UAW organizers start open-ended strike
Station.
The staffers are looking for job security and raises
BY DUNCAN FREEMAN dfreeman@thechiefleader.com
Leadership at the United Auto Workers acclimated to dealing with obstinate managers at the negotiating table now find themselves the target of unionized workers’ ire, as the UAW has failed to reach a deal with UAW Staff United, the independent union representing staff organizers in the Northeast. Temporary organizers and local
staff in UAW region 9A — encompassing New York City, Long Island and New England — walked out on strike Monday after months of stalemate at the bargaining table with UAW management.
The unionized staffers, who are picketing in front of the region 9A office near Moynihan Train Hall, say that they’ll continue the strike until their demands for job security and compensation are met by the nearly 400,000-member union.
Brian Allen, a member of USU’s bargaining committee who works on organizing campaigns in UAW Local 7902, said during Monday’s
UAW
picketing that the UAW, in its counteroffers to staffers’ demands, has attempted to keep them in “effectively at-will employment” rather than providing the job security that those staffers typically typically help UAW members win in their first contracts.
Many of the roughly 40 striking USU members are temporary organizers hired on three-month contracts that are renewed for up to three years. The repeated renewals occasionally result in missed pay-
Candidates for president face runoff in clerical local election
Treasurer candidate also calls for rerun
BY CRYSTAL LEWIS clewis@thechiefleader.com
Two candidates running for president in District Council 37 Local 1549’s election will face each other in a runoff contest after none of the competitors earned a majority of votes — and a competitor in the race for secretary-treasurer has filed a protest alleging campaign violations that may have affected the outcome of the race. Anthony Lackhan, part of the Members In Charge slate, and Debbie-Ann Gutierrez, head of the Team Forward slate, received the highest number of votes among the four competitors running for president, and will face each other in a runoff mail ballot election.
Among the 1,022 ballots cast for president, Gutierrez received 329 votes and Lackhan earned 310 votes, while Alvin Carter and Nicole Gates received 262 and 121 votes, respectively, according to an unofficial tally of ballots obtained by The Chief.
Since none of the candidates secured the majority of votes required to win, a runoff election was announced. Voting in the runoff contest started on Nov. 26; ballots are due Dec. 20.
“I am excited to runoff and I already am campaigning,” Lackhan said during a phone interview. “I don’t doubt that I will be the successful candidate in this election.”
Gutierrez said that she “welcomed” the challenge.
The election had 1,059 ballots cast, according to the Local 1549 website. The votes were tallied by the American Arbitration Association on Nov. 22.
From the Team Forward slate, Vanessa Reed won the executive vice-president position, while Yolanda Holliday narrowly won the secretary-treasurer race. Hope Lawrence won the election for recording secretary, while two of the three trustee positions went to Team Forward’s Gladys Little and Andrea Andrades. Lisa Rhymer won the second vice-president position on behalf of the Members of Charge slate. Other winners from that slate included Joseph Rodriguez, who won one of the sergeant-atarms positions, Sonia Rodriguez, who was chosen for one of officer-at-large roles, and Ana Deluca Mayne, who won the last of the three trustee positions.
Runoff elections will also be conducted for the remaining three officer-at-large and two sergeant-at-arms positions.
“Whichever way it goes, we’ll roll up our sleeves and work together,” Gutierrez said. But she noted that she was surprised by the low turnout. “I thought it would be a little higher, to be honest,” the Team Forward member said. “But the members have busy lives, sometimes they forget to put [the ballot] in the mail.”
City, DOC found in contempt over jail conditions
BY RICHARD KHAVKINE
richardk@thechiefleader.com
A federal judge has found New York City in contempt over conditions in Rikers Island’s jails, saying that violence inside has only gotten worse since a 2015 consent decree and the subsequent appointment of a federal monitor.
The written ruling by Chief U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain in Manhattan found the city and the Department of Correction in con-
tempt of 18 separate claims, and included a strong indication that she could order a complete federal takeover of the long-troubled jail.
“The use of force rate and other rates of violence, self-harm, and deaths in custody are demonstrably worse than when the Consent Judgment went into effect,” Swain wrote in a 59-page opinion and order issued Nov. 27.
“As the record in this case demonstrates, the current rates of use of force, stabbings and slashings, fights, assaults on staff, and in-custody deaths remain extraordinarily high, and there has been no substantial reduction in the risk of harm currently facing those who
live and work in the Rikers Island jails,” Swain added.
She noted that conditions have deteriorated despite the “enormous resources” the city has devoted to the jail system, which Swain said was both “overstaffed and underserved.”
“For those reasons,” the judge continued, “the Court is inclined to impose a receivership: namely, a remedy that will make the management of the use of force and safety aspects of the Rikers Island jails ultimately answerable directly to the Court.”
But the head of the correction officers union, Benny Boscio Jr., said Swain’s ruling was based for the
most part on a “false and erroneous narrative” advanced by the federal monitor who Boscio said “continues to misrepresent the root cause of increased violence in our jails.”
“The Judge is flat out wrong to assert that our workforce is overstaffed,” Boscio, the president of the Corrections Officers’ Benevolent Association, said. He added that the DOC is down about 5,000 officers from more than 9,000 four years ago, even though the jail population is the highest it has been since before the pandemic.
“We have been defunded, short staffed, scapegoated and handcuffed by the New York City Council and Federal Monitor, which have
ignored every proposal we’ve made to keep our jails safe for everyone,” said.
He further noted that about 70 percent of inmates are being held on violent felony charges “and that same population is driving the hundreds of assaults on our officers, including sexual assaults, as well as inmate on inmate attacks, which requires necessary, not excessive force, to keep everyone in our jails safe.”
A federal receivership, Boscio continued, would not solve whatever endemic problems exist within
Lackhan and his fellow MemSee RIKERS, page 7
Seth Wenig/AP Photo
The Rikers Island jail complex with the Manhattan skyline in the background.
Courtesy of Alex Chan
Organizers with the United Auto Workers walked out on strike Monday after the independent union representing union staffers was unable to reach a deal with the UAW. The workers are picketing outside
region 9A headquarters near Penn
Advocates: Reopen home health aides’ wage theft cases
BY CRYSTAL LEWIS clewis@thechiefleader.com
Following a state Supreme Court judge’s ruling that the state Department of Labor should not have closed hundreds of home health workers’ wage theft cases, elected officials are demanding that the investigations be reopened.
State law allows home-care staffing agencies to pay 13 hours for 24hour shifts, as long as workers get eight hours of sleep, five hours of “uninterrupted sleep,” and three hours for meal breaks.
Many of the home health aides are represented by Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union, which in 2019 filed a grievance on behalf of the workers. It claimed that the staffing agencies violated state and federal wage laws by failing to pay for interruptions to sleep and meal breaks for those who worked 24-hour shifts. In 2022, an arbitrator awarded the workers $30 million in back pay. Over the years, hundreds of workers also filed wage theft complaints with DOL, which launched probes into the alleged wage violations. But in May 2023, the DOL decided to terminate the investigations and close the home health workers’ cases, citing a rule that the department will not “open investigations into wage claims involving any claimant whose union has submitted (or plans to submit) a grievance on their behalf,” and stating that the cases were opened in error.
