once owned by the former deputy mayor for public safety, Phil Banks III, to provide security at a migrant shelter, as well as a pay-to-play bribery scandal at NYCHA that implicated dozens of employees at the public housing corporation.

The Local 1010 Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust, a labor-management partnership that advocated for the bill, lauded the legislation’s passage, saying it would open up the sometimes opaque procurement process to more eyes and put a halt to lowball bidders who undercut principled contractors. Unscrupulous bidders, unions say, win contracts only to shortchange workers eventually hired to do the work.

“Intro 803 is much-needed legislation that will combat the rampant instances of fraud and labor violations perpetrated by unscrupulous contractors who are awarded city contracts, and it will uplift workers —just what is needed to remedy this untenable situation. We look forward to its implementation,” Victor Rizzo, the director of Laborers Local 1010 LECET, said in a statement.

Noting that the legislation will

give parties other than winning bidders the ability to review bid awards, LECET, in a release following the Council’s vote, said that labor organizations often have “a more complete picture or history” of how developers and contractors go about the procurement process.

“Bringing union know-how and knowledge to the table will help stop unscrupulous actors who take advantage of the bidding process and hard-working New Yorkers by holding them accountable for their past actions,” Gary LaBarbera, the president of the Building & Construction Trades of Greater New York, said, also in a statement.  20% of budget

That legislation is coupled to another Council bill, also passed unanimously Thursday, requiring city agencies to provide contractors

FDNY, city honor Bravest lost in the last year

Family, friends, city officials and thousands of FDNY members gathered at the Firemen’s Memorial on Manhattan’s Riverside Drive Oct. 9 to commemorate and honor the 14 members of the department lost in the last year, among them two who died in the line of duty.  Among those honored were EMT Frederick D. Whiteside and Supervising Fire Marshal George E. Snyder Jr., both of whom died on duty. Whiteside and Snyder had joined the department within days of each other in 2002, Whiteside in April of that year and Snyder in May. Snyder, 53, of Yonkers, suffered a cardiac episode Aug. 9 and died the next day. He began his career assigned to Engine 36 in Harlem. He was assigned to the BFI Special Operations Command, where he led the Lithium-Ion Battery Task Force. He was cited five times for meritorious acts throughout his 22-year career. Whiteside, 43 and of Brooklyn, died Nov. 17 following cardiac arrest while working at a 911 Dispatch Center in the Bronx. He spent his career in the Bronx and in Brooklyn, working in EMS Division 2 and EMS Division 3. He had been working in EMS Dispatch since 2019.

During his commemorative address, FDNY Commissioner Robert Tucker noted that the department

continues to lose colleagues to the aftereffects of the September 11 ter ror attacks. More than 370 have died from WTC-related illnesses in the 23 years since then.

“The members we honor today were all selfless, amazing people who gave their lives in dedication to service of our city. Their sworn oath to serve and protect guided their every day, and we know they lived as they worked with honor and dignity. Let us pay tribute to them,” Tucker said. “Let us honor them. We do that by honoring our tradi tions, by lining the streets in sa lute, by donning your uniforms and standing silently in respect for the families of the deceased. Be com forted in knowing that we do this every year in the same way with the same reverence.”

who request it a written explanation when the city denies approval of a subcontractor.

The impetus for the bills, whose provisions go into effect in four months, came from the vendors themselves, Won said. She said Council members had heard complaints from contractors with a history of securing city contracts but who were denied renewals when they refused to drop a subcontractor at the request of a city agency “because of a variety of reasons.”

“Currently, the city is able to deny any subcontracts that they want with zero explanation,” she said.

Won said that a minimum of 20 percent of the municipal budget goes to outside contractors through the procurement process. “That means that that’s at minimum $20 billion going out on these city bids. We want to ensure legislatively that

they are done fairly,” she said.

“These two bills will now provide an avenue where [scrupulous bidders] will have the time and the voice to be able to protest a denial, as well as every single agency will have a city contracting officer who will have to answer the questions, as well as protections for labor unions and others like nonprofits who are fearful of speaking up when they feel they were wrongfully taken away or denied a contract that they have long been awarded,” she said.

Together, the two bills bring “much needed transparency and accountability by protecting whistleblowers and allowing people to have a voice,” she said at Thursday’s Council meeting.

Won said the bills were “just the beginning” of the Council’s effort to reform the city’s contracting process.

Continued from Page 1

Campaign Finance Board, said he decided to run for secretary-treasurer for the Members In Charge slate because his job revolves around financial compliance and “what it means to have a fiduciary responsibility.”

He praised Lackhan for his activism in the union, including rallying members to vote against a dues increase that was proposed by the local in 2014, and noted that Gutierrez had ties to the previous administration because she was previously a sergeant-at-arms.

“The members have a choice to make. They have a choice between sticking with people affiliated with the old guard. Or they have the opportunity for a new slate that will empower the rankand-file members,” Wang said during a phone interview.

But Gutierrez clarified that she had no control over the union’s financial responsibilities in her position as sergeant-at-arms. “I was not a top officer; I was not part of those financial discussions,” she said. “The sergeant-at-arms keeps order during the meetings — that was my duty.”

She added that she was extremely proud of the diverse slate she had assembled, which includes members from a range of agencies, including the Human Resources Administration, the NYPD, 311, Health + Hospitals and the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings.

“I love my team — I’m humbled by and grateful for them. I’m just hitting the ground running and I’m looking forward to bringing the local back,” she said.

“When I win, I want my opposition team to join forces with me to bring back the local,” she added. “And if I don’t win, I would want the opposition team to extend the same.” Wang stated that his MIC slate is seeking to have a rank-and-file that is “organized enough to bargain for better raises and compressed work schedules and can leverage enough power to demand Tier 6 reforms.” Gutierrez noted that her Team Forward slate “was looking to move forward and expand the local’s membership.”

According to the local’s website, the voting period for the mail ballot election will run from Nov. 1 until Nov. 22, with the ballots expected to be counted that day.

COMMENTARY COMMENTARY COMMENTARY

BEN AUGUST Publisher RICHARD KHAVKINE Editor

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Ramos on the right side

To The ediTor:

State Senator Jessica Ramos appears to be a very promising candidate for labor (The Chief, “State Senate labor chair applies for mayor’s job,” Sept. 27). Union leaders don’t always support the candidate who’s best for their workers’ interests. See the support many had for Mayor Adams’ push to privatize Medicare for city employees and his predecessor’s contracts that gave those workers real-money pay cuts.

But Ramos is on the right side on issues for working people. Supporting increases in the minimum wage, safety protections for construction and warehouse workers, improved unemployment benefits and harsher penalties for wage theft should be no-brainers for a political party that claims to be pro-worker.

The only advice I would give her is not to repeat the anti-police rhetoric of some so-called progressives. But don’t advocate the continuation of Adams’ blind support for cops guilty of wrongdoing either. The police force should be increased and good cops should be supported while bad ones are fired.

As for “The benefits of a four-day work week,” (The Chief, same issue), besides burnout, people need more time to enjoy the life they actually work for.

Another no-brainer should be passing legislation that makes treating workers right mandated by law. The owners of 529 Fifth Ave. (“Cleaners at lux 5th Ave. digs rail against pay and benefit cuts,” same issue) would not be able to slash their employees’ salaries from $29 an hour to $16 if the minimum wage was $30 an hour. If all citizens had the same complete government provided health coverage that other developed nations have, employers would not be able to take away workers’ health insurance. Also, a minimum amount of sick days for all workers should also be mandated by law.

Richard Warren

Money makes money

To The ediTor: Bill Clinton’s mantra during his initial White House run was “it’s the economy stupid.” The nation was mired in a five-year long recession that began Oct. 19, 1987, “Black Monday.” On that day, the stock market dropped over 22 percent, the largest one-day loss in history.