The National Center for Law and Economic Justice and the Legal Aid Society filed a class-action lawsuit in August 2023 demanding that the home health aides’ cases be reopened, arguing that the DOL’s decision to drop the cases was “arbitrary and capricious.” They also argued that the rule was adopted
without the required notice of proposed rulemaking. In October, Judge Gerald Connolly annulled the DOL’s action, noting that the department’s decision “to terminate all investigations involving an entire class of claimant was applied rigidly across-the-board to every member of the class, and it left NYSDOL with no flexibility or
UAW: Staffers on strike
Continued from Page 1
ments or delayed health insurance coverage, and workers are hoping that their first contract reforms the temporary organizing system to make their jobs more stable. Job security and increased compensation are the two key sticking points where the UAW has not budged enough, USU members said.
Staffers’ lack of job security was put on display in September when the UAW told Alex Chan, a temporary organizer outspoken about her support for USU, that her contract would not be renewed. Chan was let go amid escalating actions by USU — and months after she told The Chief that her temporary status left her feeling vulnerable to discipline or termination.
USU alleged that the non-renewal was retaliation for union activity and filed an unfair labor practice charge insisting that she be rehired. That retaliation follows a pattern for the UAW which, in 2018, terminated the contracts of more than a dozen unionizing region 9A staffers who were in negotiations with UAW management for a contract.
The UAW, which employs hundreds of staffers represented by multiple unions across the country, did not return a request for comment as of press time.
‘Political pawns’
Allen, the USU bargaining committee member, said that UAW management’s insistence on “flexibility” over job security for USU members shows that members of the union’s international executive board don’t value the organizing going on in region 9A. He said that the striking staffers are being “used as political pawns.”
The UAW, following elections in late 2022 and early 2023, is under
new, militant leadership exemplified by progressive President Shawn Fain. But the UAW’s international executive board still has members opposed to the new slate of union leaders, and USU members say their contract fight is emblematic of the conflict between those two factions.
Region 9A, said Allen and Mike DiGiuseppe, another UAW staffer, is viewed by old-guard UAW leadership as a progressive region where the organizing battles sit lower on the priority list than some other regions whose membership is overwhelmingly made up of autoworkers. Old-guard union leadership is “scared of the new dynamic,” of militant members and UAW officials challenging the union’s internal status quo, DiGiuseppe said.
That’s left Brandon Mancilla, the reformer voted into the UAW’s executive board as executive director of region 9A, caught in the middle of the dispute. The former organizer of Harvard employees and legal service workers was close with many of the 9A staffers but is now on the management side of the equation, and has had blame directed at him by UAW members who are supporting USU staffers.
Organizing campaigns, bargaining and more across region 9A will be affected by the strike. The layoffs of organizing staffers in 2018 stalled the unionization of contract faculty at NYU, and it took them five more years to form the Contract Faculty Union.
Jacob Remes, an associate professor of American history at NYU and one of the lead organizers of CFU, part of UAW Local 7902, said that by failing to reach a deal with USU, the UAW was “imperiling” the ongoing bargaining between the faculty union and NYU.
“The staff who have helped us organize our union for years de-
discretion to investigate any individual claim.”
“By way of example, NYSDOL felt that the typical complexity of Petitioners’ wage claims weighed in favor of terminating the investigations, noting that ‘many employees fail to inform their employers of sleep interruptions, thus, proving violations on a case-by-case basis
difficult,’” he wrote. “NYSDOL did not determine whether any of the Petitioners actually failed to inform their employer of sleep interruptions before terminating the investigations into their complaints.” Connolly also determined that the DOL did not follow “procedural requirements before adopting and relying on” the rule that it would
not investigate claims that were in arbitration.
Earlier this month, more than two dozen elected officials signed a letter from state Assembly Member Ron Kim calling on Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon to reopen the cases.
“The Court determined that NYSDOL was wrong to drop hundreds of unionized home care workers’ wage theft cases. I urge you to immediately comply with the court’s order to re-open these cases, and to enforce our state’s labor laws,” Kim wrote. “I also implore you to expeditiously enforce the NYS Minimum Wage Law and NYS Home Care Worker Wage Parity Law … in these workers’ cases by compelling their law-breaking employers to pay them their back wages.”
He continued, “Many of these wage theft cases have been open and under investigation by NYSDOL for several years, some as early as 2018. It is imperative that NYSDOL follows its core mandate of enforcing the labor laws of our state to protect the people of New York from criminal wage theft.”
State Senator Jessica Ramos, who chairs the Senate’s labor committee, and City Council Member Christopher Marte, who sponsored the “No More 24” bill that would prohibit 24hour shifts for home health aides, were among the elected officials who signed onto the letter. In an open letter to Governor Kathy Hochul on the No More 24 website, the Ain’t I A Woman campaign urged the governor to enforce state labor laws and pursue the home health workers’ stolen wages. Despite urging from government officials and advocates to reopen the cases, the DOL filed an appeal of the judge’s order on Nov. 26. The DOL declined to comment, citing active litigation.
serve the same things that we are fighting for,” he said. “As a UAW member it is incomprehensible to me that our elected IEB would be trying to refuse those basic things. Members of CFU are strongly behind USU and want the IEB to settle this tomorrow.”
‘No other option’
Striking staffers hope that their first contract encourages the UAW to invest in region 9A and better value the ongoing organizing there.
But since the USU unionization campaign launched, organizing funding has been cut from several locals in region 9A, said Rita Akincilar, another organizer on USU’s bargaining committee. Despite that, the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys — the local that Akincilar organizes workers into — has tripled its membership in the last half decade.
“We don’t want to be doing this, we want to be representing our members,” Akincilar said of the strike. “The UAW has given us no other option when we in the last year and a half have tried to show good faith movement while they have just stonewalled us.”
The UAW and USU have no future bargaining dates scheduled. The last time the staffers met with the international union was Nov. 26. Staffers are open to continuing negotiations, but the strike will go on until the company improves its counteroffers, Akincilar said.
Molly Ragan, another staff organizer, said that it felt “surreal” to be picketing the UAW. “When this union first started, we were hopeful, which may have been naive,” she added. “There’s an intense disconnect between us and the people who sit on the international executive board. They don’t know what we do.”
Mercedes service technicians call out anti-union firings
Blame owner David Tait
BY DUNCAN FREEMAN dfreeman@thechiefleader.com
Service technicians at a Mercedes -Benz dealership on Manhattan’s far west side rallied with union allies on Monday to put pressure on the dealership’s owner to agree to a first collective bargaining agreement. Workers at Mercedes-Benz of Manhattan voted to unionize with United Auto Workers Local 259 in May, and the new union members say that management has done everything it can to discourage workers from supporting the unionization effort.
“We got total pushback in every shape, form and fashion,” Kevin Flowers, a technician at the Mercedes dealership, said of management’s posture prior to the union election. “Every day they kept badgering us, every day they kept telling us how bad the union is.” Flowers said that at least 10 of his coworkers – 20 percent of the unit’s entire membership – were fired by the dealership’s owner in the weeks after the election. “They keep saying that they’re not going to discipline us [for supporting the union] but that is all they have been doing,” Flowers said.
The longtime auto technician joined several dozen other Local 259 members from surrounding dealerships at Monday’s rally where workers and UAW officials placed the blame for union busting squarely at the feet of David Tait, Mercedes-Benz Manhattan’s general manager.
Tait has been delaying bargaining with the union, Brian Schneck,
the president of Local 259, said at the rally. The two sides have met for bargaining six different times but have yet to reach agreements on any crucial issues, the union leader said.
“We’ve made progress but there hasn’t been enough substance,” he said. “They have been dragging their feet.”
The union has filed several unfair labor practice charges related to the firing of workers who support the union, but it will take the National Labor Relations Board months to adjudicate those claims. Tait could not be reached for comment. Messages left with Mercedes-Benz of Manhattan received no reply. Many of the employees at Mercedes were afraid to join the union members rallying on Monday because of the retaliation their coworkers have faced, Flowers said. One other Mercedes worker, Kevin Cuevas, was able to attend the rally and said that if management found out he did, they would likely cut his work. Cuevas said he voted in support of the union in May despite management’s warnings because he “knew there could be improvement, knew that we’re underpaid.” Auto technicians at the surrounding unionized dealerships make far more than those at Mercedes, Cuevas said, where he makes around $30 per car he services. Flowers said that he’s found potential jobs where he could make $80 for the same work and said Mercedes of Manhattan is “just not paying us properly.”
“They’re doing everything they can not to get the union in,” Flowers added. “We’re fighting but most people are just afraid because of the scare tactics they’re using.”
Crystal Lewis/The Chief
Elected officials sent a letter last month to Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon calling on the Department of Labor to reopen hundreds of home health workers’ wage theft cases. A state Supreme Court judge in October ruled that the DOL should not have dropped the investigations, a decision which the department appealed last week. Above, home health workers rallied in April 2023 to end 24-hour shifts.
Duncan Freeman/ The Chief Brian Schneck, the president of United Auto Workers Local 259, speaks to union members and elected officials rallying outside of a Mercedes-Benz dealership on Manhattan’s far west side on Monday
The staff organizers say they will continue to picket outside of UAW region 9A’s offices until the union improves its counteroffers to staffers. Courtesy of Alex Chan
Sparkle Lee, a former NYPD cop, works the boxing beat
BY ROBERT MLADINICH
Sparkle Lee, a professional boxing referee and former NYPD police officer, is too modest to think of herself as a trailblazer, but her many accomplishments speak for themselves.
Lee began her officiating career in the amateurs in the 1980s, toiling in anonymity in small venues throughout the New York metropolitan area.
Because she also had a fulfilling job as a police officer with the NYPD, where she served from 1987 to 2007, in the early days her friends and family often asked her why she worked so hard in a field that at the time was unwelcoming to women.
“I was doing what I loved, and I always had a lot of faith,” said Lee, who is one of 16 children born in Harlem. “I loved the sport, and I always believed in it, so I never thought of quitting. Not even once.” Lee’s eternal optimism and perpetually positive demeanor served her well then and continues to do so today. With early mentors like former New York State Athletic Commissioner Ron Scott Stevens, Lee proved her mettle as an amateur referee.
She was the first woman ever to referee a NYC Golden Gloves bout, the first female appointed to the NYS Athletic Commission, and the first female referee to be licensed in both New York and New Jersey.
From school gyms to MSG
Since graduating to the professional ranks, the 64-year-old Lee has worked as a judge and has also been the third person in the ring for over 260 bouts. Although she has traveled the globe, refereeing fights featuring such championship-caliber fighters as Terence Crawford, Sergey Kovalev, Shakur Stevenson, Amanda Serrano and Claressa Shields, she is as comfortable on the big stage as she is at a small club show.
For those accomplishments, she was among the luminaries inducted into the New York State Boxing Hall of Fame at an Sept. 15 extravaganza at Russo’s on the Bay catering hall in Queens.
Over the years Lee has performed
her duties in venues ranging from high school gyms, catering halls and restaurants to such iconic locations as Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden and the Barclays Center in New York, as well as Atlantic City casinos and stadiums in Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Canada, Ireland, Monaco, Norway, China, Chile, Denmark, Mexico and South Africa.
There have been no controversies surrounding her officiating and her hard-earned and well-deserved stellar reputation is rooted in the fact that she never forgets what is of paramount importance when officiating a fight at any level.
“If anybody’s getting hit too much and they’re not fighting back, the fight is over,” Lee told the Daily News. “It’s about them, it’s not about me. I stay invisible. I’m just there to make sure everything is in
‘As a referee she is in control, and you hardly notice her. That is the sign of a good official.’
— Bruce Silverglade, OWNER OF GLEASON’S GYM
Garrido gets fourth term as DC 37 head
Henry Garrido was reelected to his fourth, three-year term as District Council 37’s executive director last week by the union’s delegate members. The largest public employee union in New York City, DC 37 represents 150,000 workers in the public and private sectors.
The union’s president, secretary and treasurer were reelected as well. The officials will be sworn in early next year.
“I want to thank our members for renewing their trust in me as our
union continues the fight for justice, respect, and economic opportunity for working families,” Garrido said in a statement. “I also want to congratulate DC 37 President Shaun D. Francois I, Secretary John Hyslop, and Treasurer Maf Misbah Uddin on their reelection last night. As we celebrate 80 years since receiving our union charter, we remain prepared and committed to uplifting our members and guiding this incredible union into its next chapter.”
Law aimed at curbing phone thefts named for late detective
BY RICHARD KHAVKINE richardk@thechiefleader.com
Legislation named for a late NYPD detective that is intended to crack down on cellphone thefts is now on the state’s books.
robberies. “We need to keep our officers and residents safe, and this new law is a commonsense step in that direction. If robbers know they won’t be able to use the phones they steal, there’s no reason to steal them,” she said.
place and that everyone gets home to their families.”
She recalls the time in November 2007 when she was in Atlantic City expecting to be assigned to a few undercard bouts on an HBO card. When Lee saw her name penciled in for a televised bout featuring future champion Abner Mares, she was ecstatic and immediately called her children to share the news.
“It was great to referee a fight on HBO,” said Lee. “But no matter where you are working, you have to always remember that nothing is more important than the health and safety of the fighters.”
Bruce Silverglade, the longtime owner of Brooklyn’s fabled Gleason’s Gym, has known Lee since she was a youngster when he ran the amateur boxing program in New York. He believed in Lee from the get-go, gave her some early assignments, and watched her excel in every subsequent endeavor.
“She went on to eventually run the amateur program herself, and was in charge of all the New York officials,” said Silverglade. “She took no nonsense and has done a great job in everything she’s been associated with in boxing. As a referee she is in control, and you hardly notice her. That is the sign of a good official.”
As a police officer, Lee was equally pragmatic and good at her job. She recalls being often asked by members of the public why she was so nice.
“Why not?” was her standard response. “I can’t be nasty to you because God forbid someone in my family is locked up, I wouldn’t want a cop to be nasty to them. I learned early in life to always treat people with respect, the way you would want yourself or a family member to be treated by others.”
Robert Mladinich is a retired NYPD detective and author or co-author of four true crime books. He was inducted into the NYS Boxing Hall of Fame as a journalist in 2023.
The law, which requires wireless service providers to disable services to stolen phones, is named for Detective Brian Simonsen, who was shot and killed in February 2019 by friendly fire as he and several other officers responded to a robbery in progress at a Queens cellphone store.
The legislation, unanimously ratified in both houses last spring and signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul Nov. 26, followed efforts by the Detectives’ Endowment Association and its former president, Paul DiGiacomo, to get it authored and passed.
State Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton, the Staten Island lawmaker who sponsored the bill in that chamber, said the legislation would help deter the resale of stolen goods and prevent tragedies like that which killed Simonsen.
“The NYPD puts their lives at risk every day to protect and serve our community. Unfortunately, our officers too often make the ultimate sacrifice, as criminals repeatedly endanger people for financial gain, whether by targeting innocent retail workers or individuals on the street,” she said.
The DEA’s current president, Scott Munro, called the legislation a fitting salute to Simonsen. “This law enacted in the memory of Detective Brian Simonsen is the best memorial we could ever give to the Simonsen family and to all police officers,” he said.