Two decades later, on Sept. 15, 2008, history was repeating. The market fall was spread over a longer period of time, but the nadir was deeper. By March 2009, the stock market was down half from a year earlier. Both times millions of jobs, homes and life savings were lost; nearly nine million jobless and four million homes under foreclosure by the end of the Great Recession.

Why two-thirds of Americans classify today’s economy as bad is beyond me. Higher prices are painful, but low prices are little comfort when you’re out of work and your nest egg is gone.

What I hear from some is that working folks are facing real-world struggles. Really? My working-class parents faced real-world struggles every day of their lives. That wasn’t a lifelong bad economy, it was the result of an unfair economic system.

As Ben Franklin noted “Money makes money. And the money that makes money, makes money.” Nothing’s changed; corporate and investment earnings are setting records. Yet, workers still struggle waiting for the riches to “trickle down.”

The economy is great. U.S. GDP is $29 trillion and growing at a healthy 3 percent. Employment is at an all-time high and unemployment hovers around a 50-year low. What is, and has always been missing is a fair share of the pie for those who bake it. Maybe today’s mantra should be “it’s how the economy works stupid.” .

Joseph Cannisi

REPORTS FROM THE FIELD by

Denberg

Deluge of disinformation To The ediTor:

How stupid does one have to be to believe Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s statement, “Yes, they (the Democrats) can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”

“Stupid” is what President Joe Biden called Greene’s ludicrous lies that go beyond Chicken Little’s warning that “The sky is falling.”

If anyone believes Greene, they are loyal members of the Trump cult who believe anything Trump or his acolytes tell them, no matter how crazy it is.

Donald Trump is using the last few weeks before the election to promote lies and disinformation relating to the huge hurricane relief effort in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Trump’s lies are dangerous and cruel, and graphically display his hypocritical use of projection. For instance, in 2019, Trump moved $150 million targeted for FEMA to support his horrific immigration enforcement.

Among Trump’s lies are that flood victims’ property has been confiscated, that victims of the hurricanes will only receive $750,

that there is anti-Republican bias in the response to North Carolina, and that Kamala Harris has spent all of her FEMA money on illegal immigrants she expects will vote for her.

Biden has called Trump’s lies bizarre and un-American, and in response to a reporter’s question whether he has asked Trump to stop the lies, he said, “Are you serious?”

Trump’s mental and verbal gaffes have increased in pace with his lies. He is unfit for the presidency. The legitimate media should stop treating Donald Trump as if he were a respectable candidate for public office.

Michael J. Gorman

The defense rests

To The ediTor: This will be my last letter on January 6 but there is a reply to “Capitol Offense” (The Chief, letter, Oct. 10) I cannot ignore.

The commenter suggests “like most Republicans,” I “tuned out or dismissed the January 6 hearings as partisan.” This is simply untrue. While I could keep this private

if I chose, I am not a registered Republican. I do not vote the party. I vote the candidate. I’ve voted for Democrats, Republicans and Independents.

Jan. 6, 2021, was one of the darkest moments in our history. It is indefensible to attempt to use mob rule to overturn the decisions of our courts or encourage others to do so. There is nothing partisan about investigating domestic terrorists. None of my letters defend Donald Trump. All I am saying is no matter how much Trump incited the mob to riot, the blame is not solely his. His followers could have ignored him. They could have engaged in peaceful protest outside the Capitol. Even their forming a miles-long caravan on the Van Wyck Expressway, while inconveniencing those traveling north, was legal. The decision to illegally storm the Capitol was solely their decision. It’s fine to disagree with me. But it isn’t OK to use snippets from my letters out of context, infer things about me that aren’t true, and accuse me of defending what I unequivocally do not.

Nat Weiner

Where is Harris’ support for organized labor?

BY CARTER MYERS-BROWN

While the National Labor Relations Board gained strength under President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris’ election would not guarantee its continued support for organized labor. Upon taking office, Biden swiftly removed Trump-appointed Peter Robb as NLRB general counsel and replaced him with Jennifer Abruzzo. Abruzzo revitalized the board, aggressively targeting anti-union practices, particularly at companies like Starbucks, earning her the reputation of leading the most zealous board since its creation under FDR. Yet, throughout her campaign, Harris has not consistently signaled strong backing for organized labor. Her economic platform, geared more toward centrists and corporate donors, largely sidesteps labor issues. With the nomination of Tim Walz as her running mate, Harris appears to be banking on “Union Joe’s” legacy without fully embracing labor solidarity herself. This strategy risks alienating key voter demographics, particularly in states where workers feel abandoned by the Democratic Party. Under the Biden administration, the NLRB aggressively countered union-busting efforts. Abruzzo worked to reverse the pro-management stance of her predecessor, bolstering the enforcement of labor laws and expanding protections for workers. She interpreted the Wagner Act broadly, advocating for college athletes to be recognized as employees and that immigrant workers have the right to organize, regardless of immigration status.  Abruzzo also pushed for harsher penalties for employers who violate labor laws. In one landmark case, the board in 2021 also ruled

that Starbucks must reopen several stores in Buffalo after the company closed them in response to unionization efforts at the locations and refusing to negotiate with the union representing the workers. The case led to national unionization efforts for Starbucks employees.

Abruzzo’s work signaled a broader shift toward pro-labor policies under the Biden administration, marking a departure from the Trump administration’s focus on management interests.

But Harris’ election provides no assurance of continued pro-labor trends. Her “Opportunity Economy” plan emphasizes support for small business owners, middle-class tax cuts and affordable housing but largely omits discussion of unions and the PRO Act.

The New York Times reported that Harris, at a rally last month in Pittsburgh, “paraphrased Warren Buffett, cited a survey of top economists and praised entrepreneurs in language that echoed Republican Senator Mitt Romney’s presidential run a dozen years earlier.”

Her language, emphasizing competition and individual success, is aimed at moderates, corporate donors and business interests rather than working-class voters. Notably, she did not mention unions once in her convention speech, raising concerns that under her administration, the NLRB could return to the toothless agency it often was in the past. If Harris continues her corporate-friendly agenda once elected, she would exacerbate the board’s biggest flaw: the inability to prohibit large corporations from violating labor law.

Harris’ hesitance to adopt a strong pro-labor stance may be influenced by her donor base. As a former California senator, she has a

Her language, emphasizing competition and individual success, is aimed at moderates, corporate donors and business interests rather than working-class voters.

relationship to Silicon Valley. Politico reported that about $12 million of the $59 million she raised in the first 10 days after Biden dropped out of the race July 21 was from California donors, with $242,000 coming from Google employees, $170,000 from Apple employees, and $81,000 from Meta employees.

The influence of wealthy donors on Harris’ campaign is increasingly evident. Prominent supporters such as Reid Hoffman and Barry Diller have reportedly suggested they would pressure Harris to remove Lina Khan, the progressive chair of the FTC. Similarly, Mark Cuban has tried to influence her by pushing for the removal of SEC Chair Gary Gensler, even nominating himself as Gensler’s replacement.

These moves reflect the fear among some donors that Harris’s campaign may be vulnerable and present an opportunity to shift her away from Biden’s labor-friendly policies toward a more corporate-friendly stance. Cuban reinforced this perception during an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box”

program, he said, “she is pro-business, going center 100 percent.”

With limited time to raise funds and mobilize support, Harris may find it difficult to resist the influence of big capital. However, this strategy assumes she can inherit Biden’s labor-friendly image without fully embracing it.

Harris seems to hope that her selection of Tim Walz as vice president will assuage concerns about her labor stance. As governor of Minnesota, Walz built a strong pro-labor record, expanding paid family and medical leave, strengthening collective bargaining rights, appointing a labor lawyer to lead the state Department of Labor and Industry, and prohibiting employers from mandating anti-union meetings.

The highlight of his tenure was the passage of S.F 3035, which The New Republic’s Timothy Noah described as a “mini-PRO Act.” It outlawed captive audience meetings during union drives and banned non-compete clauses in employment contracts.

This record led to public declarations of support from labor leaders: The president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Kenneth Cooper, declared, “By choosing [Walz] as her running mate, Kamala Harris proves she is committed to continuing President Biden’s pro-union legacy.” Yet, like Harris, Walz avoided mentioning unions in his convention speech, seeding doubt into his willingness to champion organized labor on the national level.

Meanwhile, Harris is struggling to garner the same level of working-class support that Biden achieved in 2020. Recent polls show that 49 percent of households earning under $50,000 back Harris, compared to Biden’s 55 percent in 2020. Likewise, Harris has 42-percent support among voters without a college degree, while Biden secured 48 percent from this group in the previous election.

While Harris certainly needs working-class support to become president, the NLRB goes beyond the election. The board already suffers from a lack of funding, and if the Democrats lose control of the Senate, Abruzzo could be replaced in 2025, weakening the board’s power.

The NLRB has been battling the conservative-majority Supreme Court for authority, which historically has been as important in regulating labor rights as the executive branch. Especially with Elon Musk and others litigating the constitutionality of the board, organized labor, of course, must strengthen coalitions, but perhaps more importantly, pressure Harris to ensure an aggressive NLRB General Counsel like Abruzzo.

If Harris is to win in November, she needs to not only build her own agenda and relationship to organized labor, but speak it to the public.

Carter Myers-Brown is a New Yorkbased essayist who writes about labor policy, the environment and social movements.

Daniel DeSlover/Sipa USA via AP Images

Vice President Kamala Harris during a Democratic campaign rally on Sept. 20, 2024, in Madison, Wisconsin.

COMMENTARY COMMENTARY COMMENTARY

Can the system breathe?

BY RON ISAAC

The trial of Daniel Penny begins soon. Two years have passed since the Marine Corps veteran choked Jordan Neely to death on a subway train. Motive of action and degree of intention are yet to be determined.

The victim had reportedly acted “hostile and erratic” and threw trash and threatened passengers, some of whom perceived they were in danger. Judging from their narratives, that would be natural.  Neely was not in possession of a weapon and at no time did he or anybody else claim that he was, but he clearly expressed readiness to commit grievous bodily self-harm. He was unmistakably at a breaking point.

Daniel Penny sized up Neely to be more than an anti-social nuisance. He succumbed to the drama of the moment, and Neely succumbed to Penny’s neutralization of what may or may not have been an imminent menace to other passengers.  Witnesses were traumatized yet relieved. Penny insists that his intervention was solely to keep the peace and avert injury and spiraling mayhem. Passengers overwhelmingly, if not unanimously, viewed Penny’s initiative as civic-minded and rational.

not as much by Neely himself as by human indifference masquerading as sound public policy, which zealously protects the right of judgment-compromised people to destroy themselves.

In recent decades, there has been a precipitous drop in the number of hospital beds for psychiatric patients. Thousands of beds have been decertified, especially in New York City, where the number is ludicrously inadequate. Politicians have scored brownie points with civil libertarians who tout “community-based services” over hospital settings, which they equate with imprisonment when it is involuntary.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Daniel Penny’s defense attorney have clashed over whether Neely’s psychiatric history and use of powerful synthetic cannabinoids should be raised at trial. They have both calculated their positions based on the odds of getting an acquittal or conviction, rather than weighing whether such clarifying information might advance understanding.

Both have priorities that supersede the interests of pure justice.

years of been Justices the more have women is 4 over decision to African-Amerhe we qualified comical if ignoJobs the and What an President for selectblue-ribbon apconfirm or politicontext is Ronto woman immedifrom find obvious1991,

Was Neely’s death an accident?

Was it negligence fueled by racism? Was Penny just playing to an audience? Did he just panic and blow a gasket? Was he driven by hormonal rage?  Did he simply want to keep Neely incapacitated until the police arrived, and it just didn’t work out that way? Did he merely miscalculate in the heat of the moment? Did he welcome the opportunity to mete out “justice,” even if he didn’t seek or promote the opportunity? Is he a good Samaritan or an

Letters to the Editor

avenging vigilante?

This

BY DAVID MIRTZ

Vincent Scala is a former Bronx Assistant District Attorney. He is currently a criminal-defense attorney in New York City and its suburbs. Hypocrisy On

Audacity to Criticize Molina

I’m not schooled in the fine points of the law, which is just as well since there are none anymore. Judicial standards have been abrogated by failure to enforce them universally. Facts cannot be boiled down in a simmering pot of arbitrary allegations. Defaulting to charges of racism is lazy and often conniving.  Truth and justice are not paintby-numbers operations.

To the Editor: On Feb 19, the NY Daily News published an article entitled, “As NYC Correction Commissioner Molina cleans house, critics worry he’s coddling jail unions.”

as taught in the military, to law enforcement and in children’s jiujitsu classes. If he was clueless to the protocols of responsible strangulation, he had no business experimenting on necks. Neither surprisingly nor implausibly, Penny allegedly said on a police video that he was simply trying to “de-escalate” the situation and “keep him from hurting anyone else.”

was Black, and the perpetrator was white, that the tragedy was fueled by racism that may have been subconscious. We cannot look into his heart. We can only speculate and there is no hard evidence.

A judge ruled that Penny’s statements to police could be heard by the jury. Bragg seeks to block witnesses from testifying about Neely’s mental and drug abuse history and his dozens of prior arrests for violence on the street and subway, including a random attack on an elderly woman which broke her nose and orbital bones.

George Herbert Walker Bush had to replace the first African American, Thurgood Marshall. He looked all over the country and the “most-qualified” was Clarence Thomas, also an African-American? Of course not. Clarence Thomas is an African-American conservative and he got the gig. Expect a Top Candidate Let’s please stop the nonsense in this country. We have never had an African-American woman on the court. Biden will not be selecting a cashier from Stop-and-Shop or a pilates instructor from the local sports club. He will select a highly educated, highly credentialed woman who attended a top college, top law school, clerked for a Justice, served on the Federal appellate court and all the other “credentials” deemed necessary in this day and age for a Justice.

Did Penny realize what was happening to Neely? If not, then he was not trained in the safe and proper applications of chokeholds,

Even before the trial’s first utterance, the public is divided into two main factions of people whose primal passions have made up their minds for them. Plus, a splinter group who actually care to hear the evidence first.

Whether it’s a newly elected Mayor, Governor or President, every new administration replaces personnel, notwithstanding their work performance. No reason is needed to remove someone in an appointed position within NYC government with the exception of the Commissioner of the Department of Investigation, even though there is more than enough justification to fire all the top managers in DOC.

Top managers likely get their jobs through political connections and serve entirely at the pleasure of the Mayor. Moreover, the personnel that Louis Molina removed were in charge of critical units which they failed to lead effectively.

The stakes are too high to allow for any margin of error.

Under these circumstances, hindsight must be merged with foresight and pre-enabled by it. Jordan Neely was homeless, had a drug history and a long rap sheet, but his death is no less tragic for his having not been a pillar of society. Once we make such differentiations, we are all lost.

THE CHIEF-LEADER welcomes letters from its readers for publication. Correspondents must include their names, addresses and phone numbers. Letters should be submitted with the understanding that all correspondence is subject to the editorial judgment of this newspaper. To submit a letter to the editor online, visit thechiefleader.com and click on Letters to the Editor.

Life’s sanctity is across the board. No classifications belong or rubrics fit.

There’s a lot of race hustling and baiting going on. Also, heroic championing. All vying to be the coin of the realm.