Assembly Member Amy Paulin, the law’s sponsor in that chamber, called the legislation an obvious response to the threat of violent
On Feb. 12, 2019, Simonsen, 42, and his partner and supervisor, Sergeant Matthew Gorman, who were doing surveillance on another case, responded along with six other officers to a call of a robbery in progress at a T-Mobile store on 120th Street near Atlantic Avenue. Gorman and two other officers entered the store but were immediately confronted by a man who raised a black firearm, later found to have been fake, and charged at the officers, who retreated. When the man, later identified as Christopher Ransom, reached the front of the store, the officers fired, hitting Ransom several times, but also fatally wounding Simonsen and hitting Gorman once in the leg. Ransom, then 30, was sentenced in November 2021 to 33 years in prison following his guilty plea to aggravated manslaughter and robbery charges in connection with the incident that led to Simonsen’s death. His accomplice, Jagger Freeman, then 28, was sentenced in July 2022 to 30 years to life following his conviction on second-degree murder and other charges arising out of the botched and fatal holdup and for charges connected to the robbery of another cellphone store days earlier. Simonsen, a DEA delegate from the 102nd Precinct in central Queens, had attended a delegates meeting the morning of the attempted robbery at the Richmond Hill T-Mobile store and was excused from duty. The married 19year police veteran nonetheless went to work.
NYPD
Legislation named for late NYPD Detective Brian Simonsen intended to forestall cellphone robberies was signed into law Nov. 26.
Courtesy of the Int’l Women’s Boxing Hall of Fame
Sparkle Lee was inducted in the NYS Boxing Hall of Fame in September.
Duncan Freeman/The Chief
District Council 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido with two union vice presidents at a rally in support of Vice President Kamala Harris in October. Garrido was reelected to his fourth consecutive term last week.
BEN AUGUST Publisher RICHARD KHAVKINE Editor
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Make it count
To The ediTor:
The more the presidential popular vote totals are updated, the closer the vote is. As of Nov. 29th, the difference between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris is 50 percent to 48.4 percent. If it weren’t for the electoral college “landslide,” this election might be too close to call while votes are still being counted.
The mainstream media has been negligent in reporting this. By only reporting the electoral college totals, they make Trump appear overwhelmingly popular, which is not the case.
Many Democrats were unwilling to compromise and vote for a flawed candidate, though she has her good points. If she had gotten as many votes as President Joe Biden received in 2020, she would have won. But Democrats were willing to vote for a horrific candidate in 2016 — Hillary Clinton. This was the case even in the primary, where her opponent, Bernie Sanders, was a good candidate. Harris is better than Clinton or Trump. Considering Democrats who actually like Trump does not bode well for our future. Considering those who voted for him because they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for anyone supported by Dick Cheney, a more effective rebellion would have been a vote for the Green Party’s Jill Stein.
In a system that favors the insatiably greedy rich over the rest of us, Trump is not an agent for change. He is the status quo on steroids, with the potential for loss of freedom. But the Democrats need to stand by their alleged principles. Whether it’s their big money donor influences, surrender that is easily mistaken for compromise, or political calculations, their strategy always seems to backfire. Harris refusing to criticize Biden’s foreign policy, and reversing her (correct) positions in favor of Medicare-for-all and against fracking, did not win her the election.
Richard Warren
Missing the obvious
To The ediTor:
Several issues I have with the op-ed by Carter Myers-Brown (“Can the Democratic Party build a micro-level politics?,” The Chief, Nov. 29).
Mr. Myers-Brown omits arguably the four most important reasons Kamala Harris lost: celebrity overload, failure to renounce U.S. subsidizing of Israel bombing Gaza, lack of an economic plan, and no plan to address the border crisis. Best of the rest: Harris did not have a primary, didn’t distance herself from the Biden administration, and did not stand for change the way President-elect Trump did. He does not distinguish between legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, and so called migrants. While it may be true that immigrants increase the GDP, immigrants also send money to relatives in their country of origin, removing money from our economy. Illegal immigrants do depress wages. He states Republicans instilled in Americans fear of migrants taking American jobs. How about fear of our government — city, state, and federal — going bankrupt caring for migrants? How about migrants committing crimes against Americans? The left will tell you all migrants are noble individuals that came here for a better life, the right will tell you they’re all criminals, when the truth likely lies in the middle. If the Democrats wish to take the White House in 2028 they must do three things. First, look in the mirror. Stop blaming others. Take responsibility. Second, reach out
to the working people. Third, leave celebrities out of it. I don’t care about female pop stars shaking their rear ends for me. I don’t care about out of touch celebrities that don’t live the life of a 9 to 5 grunt telling me how I should vote. I care about how the candidate will try and make my life better over the next four years. The work to be done is not simple itself, but the answer is.
Nat Weiner
A simple explanation
To The ediTor:
I know political pundits and journalists want to keep the public entertained to keep their jobs, but do we have to constantly hear the infinite number of second guesses and Monday-morning-quarterbacking about why Kamala Harris lost the election to an ignorant, immoral, racist, misogynist, Donald Trump?
In this case it was not just “the economy, stupid,” as James Carville warned years ago. The simple answer to why Harris lost the election is that half, if not a majority, of adults in our nation are racist, misogynistic, and xenophobic. Kamala Harris is a black woman with foreign roots, so she fits squarely into major prejudices that prevent very qualified people from gaining respect and winning national elections. No woman, especially a black woman, would have beaten Donald Trump in this presidential election.
Michael J. Gorman
An unending war
To The ediTor:
Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, wrote “War is the father of all things.” A prime example is the political, economic and moral price the country has paid for 78 years of a National Security State, including 23 years of an endless war against terrorism. The Costs of War project found 20 years of post-9/11 wars cost the U.S. an estimated $8 trillion dollars and killed over 900,000 people.
Since World War II the National Security State, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, has repeatedly lied, told half-truths, and acted deceptively about its foreign interventions, covert actions and proxy wars. In 1975 Frank Church held Senate hearings that exposed abuses of power by the executive branch, including the CIA, the NSA and the FBI. In the wake of 9/11, however, the reforms put in place by Congress were ignored, undermined or subverted by the Bush-Cheney administration, future administrations, and a compliant Congress.
One legacy of efforts to root out terrorism in the Middle East has been the Biden administration’s unconditional military and diplomatic support for Israel after the Hamas attack last year. During the following ten months, the U.S. sent over 50,000 tons of military equipment and arms. The Watson Institute at Brown University reported that from Oct. 7, 2023 to September 30, 2024, “…the U.S. … spent at least 22.76 billion dollars on military aid to Israel and related U.S. operations in the region.”
In its war against Hamas, the Israeli government has carried out gross human rights abuses in Gaza, as well as in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Lebanon. The Biden administration arms Israel, and Israel continues to indiscriminately bomb Gaza, despite our claim that Israel had already dismantled Hamas’s military capacity. A few weeks ago, the UN Security Council, in a 14 to 1 vote, called for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza. The lone opposition was the veto cast by the U.S. Howard Elterman
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WORK RULES by Barbara Smaller
Pray amid the spirit, not the law
BY MARC BULLARO
Government must respect and adhere to our constitutional right of religious freedom and stay out of the prayer lives of Americans. Yet “bringing back prayer to our schools” is priority #5 on the incoming president’s to-do list.
But prayer never left public schools and claiming it has is not true.
Students and teachers can and always could choose to pray alone or in a group providing there’s no disruption, but state sponsorship of prayer was found to be unconstitutional (Engel v. Vitale).
Are we at the point in America when the government brings back state sponsored Christian prayer in public schools and also sanctions how and when to pray, notwithstanding the religious belief or non-belief of students and teachers?