Penny says he is saddened by the tragedy. Because it upended his life or due to the human toll? Have his lawyers counseled him on what sort of person to adopt and project?   Criminal attorneys are big on billable, thespian tutorials for their clients. They are masters of reinvention.

Even before the trial’s first utterance, the public is divided into two main factions of people whose primal passions have made up their minds for them. Plus, a splinter group who actually care to hear the evidence first.

Thousands of people have donated over a million dollars to Daniel Penny’s defense fund. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said, “America’s got his back.” Bragg wants him locked up for manslaughter.

Jordan Neely was a complex person whose existence was harsh and loaded with extenuating circumstances. His mother was murdered and found in a suitcase alongside a parkway, and he was sent off to foster care.

It is alleged, with various degrees of sincere belief, default demagogy and perhaps perspicacity, that for no other reason than the victim

Neely suffered a lot. The dancer and Michael Jackson impersonator’s life was star-crossed. Its constellation was largely man-made,

He’d been diagnosed with multiple psychiatric disorders and since 2019, was listed on a roster of people “who stand out for the severity of their troubles and their resistance to accepting help,” according to The New York Times. Government dysfunction was an  accessory to his demise. That is a crime for sure. This man paid his dues. His memory should be for a blessing.

November, a vote by and for working people is vital

The attacks on this decision should be seen for what they are. They are idiotic political theater from a cohort that sees even a tiny effort at progress as threatening the white male position in society.

As we approach election day, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The MAGA-Republican challenges to the legitimacy of the 2020 elections, the January 6 insurrection and the democracy-dismantling revelations of Project 2025 has made it clear.  Powerful corporate interests have concluded that even a little democracy is too much. They want nothing getting in the way of their ability to wield power and pursue their drive for maximum profits. It has tapped into and cultivated a right-wing populist movement that it hopes will fundamentally eliminate the government’s ability to act as a check on its power.

BARRY LISAK

It seemed, until recently, poised for success. Now with Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic Party ticket, the race has tightened. But Democrats still struggle to get traction among voters in an election that should be a walk, despite important initiatives from previous Democratic administrations that mitigated some conditions working people have faced. The failure, over the last 30 years, to address the underlying policies that have left approximately 140 million Americans in economic distress and concentrated political and economic power into the hands of a few corporations and individuals has left voters cynical and demoralized.

Example 2

an implosion as a result of the feckless leadership of Vincent Schiraldi and his coterie. Now Schiraldi, who was the worst DOC commissioner in its 127-year history, is questioning Molina’s personnel decisions.

a so-called juvenile-justice reformer and expert, failed so miserably in managing DOC?

criminals and probably require arrests, prosecutions and imprisonment? If the homeless who are removed from the subways refuse to cooperate with programs designed to help them turn their lives around, what are the penalties? Will they be arrested or placed in secure mental facilities where they will be less likely to do harm to others?

nai, the head of DOC’s Intelligence Bureau and a “former covert officer in the CIA,” could not stop the scourge of gang violence from dominating and ravaging Rikers? Varnai, at least, must be commended for wishing Molina success, and I must say he has impressive credentials.

far-reaching legislation like the Black Thirty-Hour Bill and building electoral coalitions enabled by fusion-voting that kept the Roosevelt administration on the path of social reform and established the social contract of the New Deal era. These moments, with the tool of fusion-voting, tipped power towards workers, freed slaves and farmers and changed the political landscape of the country for generations. No wonder corporate power did everything it could to eradicate fusion-voting across the country, leaving  it in only a handful of states, New York being one.  Here in New York we have a

unique opportunity to defeat the MAGA Right and by fusion-voting on the Working Families Party line, demand an end to the death grip oligarchs and corporations hold on our country and our state. It is a vote that can empower the working people of New York and their advocates. Unions, community organizations, faith-based groups and others should use this opportunity to assert their values and their voices by voting on the Working Families Party line this Nov. 5.

David Mirtz is co-chair of the NYC Working Families Party.

and by deducunder Act mar(MFJ), separately household spouse 2021 the dollar and and 65 and blind instandard individuals statuses. 2018 2025, additional deduction because she is 70 years old. Her standard deduction for 2021 is $14,250 ($12,550, the standard deduction for 2021, plus $1,700, the 2021 additional standard deduction for the singles who are over 65 or blind).

As the Economic Policy Institute noted, “When U.S. workers and their families express anxiety about their economic prospects, they are reacting to decades of stagnant wage growth, a lack of workplace representation, underinvestment in public goods and services, and rampant discrimination throughout the economy. These are the chronic conditions that the economy has been living with.”

the economic and political system is stacked against them. Without a clear program that addresses the reality that corporate power has become the main obstacle to a fuller democracy and economic well-being for the majority of Americans, Democrats risk squandering the edge they have going into this election’s final stretch.

How does Sarena Townsend, the Deputy Commissioner for Investigations and a former prosecutor who preferred departmental charges on thousands of uniformed staff—resulting in scores if not hundreds of correction officers being fired or forced to resign—now cries foul when she gets fired ?

Schiraldi praises his managers who created a “war room” to redeploy staff on an emergency basis. That “war room” should have also been utilized to generate and implement new policy to stop the devastating inmate violence that inflicted pain and suffering on officers and inmates alike.

was limited to its expansion, not its abolition. As it became clear the institution of slavery and a united country were incompatible, the abolitionist movement, using fusion-voting, grew in strength. After the Civil War, abolitionists and radical Republicans were able to override President Andrew Johnson’s veto and pass the Reconstruction Act, which set the terms for the South’s readmission into the Union. The Reconstruction period remains one of the most profound expansions of democracy in U.S. history.

In 2021, Nicole and her spouse are joint filers. Both qualify for an additional standard deduction because they are both over 65. Their Form 1040 standard deduction is $27,800 ($25,100, the 2021 standard deduction for joint filers, plus 2 x $1,350, the 2021 additional standard deduction for married persons who are over 65 or blind). The above examples reflect the benefit of the new standard deduction. Millions of taxpayers won’t be itemizing this year to reduce their Federal income-tax

A Democratic win this November is a crucial step in keeping the power of Big Business in check and saving democracy from those who would scrap it altogether. Americans intuitively understand that

Defeating the extreme right, curbing corporate power and opening up the possibility for bigger wins in the future depends on social justice movements, in particular the labor movement, using the opportunity of this election to assert the interests and agency of working people. U.S. history has important examples where these movements made significant changes to society by building broad coalitions and using the strategy of ‘fusion-voting’, the practice of candidates being cross-endorsed by different political parties, which was commonplace in American electoral politics.

Further, the now-garrulous Schiraldi was speechless when the unions continuously sounded the alarm regarding chaos, bedlam, lawlessness and gross mismanagement by top bosses. Commissioner Molina is addressing all those issues. Neither Schiraldi, nor any of his senior managers, have the credibility or standing to

Outside of the historic resistance of African slaves and a small group of abolitionists, the main pushback against the institution of slavery

In the 1930s, the financial crisis and the subsequent Great Depression left millions of Americans destitute. The Roosevelt administration’s initial New Deal response was limited and did little to alleviate their conditions. A right wing populist movement here and a fascist movement on the rise internationally threatened to resolve the global crisis of capitalism by scrapping democracy and establishing authoritarian regimes.

In the face of conservative backlash, it was labor unions and social movements organizing around

To the Editor: The proposed New York Health Act would provide on a statewide level what Medicare-for-All would provide nationwide. Yet in recent issues, it has been claimed that the reason some unions oppose this is because the medical plans they already have provide benefits that this proposal would not include. Now as a retired transit worker, I have always had good health coverage since I started working for the system in 1979. But one friend who was an excellent Transport Workers Union Local 100 rep had serious health issues before he recently passed away. He had a stroke while he was still working, and had to fight numerous large bills for medical care that was supposed to be covered. I remember him saying, “I have great coverage as long as I don’t get sick.” Under the New York Health Act, patients would not have to worry about fighting

Skeptical of Union ‘Health’

VINCENT SCALA

hoods in all five boroughs of the city. MICHAEL J. GORMAN

Andrea Renault/STAR MAX/IPx

Trump supporters and others gathered outside of Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue ahead of the verdict in his hush money trial in May.

Michael Nigro/Sipa USA via AP Images

Daniel Penny, 24, being escorted by the NYPD after turning himself into the 5th Precinct in Lower Manhattan in May 2023 after being charged in the chokehold death of Jordan Neely.

Sinai graduate workers form union

BY CRYSTAL LEWIS clewis@thechiefleader.com

Graduate workers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have voted in favor of unionizing.

About 90 percent of the grad workers who participated in the vote supported unionizing, with 218 voting yes and 24 voting no, according to the Oct. 9 tally conducted by the National Labor Relations Board. The vote concluded late last month. Their union, the Sinai Student Workers-UAW, represents approximately 300 researchers in the biomedical sciences and neuroscience programs at Sinai. A majority of the student workers signed union authorization cards during the spring of 2023, and filed for a union with the NLRB that summer. The workers are seeking better pay, health care benefits and job protections.

“After many months of organizing, countless conversations with our colleagues, and more than a year of delays by Sinai, we are excited to announce that we have won

our union,” Sanutha Shetty, a grad student in the neuroscience program, said in a statement. “With a clear majority of eligible student workers voting yes, we have sent an unambiguous message to Sinai that they should respect our vote and start bargaining with us.”

In recent years, the unionization rate among graduate workers has grown dramatically across the country. By January of this year, about 38 percent of graduate student workers belonged to a union, according to data from the National Education Association, the largest union representing educators. The number of grad students represented by a union grew 133 percent between 2012 and this year.

“We have already seen the power of organized researchers at major research institutions to dramatically improve their working conditions, including right here in NYC with our postdoc colleagues at Mount Sinai, and student workers at Columbia University, NYU, and more,” Shetty said. “We’re proud

What is tax-deductible on a rental property?

BY BARRY LISAK

DO YOU RENT property to others?

Rental real estate provides more tax benefits than almost any other investment. Besides, the potential for an ongoing income and capital appreciation. Such investments offer deductions that can reduce the income tax on your profits. Here are some tax deductions for owners of rental property:

• Interest. Interest is often a landlord’s biggest deductible expense. Common examples of interest that landlords can deduct include mortgage-interest payments on loans used to acquire or improve rental property and interest on credit cards for goods and services used in a rental activity.

• Depreciation. The actual cost of rental property is not fully deductible in the year in which you pay for it. Instead, landlords can deduct a portion of the cost of the property over several years (i.e., 27.5 years). Use IRS Form 4562 to calculate depreciation.

• Repairs. The cost of repairs for rental property is fully deductible in the year they are incurred. Some examples of deductible repairs include repainting, fixing gutters or floors, fixing leaks and replacing broken glass.

• Local travel. Rental landlords are entitled to a tax deduction whenever they drive anywhere for their rental property. For example, when you drive to your rental building to deal with a tenant complaint or go to the hardware store to purchase a part for a repair, you can deduct your travel expenses.

• Long distance travel. If you travel overnight for your rental activity, you can deduct your airfare, hotel bills, meals, and other expenses.

• Casualty and theft losses. If your rental property is damaged or destroyed from a sudden event like a fire or flood, you may be able to obtain a tax deduction for all or part of your loss. These types of losses are called casualty losses. How much you may deduct depends on

how much of your property was destroyed and whether the loss was covered by insurance.

• Insurance. You can deduct the premiums for insurance for your rental activity. This includes fire, theft and flood insurance, as well as landlord’s liability insurance.

• Legal and professional fees. You can deduct fees you pay for attorneys, accountants and property management companies.

You can deduct these fees as operating expenses as long as the fees are paid for work related to your rental activity.

Rental income and expenses are generally reported on Form 1040, Schedule E, Supplemental Income and Losses. You can write off a loss on a rental property as long as you meet income requirements and actively participate in rental activities. Active participation in a rental is as simple as placing ads, setting rents, or screening prospective tenants. If you are married filing jointly and your modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) is $100,000 or less, you can deduct up to $25,000 rental losses. For example: Let’s say that for the year rental receipts are $12,000 and expenses total $15,000, resulting in a $3,000 loss. If your MAGI is below $100,000, you can deduct the full $3,000 loss. If you’re in the 25-percent bracket, a $3,000 loss reduces your tax bill by $750, plus any applicable state income taxes.

There are a lot of good reasons to own rental property. Many people invest so that their money will grow, so it will provide income, or to take advantage of the tax-break opportunities. For more information on rental income and expenses, see IRS Publication 527, “Residential Rental Property.”

Barry Lisak is an IRS enrolled agent specializing in personal and small business taxes for 30 years. Any questions can be directed to him at 516-829-7283, or mrbarrytax@aol.com.

to be part of the movement to raise standards across the sector, and we are looking forward to negotiating a strong first contract.”

The union noted that the grad students had to overcome several roadblocks to vote, including that management at Sinai challenged the eligibility of “every single student worker on the voter list,” SSUUAW wrote on social media. Sinai officials also filed a legal appeal a day before voting started opposing an NLRB ruling that determined that the student workers are, in fact, employees, according to the union.

Mount Sinai did not immediately return a request for comment.

“This victory was worker-led and hard fought,” said Brandon Mancilla, director of UAW Region 9a. “We welcome these workers into the growing UAW family. And we look forward to standing with them as we fight together for a strong first contract that achieves what they deserve and continues to raise standards for academic workers across the U.S.”

GODFATHER: He wrote the book on murder

Continued from Page 1

court on his day off when he witnessed three mobsters abduct a diamond merchant on a Little Italy street corner. He engaged the kidnappers in a high-speed car chase that ended with a shootout and the merchant’s rescue. One suspect was arrested at the scene. The other two, one of whom was wounded by Geberth, managed to escape, and were never apprehended.

About six years later, Geberth was contacted by a friend in the Intelligence Division who was monitoring an organized crime wiretap. According to written accounts, the subject of the wire, a still relatively unknown up and coming mobster named John Gotti, “alluded to his near capture by some crazy cop with a siren in his personal car that chased him and his partners through Little Italy after a jewelry heist. He couldn’t believe the balls of this maniac.”   Geberth was promoted in 1971 and returned to TPF as a squad sergeant, before moving into the Organized Crime Control Bureau’s Special Investigations Unit and onto Manhattan North Narcotics. He was ultimately assigned to the 7th Homicide Division in the South Bronx. Comprising six square miles covering just four precincts, the unit handled up to 225 homicides a year.

“I was like a kid in a candy shop,” said Geberth. “I was fascinated with the work. I learned from the A team of investigators and began going to the library on my days off to learn all I could about gathering forensic evidence and investigating all aspects of homicides. I created checklists, which would later be the nucleus of my first book. There was no Google then and everything was on index catalog cards.”

‘Working for God’

After being assigned to two Bronx detective squads, Geberth was eventually promoted to lieutenant commander of Bronx Homicide, which he describes as the “epitome of my career.”

“I got better and better at understanding the psychology associated with murder and the follow-up investigation,” said Geberth. “It was my passion.” Geberth headed up the investigation involving Larry Davis, a suspect in multiple homicides who shot and wounded six police officers who came to question him in November 1986. Davis managed to escape from the scene of the shooting but was captured after a 17-day manhunt. The politically charged case caused an abundance of internecine squabbles so Geberth chose to retire on a high note after Davis’s apprehension.