Would this not be an affront to everyone, including Christians, and to the very idea of religious freedom
on which America was founded?
State-sanctioned prayer can be coercive, robbing us of free will. Simply reciting religious words isn’t the beginning of a Christian revival, it’s the beginning of a Christian nationalist movement on a crusade to stay dominant.
Jesus declared, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites.”
Those who wish to legislate prayer onto Americans are acting like modern day Pharisees.
Can the government legislate an inseparable relationship between you and God?
It is difficult to intimately know God by reciting state-sponsored prayer in schools and at the same time being surveilled by the Ten Commandments that loom like sinner-seeking drones.
You knowing God and God knowing you exists through personal evangelism and self edification, not through governmental laws enacted by politicians that violate the First Amend-
TAX STRATEGIES
ment’s establishment clause and intrude on an individual’s religious freedom, nor through the psychological manipulation and self-serving influence of extremist Christian pastors and politicians who believe that America should be governed as a theocracy based on biblical dogma. A law that implements state-sponsored prayer in public schools is not the way to achieve righteous living, rather it’s antithetical to the New Testament revelation that Jesus is ‘the way’ and through faith in Christ believers were freed from religious laws.
When questioned by the unctuous Pharisees regarding the payment of taxes to Caesar, Jesus said “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” Caesar represented the civil authority that collected taxes and the coins used as currency displayed his image.
I submit that Jesus espoused the separation of church and state. State sponsored prayer in public schools is not the panacea some Christian pastors prophesize it to be. In addition, it jades free choice and undermines the New Testament revelation that Christians are under grace and no longer under the law and instead of producing Christ-centered Christians, state-sanctioned prayer may produce a “brave new world” of assembly line disciples conditioned and naively devoted more to Caesar than to God.
If politicians and Christian leaders want Americans to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ, the best way to accomplish that is for those politicians and religious leaders to let everyone see the love of Christ in them through their actions and treatment of others.
Christians should neither bow nor genuflect at the altar of state sponsored prayer.
Advantages of home ownership
BY BARRY LISAK
BUYING A HOME is the single-most-valuable investment most families make, and home ownership offers income-tax breaks that make it the foundation for overall tax planning. The tax law provides numerous incentives to home ownership, including the following: Buying a home, rather than renting, replaces nondeductible rent with deductible mortgage interest. Qualified homes include condominiums, co-ops and mobile homes. By far, the deduction of mortgage interest stands to be one of the most advantageous tax benefits. You may deduct interest up to $750,000 under current tax law for home-mortgage debt.
When a consumer takes out a mortgage, they are often charged costs by the lender called points. One point is equal to 1 percent of the loan principal. One to three points are common on home loans, which can easily add up to thousands of dollars. You can fully deduct points associated with a home-purchase mortgage.
Taxpayers can deduct up to $10,000 of property tax they pay on
any number of residences.
Taxpayers can exclude up to $250,000 of gain ($500,000 for married couples filing jointly and certain surviving spouses) from taxable income when they sell their principal residence. You must have owned and occupied your principal residence for at least two out of the past five years. Additionally, if you receive more profit than the allowable exclusion, that profit will be considered a long-term capital asset and receive preferential tax treatment.
Home improvements will save you taxes when you sell your personal residence. Save receipts and records for all improvements you make in your home. The cost of improvements is added to the purchase price of your home to determine the cost basis of the home for tax purposes. There is no penalty for an early withdrawal from an IRA for a “firsttime” homebuyer for up to $10,000 ($20,000 if married, filing jointly) so long as the proceeds are used for the acquisition of a home. “First-time” homebuyer is defined as a taxpayer who has not owned a home in the
last two years.
Self-employed individuals may deduct expenses for a portion of the home used for business. When you buy a home and consistently make your monthly loan payments on time, it demonstrates to other lenders that you are a good borrower. This strong credit history will be helpful on future borrowing. Houses may increase in value, or appreciate, over time. It’s not unusual to find that a house that was bought 15 years ago is now worth much more. This increased worth (equity) is as good as money in the bank.
The decision to buy a home is one of the most important financial decisions a taxpayer will ever make. Home ownership offers immediate tax benefits and long-term value. Additional details can be obtained from IRS Publication 530, “Tax Information for Homeowners.” 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.
John Bazemore/AP Photo
A copy of the Ten Commandments is posted along with other historical documents in a hallway of the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta in June.
COMMENTARY COMMENTARY COMMENTARY
WAKE-UP CALL
Psychic codpieces
BY RON ISAAC
Many scientific advances were accidental discoveries that were not the original goal of research. Teflon, X-rays, microwaves and insulin are among them.
Like Columbus, who is lauded for landing in America though he was looking for India, we never know exactly where scientific exploration will take us. In a serendipitous case of hard luck, Viagra had been used by Pfizer in clinical trials for a new heart medication.
Methadone, which gives recovering heroin addicts a fighting chance to be restored to substantial normalcy, was developed in Nazi Germany and given to wounded soldiers in battle a different kind of fighting chance. Thalidomide, introduced as a tranquilizer and later prescribed to women who had suffered multiple miscarriages, causing horrific birth defects (the drug was never approved for use in the U.S.), was later found to be effective against multiple myeloma.
So that we can expect the unexpected, let’s find new applications for some of the latter-day gadgetry whose wonders and limitations we have taken for granted.
A cardiograph APP that tracks your heart rate on your smartphone can produce a reading in real time so that your physician can interpret it remotely while on the golf course. As arrhythmias can be detected in this way, could it be possible to similarly pick up on the unarticulated thought process of politicians and other leaders?
Could their machinations and lies be unscrambled in some terminal and become an open record for society’s benefit? Could their motivations and calculations be formatted as electrical impulses and used by good-government watchdogs in testimony against them?
Hypocrisy On
years of been Justices the more have women is 4 over decision to African-Amer-
truth serum while dispensing snake oil to their electorate.
The involuntary confessions of mayors, governors, CEOs and other “movers and shakers” would be spectacularly entertaining.
pointed by the governor, without citizen oversight? What are the tantalizations of county political party organizations that nominate county court and surrogate court judges?
most homeowners, factoring in the certainty of theft, will have to buy several receptacles.
Because my editor won’t let my column exceed 10 million words, and since I’m an all-or-nothing guy, I won’t start summarizing the policy-decisions, projects and procurements, nominally for the common good but at public expense, by all levels of government and in private executive suite at the behest of clandestine and shadow players. And just when we thought we’d seen it all, we can look forward to suffering, after Inauguration Day, the breech birth of the “Department of Government Efficiency.” It is “breech” because it will come out the wrong way. The heads of agencies should be the first to exit their protective womb of their bureaucracies, not the workers.
Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk promised “hardship” and “shockwaves.” Why does this new outfit need two chiefs? Wouldn’t a single one be more efficient and true to their mission?
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the IRA, the FBI, the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Department of Education were all on Ramaswamy’s kill list during his own campaign for the presidency.
Choice
Or have they evolved tricks to thwart our view of what is behind their psychic codpieces?
Like seedy businesses that keep two sets of books to dupe the taxman, politicians are often driven strategically by objectives and priorities that differ from what they offer for public consumption. They are immune to polygraphs and
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
BY WAYNE PARRY Associated Press
Letters to the Editor
Imagine if we could audit Governor Hochul’s mind as she reverses and re-reverses herself as though plucking petals from a daisy, intonating her off and on love of punitive surcharges against commuters and commerce, as she weighs “congestion pricing” on a scale calibrated by a confidential audience of donors, cronies, clubhouse chairs and special interests.