Since then, Geberth has conducted worldwide seminars, consulted with police agencies around the globe, and is a charter member of many associations and commissions, including the International Homicide Investigators Association, the United States Association of Professional Investigators and the New York State Governor’s Commission on Domestic Violence Fatalities.

He has served on the faculties of Mercy College, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, the University of Delaware and Northwestern University. In addition, Geberth has consulted with state and federal agencies and major media outlets on many serial killers, including Dennis Rader, who was known as the BTK Killer for Bind, Torture and Kill. Rader, a dogcatcher and compliance officer in Park City, Kansas, murdered at least 10 people between 1974 and 1991.

Among the many other subjects assessed by Geberth was John Robinson, a prolific con man and first known serial killer to use the Internet to lure a minimum of seven lonely women into his web of deceit in the Midwest, and the cannibalistic Jeffrey Dahmer, who killed at least 17 men in Milwaukee between 1978 and 1991.

Geberth insists he is not responsible for the moniker “Godfather of Homicide,” saying he was christened with it while discussing a serial killer case on Fox News.

Geberth has been married to his wife Laura for 60 years, and they are the parents of four children and grandparents to 14. One son, Vernon, retired from the NYPD as a detective assigned to the Joint Terrorist Task Force. Another son, Robert, retired as an Investigator with the New York State Police.

One of Geberth’s favorite mantras is that homicide investigators are the “good guys” and “we work for God,” which he maintains to this day.

“Law enforcement is an honorable and noble profession,” said Geberth. “Police officers, like military officers, priests and ministers have a calling. A calling or vocation that often transcends their own careers and personal life. We, in homicide, have a mission. Our mission is to bring justice to the deceased and their surviving family. If that’s not God’s work, I don’t know what is.”

42 names added to NYPD memorial wall

In a brief, solemn ceremony in Battery Park City Tuesday morning, NYPD officers and officials paid tribute to the 42 police officers who died in recent years, many of 9/11-related illnesses.

BY MATHEW JOSEPH

ter again. Before you register, have this information available:

• Names and Social Security numbers for all owners of the property and their spouses

• The name of the school district where your primary residence is located

• The approximate date you purchased the property, and the name of the sellers

• The most recent school tax bill, if you received one

• The address of any residential property owned in another state

• If the property is owned in trust, the legal name of the trust

• Federal or state income tax returns for all owners (if you didn’t file a tax return, you’ll be asked to provide financial information for all property owners.

Mathew Joseph is a real estate tax consultant. He can be reached at 929-393-5773 or realtorplus1@ yahoo.com.

Among those whose names have been etched into the NYC Police Memorial’s green granite wall at Liberty Street and South End Avenue were those of Officer Jonathan Diller, who was shot and killed on March 25 in Far Rockaway, Queens.

Diller, 31, a member of the 105th Precinct’s Community Response Team, was shot and killed after he and other officers approached an illegally parked car in Far Rockaway, Queens. The officer was shot once in the stomach by a man with 21 prior arrests. Despite being mortally wounded, Diller was able to wrestle the gun away from the shooter before the man was shot by police. Detective Troy Patterson was similarly honored. Patterson, 27, was shot Jan. 16, 1990 and died of his injuries April 29, 2023. The officer was killed while off-duty by one of a group of teenagers as he washed his car in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.

“We as a city, we sit under the tree of freedom because the 42 men and women watered that tree with their blood,” Mayor Eric Adams said during the ceremony, hosted annually by the Battery Park City Authority.

The memorial, dedicated in October 1997, commemorates the members of the NYPD who lost their lives while in the line of duty. More than 1,000 names, reordered chronologically back to 1849, are etched on the wall.

Courtesy of Vernon Geberth

The Geberth Blue Bloods: Ret. Lt. Commander Vernon Geberth with, from left, grandson Thomas, an NYPD detective; son Vernon, a retired NYPD detective; and grandson James, an NYPD officer. Thomas is wearing the same detective shield as his father and grandfather.

Graduate student workers who pushed for more than a year to unionize won a vote to form the Sinai Student Workers-UAW last week, according to the union. About 90 percent of those who participated in the vote voted in favor of joining the union. The student workers hope to bargain with Mount Sinai

Photos by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

DCAS HIRING LIST

The Department of Citywide Administrative Services established a 393-name list for Bus Operator on August 14, 2024. The list is based on Exam 4607, 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 $42,108 per year. There are three assignment levels within this class of positions. Appointments will generally be made to assignment level I. After appointment, employees may be assigned to the higher assignment levels at the discretion of the agency.

THE POSITION

Customer information representatives provide customer service using computer databases and information technology to access information required for responses, and oversee customer service work.

They record, track, respond to and resolve telephone, email and/ or walk-in inquiries in an agency customer service center, agency help desk or other agency customer service unit; provide information, record complaints and requests, and conduct research to resolve problems; forward unre-

City hiring customer information representatives at $42,000

solved matters to appropriate staff and offices for further action; enter customer information and inquiries into a computer tracking system; perform related clerical administrative tasks and computer support work.

All customer information representatives perform related work. They may be required to work various shifts including nights, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

Some of the physical activities performed by Customer Information Representatives and environmental conditions experienced are: standing for extended periods at an information desk; sitting for extended periods of time with a headset on while monitoring one or two computer screens; typing information into the computer using a computer keyboard; coordinating eye/ hand movements while handling calls and operating a console and computer; speaking calmly and clearly in order to elicit information, listening carefully to clearly understand information and give instructions to a continuous flow of callers under stress; making responsible decisions where timing is critical and sitting within hearing distance of other call takers working under similar conditions.

REQUIREMENTS

To qualify for the position, applicants should have either 1) a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university; or 2) An associate degree or 60 semester credits from an accredited college or university and one year of satisfactory, full-time experience responding to inquiries using computers, databases and information technology systems for researching the answers to questions in a customer service, help desk or public information capacity; or 3) A four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent and two years of satisfactory, full-time experience as described in “2” above; or 4) A satisfactory combination of education and experience.

Satisfactory, full-time experience working for a New York City government agency responding to inquiries using computers, databases and information technology systems for researching the answers to questions in a customer service, help desk or public information capacity may be substituted on the basis of one year of NYC government work experience for two years of the experience described in “2” above. College credit may be substituted for the experience in a

customer service, help desk or pub-

lic information capacity on the basis of 60 semester credits for each year of the experience described in “2” above. However, all candidates must possess a four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent.

THE TESTS

Candidates will be given a multiple-choice test at a computer terminal, with scores on the test determining places on an eligible list. A passing score is 70 percent. The multiple-choice test may include questions requiring the use of any of the following abilities: Inductive reasoning and written comprehension and expression.

In addition to the multiple-choice test, a computerized qualifying practical test is required to meet the skill requirement. This test will assess proficiency in navigating a computer system using a computer keyboard and mouse. Test-takers will be given a call taking scenario and required to navigate a webbased computer application. In order to pass the practical test, candidates may be required to do the following within a specified period of time, to be announced on the day of the test: identify the nature

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.

of the inquiry from the simulated caller, navigate to the correct web page, access the requested information from the web page, and obtain and enter the correct information from the simulated caller into the web page.

Only passing candidates and those who submitted a timely appeal will be invited to take the computerized qualifying practical test; candidates will be notified by email three weeks before the first date on which testing is expected to begin. Candidates may be given the test before their qualifications are verified. Candidates are responsible for determining whether or not they meet the education and experience requirements for this examination prior to submitting their applications. If found “Not Qualified,” applicants’ fees will not be refunded and they will not receive an admission notice or score.

For complete information on the position, including on how to apply, go to www.nyc.gov/site/ dcas/employment/exam-schedules-open-competitive-exams.page

1 provisional in Department of Correction.

CHILD WELFARE SPECIALIST–165 eligibles between Nos. 33 and 432 on List 151 to replace 12 provisionals at ACS.

COMPUTER SPECIALIST (SOFTWARE) –27 eligibles between Nos. 27 and 1327 on List 1139 for 1 job in Department of Environmental Protection.

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING INTERN–4 eligibles (Nos. 26, 34, 54 and 67) on List 9037 for 4 jobs at Comptroller’s Office.

ELECTRICIAN’S HELPER–114 eligibles between Nos. 28 and 362 on List 2011 for 2 jobs in Department of Environmental Protection.

MANAGEMENT AUDITOR–54 eligibles between Nos. 108 and 382 on List 1022 for 1 job in Department of Education.

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING INTERN –8 eligibles between Nos. 48 and 91 on List 3005 for 10 jobs at Comptroller’s Office.

MEDIA SERVICES TECHNICIAN–32 eligibles between Nos. 22 and 104 on List 3088 for 2 jobs at Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

TRAFFIC CONTROL INSPECTOR–161

eligibles between Nos. 1 and 157 on List 3062 for 2 jobs in DOT.

PROMOTION

ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER–273 eligibles between Nos. 3 and 341 on List 1552 for 1 job in Human Resources Administration/Department of Social Services.

ASSOCIATE FIRE PROTECTION INSPECTOR–3 eligibles (Nos. 37, 83 and 97) on List 2549 for 1 job in Fire Department.

ASSOCIATE PARK SERVICE WORKER–3 eligibles (Nos. 21, 121 and 151) on List 1517 for any 5 jobs in Department of Parks and Recreation.

CAPTAIN (POLICE)–329 eligibles between Nos. 48 and 496.5 on List 2558 for 15 jobs in Police Department.

HIGHWAY REPAIRER–1 eligible (No. 472) on List 3512 to replace any of 3 provisionals in Department of Transportation.

TELECOMMUNICATIONS MANAGER –3 eligibles (Nos. 1-3) on List 3535 to replace 3 provisionals in DOT.

➤ OPEN CONTINUOUSLY 7078 CR(D) Cytotechnologist I $43,863$91,243 7094 CR(D) Cytotechnologist II $52,099$108,383 7095 CR(D) Cytotechnologist III $66,357$132,168 61-639 CR Librarian I $43,000-$61,333

60-180 CR Librarian I, Bilingual (Spanish Speaking) 5263 CR(D) Medical Technologist I $31,963-$74,978

5002 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Acute Care) $59,507-$108,383

5003 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Adult Health) $59,507-$108,383

5004 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Community Health) $59,507$108,383

5005 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Family Health) $59,507-$108,383

5006 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Gerontology) $59,507-$108,383

5007 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Neonatology) $59,507-$108,383

5008 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Obstetrics/Gynecology) $59,507$108,383

5009 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Oncology) $59,507-$108,383

5010 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Palliative Care) $59,507-$108,383

5011 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Pediatrics) $59,507-$108,383

5012 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Perinatology) $59,507-$108,383

5013 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Psychiatry) $59,507-$108,383

5014 CR Nurse Practitioner I (Women’s Health) $59,507-$108,383

3138 CR(D) Occupational Therapist Assistant $31,963-$74,207

7288 CR(D) Occupational Therapist/ Occupational Therapist I $37,093$128,172

3139 CR(D) Pharmacist I $56,636$117,533

3140 CR(D) Physical Therapist Assistant $31,963-$74,207

9030 CR(D) Physical Therapist/Physical Therapist I $37,463-$140,162

9029 CR(D) Physician Assistant I $57,200-$118,707

8049 CR(D) Radiologic Technologist (General) $34,720-$72,111

SUFFOLK COUNTY EXAMS

➤ CLOSE OCTOBER 23

0759 Network and Systems Specialist I $50,000-$71,683

2305 Occupational Therapist $71,063$76,363

2321 Physical Therapist $71,063-$76,363

➤ CLOSE OCTOBER 30

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

UK’s new Labour government unveils overhaul of workers’ rights

BY PAN PYLAS Associated Press

Britain’s new Labour government has unveiled a slew of new rights for millions of workers, including more generous rules for sick pay and parental leave and major restrictions on certain employment practices such as fire and rehire — a package of measures described by ministers as the biggest overhaul of workers’ rights in a generation.

The Employment Rights Bill published last week, around 100 days after Labour took power for the first time in 14 years, followed its crushing victory over the Conservative Party in the general election.

The 28 measures have been broadly welcomed by unions and lobby groups representing businesses, though one described it as “clumsy, chaotic and poorly planned.”

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the measures, which will come into effect in 2026 after more consultations with businesses and unions, will raise the minimum floor of employment rights and provide better support for those businesses that are engaged in good practices.

Unions have welcomed the measure as a ‘seismic shift.’

Among the measures announced, workers will be able to claim sick pay from the first day of absence rather than the fourth, be entitled to paternity leave and unpaid parental leave from day one of employment, and be entitled to bereavement leave. Workers will also have day-one protection against unfair dismissal.

The bill will also increase the likelihood of requests for flexible working arrangements to be granted, and require large employers to produce action plans on how to address gender pay gaps and support employees through menopause, as well as strengthening rights for pregnant workers and new mothers.

Unions have welcomed the measure as a “seismic shift” from the low-pay, low-productivity economy they accused the previous Conservative government of presiding over.

“Whether it’s tackling the scourge of zero-hours contracts and fire and rehire, improving access to sick pay and parental leave, or clamping down on exploitation, this bill highlights Labour’s commitment to upgrade rights and protections for millions,” said Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress.

The Confederation of British Industry, the U.K.’s biggest business lobby group, also praised the government for engaging with businesses in addition to unions and expressed its desire that the cooperation can continue before the measures come into effect in two years.

“With a number of critical details still subject to consultation, it’s important the government builds on the good engagement to date to ensure we get the details right on this decisive piece of legislation,” CBI CEO Rain Newton-Smith said. The Federation of Small Businesses was less positive, arguing that the legislation is a “rushed job, clumsy, chaotic and poorly planned” and that dropping 28 new measures onto small business employers all at once leaves them “scrambling to make sense of it all.”

Data shows migrants aren’t taking jobs from Black or Hispanic people

Contradicts Trump’s assertions

BY FATIMA HUSSEIN Associated Press

Republican presidential nominee

Donald Trump promises the biggest deportation event the U.S. has ever seen if he is elected — a promise he has predicated, in part, on the notion that immigrants in the U.S. legally and illegally are stealing what he calls “Black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs.”

But government data show immigrant labor contributes to economic growth and provides promotional opportunities for native-born workers. And a mass deportation event would cost U.S. taxpayers up to a trillion dollars and could cause the cost of living, including food and housing, to skyrocket, economists say.

Trump, who often uses anti-immigrant rhetoric, has referred during his campaign to immigrants he says are taking “Black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs.”

At a recent rally in Reading, Pennsylvania, Trump said, “You have an invasion of people into our country.”

“They’re going to be attacking — and they already are — Black population jobs, the Hispanic population jobs, and they’re attacking union jobs too,” Trump said. “So when you see the border, it’s not just the crime. Your jobs are being taken away too.”

Trump’s rhetoric about jobs has been widely condemned by Democrats and Black leaders who have called it a racist and insulting way of implying that Black and Hispanic Americans take menial jobs.

The latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Current Population Survey data shows that as of 2023, native-born Black workers are most predominantly employed in management and financial operations, sales and office support roles, while native-born Latino workers are most often employed in management, office support, sales and service occupations.

Foreign-born, noncitizen Black workers are most often represented in transportation and health care support roles, and foreign-born, noncitizen Hispanic workers are

most often represented in construction, building and grounds cleaning.