When candidates for crucial judicial posts have been cross endorsed, even before the public every hears of them, by the Democrat, Republican, Liberal, Conservative, Libertarian, Working Family and Egg Cream Party, and their “election” is therefore a fait accompli, doesn’t that make a mockery of the beloved franchise of participatory government?
How suspect is that?
Audacity to Criticize Molina
Imagine if we could crash quidpro-quo heaven, where judicial appointments are hatched and candidates of parties are secretly picked, based on a corrupted standard of merit.
tion is amenable to transitioning to real-life narrative. Perhaps a variant of GPS could be invented that instead of pinpointing location could measure the true positions of politicians, thereby revealing hypocrisies. The GPS could be in the form of intramuscular tubing that would be compulsorily inserted into the veins of politicians until 10 years after they leave office.
If we could, unbeknownst to them, read the minds of some of the folks who control our lives while touting our individual freedoms. what are some topical questions we might ask:
He also vowed to throw 75 percent of federal employees out of work. If President-elect Trump does not rein in Ramaswamy, it will be mathematically impossible to protect Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, which Trump has sworn would never be sacrificed or even touched.
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.”
Why, for instance, are New York
State Appellate Division judges ap-
If our city, state and federal governments had to fork over a dollar for every instance that we caught them ripping us off under false pretenses, there’d be enough to fix the infrastructure of the universe.
Jules Verne, Batman and Star Trek have shown that science fic-
What is the reason, not the pretext, for Mayor Adams’ order that property owners purchase and exclusively use NYC’s own garbage cans with the city’s trademarked logo, though manufactured outof-state by a company awarded a no-bid contract? They cost $50, and
The job hit men have given us their word of honor that the “Department of Government Efficiency” will self-destruct no later than July 2026. And in the interim, they are offering, as an occupational perk, to assist volunteers who wish to be numb to the ensuing despair of losing their livelihoods and investments, a way out: execution by nitrogen hypoxia. Inhaling a high concentration of this gas is state of the art in capital punishment performances.
And so efficient!
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.
UAW official blasts rival union leader for opposing casino smoking ban
Workers pushing for an end to smoking in Atlantic City casinos say the main employee union has been won over by tobacco companies seeking allies in the fight against smoking restrictions.
An official of a union involved in the anti-smoking push on Monday called for the head of the Atlantic City casino workers’ union, Donna DeCaprio, to resign for failing to protect her members from the dangers of secondhand smoke.
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. 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.
Vincent Scala is a former Bronx Assistant District Attorney. He is currently a criminal-defense attorney in New York City and its suburbs.
DeCaprio is president of Local 54 of the Unite Here union, which opposes a smoking ban on the grounds that so much business would be lost by smokers taking their money elsewhere that it could cause one or more casinos to shut down, costing thousands of workers their jobs.
“She should be ashamed of herself,” said Ray Jensen, assistant director of United Auto Workers Region 9, which represents dealers
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.
at three Atlantic City casinos and is part of a lawsuit seeking to have the courts force an end to smoking in the gambling halls. “She should hand in her union card.”
DeCaprio said her union supports the health and safety of its members, adding improvements to the workplace environment need to be made.
DOC was on the brink of 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 balance needs to be reached that will both protect worker health and preserve good jobs,” she said.
“We are protecting our members against multiple casino closures and job losses. The UAW is eager to sacrifice the entire casino industry and put 25,000 good jobs with benefits at risk.”
How is it that Schiraldi, a so-called juvenile-justice reformer and expert, failed so miserably in managing DOC?
DeCaprio said between 50 percent and 72 percent of all in-person casino revenue in Atlantic City comes from smoking sections, which occupy only 25 percent of the casino floor.
How is it that Oren Varnai, 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
She said her union “and the vast majority of the labor movement” support a proposal that would im-
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?
prove ventilation in casinos and prevent any employee from being assigned to work in a smoking section against their will.
Whether to ban smoking is one of the most controversial issues not only in Atlantic City casinos but in other states where workers have expressed concern about secondhand smoke. They are waging similar campaigns in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Kansas and Virginia.
Those homeless people who are mentally or emotionally incapable of living safely with others have to be “imprisoned,” either in prisons (if convicted of crimes) or in secure mental institutions. Those who refuse to cooperate with reasonable and necessary treatment from qualified and competent authorities have to be treated the same way—prison or secure mental facilities.
Workers have been pushing for four years to end an exemption in New Jersey’s clean air law that allows smoking inside the nine casinos. They say they or their co-workers are becoming ill with cancer, heart disease and other conditions related to exposure to second-hand smoke.
lead to decreased tax revenue for state programs for senior citizens and the disabled.
On Monday, the workers group that calls itself CEASE (Casino Employees Against Smoking’s Effects) filed an appeal of a court ruling in August that allowed smoking to continue in the nine casinos.
The Casino Association of New Jersey declined to comment Monday.
should be cultivated as supporters of the effort to prevent smoking bans,” a public relations firm wrote in a memo to Philip Morris Companies that was made public during several states’ litigation against tobacco companies. The memo said having HERE “as an ally in this effort would be a very powerful voice.”
Attorney Nancy Erika Smith said as far back as 1993, tobacco companies targeted labor unions in the hospitality industry as potential allies to work against smoking bans in the restaurant and hospitality industries. That effort included the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union, a precursor of the Unite Here union.
Governor Phil Murphy, a Democrat, has said he will sign a bill to end casino smoking if it reaches his desk.
The casinos, joined by Local 54, oppose that effort, saying it will cost Atlantic City thousands of jobs and
Only those homeless who cooperate with those who provide necessary treatment, and can live peacefully with others, should be placed in housing in the neighborhoods in all five boroughs of the city.
MICHAEL J. GORMAN
uously 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 criticize Molina.
“HERE and the related AFL-CIO affiliates are critical allies which
As far back as 2001, HERE was part of a 12-member coalition including labor unions advocating for improved indoor ventilation instead of government-imposed smoking bans, according to another document cited in Monday’s appeal. The anti-smoking campaigners cite a 2022 report by Las Vegas-based C3 Gaming, a consulting firm, showing that casinos that went smoke-free “appear to be performing better than their counterparts that continue to allow smoking.”
VINCENT SCALA
Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
Using the city’s new, official trash bins, Mayor Eric Adams and then-DSNY Commissioner Jessica Tisch symbolically rolled Gracie Mansion’s trash out to the East End Avenue curb in July.
xiquinhosilva via Flickr
Teamsters file charges after Amazon’s anti-union consultant berates driver
Union alleges use of homophobic slurs
BY DUNCAN FREEMAN dfreeman@thechiefleader.com
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters is alleging that an anti-union consultant hired by Amazon threatened and berated a delivery driver who is active in the unionization effort at a Queens facility last week. Following the incident, workers rallied in front of the distribution center and the union filed an unfair labor practice charge against Amazon, the latest flashpoint in what’s been a bruising organizing effort among drivers at the center.
The union alleges that Juan Carlos Cervantes, with Government Resources Consultants of America, threatened and directed homophobic slurs at a delivery driver based at Amazon’s DBK4 facility in Queens. The driver, identified as Emmanuel T. by the Teamsters, was preparing for work on Nov. 26 when Cervantes repeatedly yelled the homophobic slur at him, multiple witnesses told the Teamsters.
“Amazon hired this union buster to come harass me at work and call me a homophobic slur,” said Emmanuel T.
“Amazon is creating an unsafe workplace for me and my co-workers, especially my fellow Teamsters who identify as LGBTQ. We don’t need harassment and homophobia. What we need is for Amazon to follow the law and negotiate a Teamsters Union con-
tract that provides the pay and safety we deserve.”