‘We need many more’

In 2023, international migrants — primarily from Latin America — accounted for more than two-thirds of the population growth in the United States, and so far this decade they have made up almost three-quarters of U.S. growth.

After hitting a record high in December 2023, the number of migrants crossing the border has plummeted.

It is true that international migrants have become a primary driver of population growth this decade, increasing their share of the overall population as fewer children are being born in the U.S. compared with years past. That’s according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual American Community Survey.

Economists who study immigrant labor’s impact on the economy say that people who are in the U.S. illegally are not taking native citizens’ jobs, because the roles that

these immigrant workers take on are most often positions that native workers are unwilling to fill, such as agriculture and food processing jobs.

Giovanni Peri, a labor economist at the University of California, Davis, conducted research that explores the impact of the 1980 influx of Cuban immigrants in Miami (the so-called Mariel Boatlift) on Black workers’ employment. The study determined that the wages of Miami’s Black and Hispanic workers moved above those in other cities that did not have a surge of immigrant workers.

Peri told the AP that the presence of new immigrant labor often improves employment outcomes for native-born workers, who often have different language and skill sets compared to new immigrants.

In addition, there are not a fixed number of jobs in the U.S., immigrants tend to contribute to the survival of existing firms (opening up new opportunities for native workers) and there are currently more jobs available than there are

workers available to take them. U.S. natives have low interest in working in labor-intensive agriculture and food production roles.

“We have many more vacancies than workers in this type of manual labor, in fact we need many more of them to fill these roles,” Peri said. Data also shows when there are not enough workers to fill these roles, firms will automate their jobs with machines and technology investments, rather than turn to native workers.

Trump has said he would focus on rounding up migrants by deploying the National Guard, whose troops can be activated on orders of a governor.

Peri says a deportation program would cost the U.S. up to a trillion dollars and would result in massive losses to the U.S. economy. The cost of food and other basic items would soar.

“They are massive contributors to our economy and we wouldn’t have fruits and vegetables, we wouldn’t have our gardens,” he said, if the deportation effort comes to fruition.

In swing states that once went for Trump, unions organize to prevent a repeat

‘Kamala

has a plan; Trump has a slogan’

BY ERIK GUNN stateline.org

As the Nov. 5 presidential election nears, Democrats are counting on union workers to deliver voters, particularly in the swing states of Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where unions have remained an influential bloc, even as their strength has declined over the decades.

Many labor union leaders say they’re working as hard as they ever have to oppose Trump and elect Vice President Kamala Harris. The AFL-CIO, a federation of 60 unions that range from Major League Baseball players to firefighters to workers in the food industry, has endorsed Harris.

A growing share of rank-andfile union members, however, have been less likely to follow their leadership — some of them among Trump’s base.

“It has to be recognized that union members are not monolithic in terms of the party they support,” said Paul Clark, a professor of labor and employment relations at Penn State University. “Many unions have 30, 40, maybe 50 percent or more of their members who either are registered Republicans or are going to support Donald Trump in this election.”

Last month, the head of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Sean O’Brien, announced the union’s executive council would not endorse either ticket and cited the support of a majority of his members for Trump.

Other union leaders say their membership is behind Harris.

Nick Webber, a political organizer for the North American Building Trades Unions, said, “It’s unprecedented, the amount of interest in people in getting involved,” as he marshals union canvassers this fall

for the Democratic national ticket. He said in his conversations he’s hearing union members say, “Not only, ‘am I going to be voting,’ and [that they’re] tuned in, but ‘how can I get involved’ and ‘doing my part.’”

Appeals to culinary workers

When Biden dropped out July 21, the national executive council of the 12.5 million-member AFL-CIO endorsed Harris the next day “because we knew that the administration that has been fighting for working people for the last three and a half years, we know what they’ve delivered, and we knew that her record spoke for itself,” said Liz Shuler, national AFL-CIO president, in an interview with NC Newsline.

But the Trump campaign is continuing to try to reach union voters, even as union leaders argue his record as president and his rhetoric — such as suggesting in a conversation with Elon Musk that employers should fire strikers — should make him unacceptable.

In an appeal to United Steelworkers, the most powerful union in western Pennsylvania, Trump said in January he would block a potential acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan-based Nippon Steel.

Nevertheless the union endorsed Biden, who said in a visit in April he also opposed the sale. Both he and Harris reiterated that stance during a Labor Day visit to Pittsburgh. “I couldn’t agree more with President Biden: U.S. Steel should remain in American hands,” Harris said.

In Nevada, Trump held a rally in June where he proposed ending federal taxes on tipped income — an appeal aimed at the workers in the state’s largest industry, hotel-casinos. Harris adopted the no-tax-on-tips position as well in a visit in August, a day after the powerful Culinary Workers Local Union 226, endorsed her. The union reports that its 60,000 members are 55 percent women and 60 percent immigrants.

In a return visit in August,

Trump suggested his “no tax on tips” position would draw Culinary members’ support — “A lot of them are voting for us, I can tell you that,” he said.

But the union responded by doubling down on its support for Harris, who on a visit months before had celebrated the union’s successful contract negotiations with the Las Vegas Strip’s largest gambling-resort corporations.

“Kamala Harris has promised to raise the minimum wage for all workers — including tipped workers — and eliminate tax on tips,” said Culinary Vice President Leain Vashon. Vashon said Trump didn’t help tipped workers while he was president, so “Why would we trust him? Kamala has a plan; Trump has a slogan.”

Making the case

For most union leaders, the case for Harris is the stark contrast they see between Trump’s record in the White House from 2016 to 2020 and that of his successor.

“When you talk about the politics of what’s at stake in this election, it’s very clear,” said Kent Miller, president and business manager for the Laborers Union Wisconsin District Council.

The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, the 2022 bipartisan CHIPS and Science Act and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which passed with only Democratic votes, opened the sluices to fund a range of investments in roads and bridges, clean energy and electric vehicle infrastructure.

The programs include strong incentives for union labor and for the enrollment of new apprentices in training programs operated by unions and their employers. Larry Davis, a Michigan United Auto Workers local president, said Biden-Harris administration policies helped boost the auto industry.

“I can just go from Detroit-Hamtramck, [which was] on the brink of closing, and now you have over 3,000 almost 4,000 workers in there now,”

Davis said.

But the messages unions have been pushing about manufacturing growth, the infrastructure advances and jobs — even unemployment rates that have fallen to just over 4 percent nationally and 3 percent or lower in states such as Wisconsin — have been slow to resonate with voters who are focused on higher prices resulting from supply chain shortages.

“Part of that is the investment is still in the works,” said William Jones, a labor historian at the University of Minnesota. “It was slow to be distributed, and it depended largely on state and local government taking it up and creating jobs. It’s possible some people haven’t felt the full impact.”

Jones also suggests there may have been inadequate messaging from the administration — something that unions are trying to make up for in their member outreach.

Beyond what Miller and other union leaders see as those breadand-butter accomplishments are other policy stakes in who holds the White House, such as the makeup of the National Labor Relations Board and who holds the post of general counsel, the principal architect of the agency’s legal perspective.

Under the Trump administration, the NLRB veered to positions less favorable to unions, Miller observed. Under Biden, it has issued more decisions that have supported union positions.

Those differences further underscore what most union leaders see as a sharp distinction between the two tickets. “We’ve seen both these movies before,” said Webber, of the electrical workers union.

Kim Lyons, Pennsylvania Capital-Star; Hugh Jackson, Nevada Current; Rob Schofield, NC Newsline; and Andrew Roth, for Michigan Advance, contributed reporting for this story.

Stateline, founded in 1998, provides daily reporting and analysis on trends in state policy.

Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer via AP

A crew of both local employees and migrant workers from the island nation of Jamaica pick kale at Harlow Farm in Westminster, Vt., in June 2023. Migrants, while a primary driver of population growth in the U.S., are