Delivery drivers at the Maspeth facility — like those at Amazon facilities across the country — are officially employed by service providers contracted by Amazon. More
ELECTION: Runoff needed
Continued from Page 1
bers in Charge candidate Honda Wang, who lost the race for secretary-treasurer by eight votes, also expressed disappointment with the low turnout.
“We did our best to mobilize people to vote, but it’s very hard to get people to think that their union matters when we haven’t had a single chapter meeting since the administratorship took place,” Wang said, noting that the turnout was less than 10 percent. “It’s quite sad.”
An eight-vote margin
The election is the first held since the 11,000-member local was placed under administratorship by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in September 2022. The local was taken over 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 later expelled. But one of the races where a winner was declared has come under scrutiny. Wang, who narrowly lost his bid for secretary-treasurer, filed a protest with Local 1549’s election committee on Sunday. Wang received 492 votes to Holliday’s 500, according to the unofficial results. Wang alleged that the opposing slate made several violations of the AFSCME Elections Code, which he believed could have affected the outcome of the secretary-treasurer race. Although the union’s rules prohibit the use of employer resources in election campaigning, Wang submitted photographs to the election committee of a Team Forward slate campaign flyer that was allegedly posted on multiple bulletin boards inside Lincoln Hospital. The boards contained a stamp saying “NYC Health + Hospitals/Lincoln Public Affairs.” In his protest letter to the election committee, Wang wrote that the flyer being placed on a bulletin board that “the employer maintained control over” … “constitutes a use of employer resources.” He also noted that the employer stamp and “prohibition of posting union-related materials that do not have the em-
ployer stamp constitutes a violation similar to using an employer email account to contact members or using an employer printer to produce campaign literature.”
“This isn’t just a matter of posting something up on a union board — this was on the hospital’s board and appears to also have been laminated by the employer,” Wang said during a phone interview. “This seems to be a very clear use of city resources.”
Gutierrez disputed the allegation.
“That particular institute, they have a policy and procedure. You’ve got to go through public affairs to get approval,” she said. “You can’t post anything unless you get it approved – that’s why it was stamped and laminated. We follow the policies and procedures of every agency.”
Wang also alleged that another member who posted flyers and cards for the Members In Charge slate on a union bulletin board at a 311 worksite reported that the campaign materials were torn down soon after her shift ended. “Given the slim margins of the protested election, this violation alone should persuade the committee to recommend a rerun of the election,” he wrote in his protest to the election committee.
“They kept getting taken down by the very next shift. That could have prevented significant votes because 311 has hundreds of members,” Wang said. “It seems very suspect to me — that only our materials were taken down.”
He added, “My honest hope is that [the election committee] will seriously look at this protest and rerun this race,” he said. “My hope is that we can run a very clean election this time around that will result in a clear election outcome that everyone can accept.” Gutierrez said that she was unaware of the situation at 311 that Wang described, but said that “I doubt that anyone from Team Forward would do that. We do not involve ourselves in a dirty campaign.”
She added that “We’re here to build the local – we’re split, okay, but once [the election] is done, let’s expand this membership to find creative ways to increase salaries … and make the lives of our members affordable. We’ve just got to work together.”
Although District Council 37 Local 1549’s election was conducted late last month, none of the four candidates won the race for the local’s top position. The two candidates who received the most votes for president will face each other in a runoff. The candidate who narrowly lost the race for secretarytreasurer has filed a protest calling for that election to also be rerun.
Rebecca White/The Chief
than 280,000 drivers deliver Amazon packages in the United States, and the Teamsters, under the leadership of president Sean O’Brien, have launched a determined campaign to organize those workers.
In April 2023, drivers at the Am-
azon DAX8 station in Palmdale, California, who were employed by the service provider Battle Tested Strategies, became the first group to unionize with the Teamsters. BTS management quickly agreed to a contract with the
union, but in June 2023 Amazon canceled BTS’ contract, effectively firing the drivers. Those workers have been picketing at other Amazon facilities across the country and their efforts have since borne fruit, with unionization campaigns blossoming in Illinois, New York and California.
Workers at DBK4 employed by three different delivery service providers announced their unionization effort on Sept. 16. Less than two weeks later, the Teamsters announced that a majority of drivers across eight delivery service providers at the facility had signed union authorization cards.
In total, hundreds of drivers at the Maspeth facility have signed the cards, but Amazon has yet to recognize the union or begin bargaining with the workers. The drivers have rallied multiple times outside the facility alongside elected officials.
“I came in on my day off to stand with my co-worker, Emmanuel, and tell Amazon that this is unacceptable,” said Latrice Shadae Johnson, a driver at DBK4.
“I have a lot of family and friends in the LGBTQ community. It hurts to know that Amazon is paying this union buster way more than they pay us. We are not backing down in our fight for Amazon to recognize us as Teamsters.”
Cervantes is one of several anti-union consultants that Amazon has hired to discourage workers from joining the Teamsters, union officials say.
A spokesperson for Amazon did not reply to a request for comment.
Bronx midwives seek contract that provides pay parity
BY CRYSTAL LEWIS clewis@thechiefleader.com
Midwives at two hospitals in the Bronx are seeking a contract that will grant them pay comparable to their counterparts working at other hospitals across the city.
The contract for midwives working at two NYC Health + Hospitals facilities, Jacobi Medical Center and North Central Bronx, expired on June 30, 2023. Members of the New York State Nurses Association, elected officials and patients rallied outside of Jacobi on Tuesday to urge the Physician Affiliate Group of New York to settle a deal that will increase pay, and to create a plan to retain workers.
Currently, midwives at the two Bronx hospitals earn a base salary that is about 14 percent less than midwives at nearby hospitals, according to the union.
“We are the lowest paid midwives in the region,” said Kinikia Reid, a certified nurse midwife who has been on the job for five years. “Too many midwives get burnt out and leave in search of lower workloads and higher pay. We want pay parity with neighboring facilities, and we want respect.”
The workers said that understaffing has contributed to their heavy workloads. The midwives noted that they were often scheduled at 127 percent of their maximum capacity.
“We can be booked to see 18 patients, but only be given enough time to see 14 of them,” Reid said.
“I’m routinely booked for 20 minute time slots, which I’m expected to chart review, assess my patient, assess their baby, write my notes,
consult with higher-risk providers or social workers when needed, answer questions and hopefully somehow within all that, still be able to connect on a human level.”
Reid, who is also on the bargaining team, added that the current working conditions at both Jacobi and North Bronx Central were “unsustainable.”
Nicolette Gressett, who has been a licensed midwife for the past nine years, said that, “We’re now approaching a critical level of understaffing and cannot recruit or retain experienced midwives.”
PAGNY did not return a request for comment as of presstime.
Highest infant mortality rate
The advocates emphasized how critical midwifery services are because the Bronx is the borough with the highest infant mortality rate in the city. In the Bronx, 5.2 infants out of every 100,000 will die before their first birthday, compared to the citywide rate of 3.2 infants out of every 100,000, according to data from the state Department of Health. The Bronx also has some of the highest maternal mortality rates in the state.
“If midwives don’t get the respect we deserve, how can we expect that our patients get the respect they deserve?” said Valerie Nelson, who has worked as a certified nurse midwife at Jacobi for 12 years. “We need to invest in Bronx midwives. Investing in new parents and the professionals that support them is an investment in our community.”
Reid pointed out that their team was “one of the most diverse midwifery groups in the country.”
“While less than seven percent of midwives are Black nationally, at Jacobi, 35 percent of our midwives are Black or brown,” she said.
Nelson added that many of their patients are high-risk, are immigrants and don’t speak English, or have chronic health conditions.
“I think most of our midwives enjoy rising to this challenge, but our efforts must be recognized at least with good-faith negotiating on behalf of our employer PAGNY,” Nelson said.
For City Council Member Pierina Sanchez, improving the staffing levels and pay for midwives is important to her not only because she’s pregnant, but because she is also a patient at Jacobi.
“The life that I am going to bring into this world in anywhere from a few hours to a few days, they matter. My baby matters. And yet if we look at the conditions that midwives at North Central Bronx and here at Jacobi are forced to work in, we are getting resoundingly the opposite message: that we do not matter,” she said during the press conference.
Several other elected officials came out to urge PAGNY to settle a fair contract, including Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Senator Nathalia Fernandez and Assembly Member John Zaccaro.
“We must acknowledge the critical value that midwives play in our community, in our borough and in our state. We cannot compromise essential safety-net care that our Bronx midwives provide, and the time for a fair contract is not tomorrow, it is today,” Zaccaro said.
International Brotherhood of Teamsters
Drivers based at Amazon’s facility in Maspeth, Queens rallied last month to put pressure on the e-commerce giant to recognize their union. A majority of drivers employed by eight delivery service providers that are contracted by Amazon at the facility have signed union authorization cards to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
New York State Nurses Association
Members of the New York State Nurses Association and elected officials rallied for a contract for midwives at NYC Health + Hospitals’ Jacobi Medical Center and North Central Bronx Hospital. The midwives’ contract expired in June 2023, and they are seeking raises that will close a pay gap between themselves and midwives working at nearby hospitals.
State prisons turn to extended lockdowns amid staffing shortages, overcrowding
BY AMANDA HERNANDEZ Stateline
Across the United States, state prison systems are grappling with chronic understaffing and overcrowding — dual crises that are keeping incarcerated people confined to their cells for far longer periods than in recent decades.
Lockdowns are common in jails and prisons nationwide, but most usually last only a few hours or days. During lockdowns, access to rehabilitative classes, religious activities, work and visitation is limited or completely suspended. Incarcerated people on lockdown can lose their usual routines, which may include exercise, calls to loved ones and other structured activities. And meals are typically eaten inside the prisoner’s cell, further isolating them.
Recently, lockdowns have been extended for weeks or even months at many facilities suffering staff shortages.
“What’s unusual here is that you’ve got these more sustained lockdowns,” Michele Deitch, the director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, told Stateline. “People are not in that situation because of disciplinary reasons. They’re in there for the convenience and management of the institution.”
Prisons in many states have implemented prolonged lockdowns. In some cases they have intensified tensions within prison walls, at times contributing to violence between incarcerated people and staff, increased drug use and deaths by suicide.
For example, the Green Bay Correctional Institution in Wisconsin resumed normal operations in July after being on lockdown for more than a year. As of Nov. 29, the facility housed 1,080 people, nearly 45 percent above its designed capacity of 749.
Meanwhile, the Waupun Correctional Institution, also in Wisconsin, has been under some form of lockdown for more than a year. At least five incarcerated people have died since June 2023. Nine current and former staff members, including the facility’s previous warden,
are facing felony charges in connection with two of the deaths. In Texas, some facilities operate with a 70 percent corrections officer vacancy rate — meaning those prisons are trying to maintain security with fewer than half the officers they need, according to a September report from the Sunset Advisory Commission, a legislative agency tasked with evaluating state departments. The evaluation came in the wake of a statewide prison lockdown that lasted just over a month last year, prompted by a rise in contraband and drug-related homicides among inmates.
The report highlighted that the state’s incarcerated population is projected to outgrow the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s bed capacity by the end of fiscal year 2025.
And a federal investigation into Georgia’s state prison system found conditions that violate the U.S. Constitution, including rampant violence, sexual assault, drug smuggling and gang activity, according to a report released in October by the U.S. Department of Justice.
The report also revealed that sexual violence remains prevalent in isolation areas, and that the Georgia Department of Corrections places some people in lockdown with others who sexually abuse them.
An investigation by the nonprof-
it news outlet Truthout found that at least 33 state prison systems had placed incarcerated adults under non-disciplinary lockdowns at least once — and often repeatedly or for extended periods — between 2016 and 2023.
Despite the many extended lockdowns and mounting pressure to fill vacancies and manage growing prison populations, most states neither report nor are legally required to disclose the frequency of lockdowns or what types of incidents occur during them, according to some prison policy experts.
“Lockdowns are one of those things that just fly under the radar,” Deitch, of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab, told Stateline. “We’re underestimating the number of people that are affected by these kinds of policies.”
Rising tensions and dire consequences
The long-standing issues of understaffing and overcrowding in U.S. prisons were brought into sharper focus during the COVID-19 pandemic, when widespread lockdown restrictions and severe staffing shortages further strained correctional facilities.
These shortages extend beyond corrections officers, affecting pris-
CHIEF CLASSIFIED
Title: Supervisor Veterans Home Fiscal Administration-NY HELPS M-1 NU 06 Salary: $90,931 - $114,940 annually + $14, 586 Annual Geographical Pay + $3,400 Annual Location Pay Minimum qualifications: HELPS min quals: Nine years of professional experience in finance in a healthcare field. One year must be at the supervisor level. An associate degree in a related field can substitute for two years of specialized experience; a bachelor’s degree in a related field can substitute for four years of experience; a master’s degree in a related field can substitute for five years of experience; and a doctorate in a related field can substitute for six years of experience. Or a Bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration, business administration, finance, accounting, or a related field, AND four years of professional financial experience in a healthcare field. One year of the experience must have been at a supervisory level.
Duties: Establishes and maintains accounting systems that accurately reflect facility income, operating costs, and financial condition, and ensures that residents’ personal accounts are appropriately managed.
Location: NYS Veterans Home at St. Albans 178-50 Linden Boulevard, Jamaica, NY 11434 Send resume to: RecruitmentStAlbans@nysvets.org
on health care staff and other essential personnel.
In 2021, one incarcerated Missouri man who was in severe pain pulled out his own teeth after he was unable to secure a dental appointment due to staffing shortages, according to the Jefferson City News Tribune.
These extended lockdowns have become increasingly similar to restrictive housing, or solitary confinement, which is when incarcerated people are confined to their cells for up to 24 hours a day with minimal human contact or access to activities, according to Deitch.
“You’re going to see a lot more tension rising among the population, which could lead to more assaults and other kinds of abuses. You’re more likely to see people using drugs or something to kind of escape from all of that,” Deitch said.
In September, an incarcerated person attacked two prison staff members at the Iowa State Penitentiary. Union leaders said the staff assault was symptomatic of the agency’s understaffing; it was the 33rd such attack of the year at the prison.
In Illinois, employees from more than 24 state correctional facilities rallied in October to protest unsafe working conditions. Officers reported a rise in violent assaults on staff and exposure to narcotics, synthetic drugs and other toxic substances. As of Dec. 2, at least four state correctional facilities, all of which experienced officer protests, are under either partial or full lockdown.
The Illinois Department of Corrections’ operation and management reports show a major uptick in the number of lockdowns across facilities, with 635 in fiscal year 2019 and 1,814 in fiscal year 2024.
Strain on workers
Across the country, corrections staff are frequently required to work mandatory overtime because of severe staffing shortages. These extra hours leave little time for officers to rest, spend time with their families or manage personal responsibilities, making it difficult to maintain a healthy work-life balance, according to Andy Potter, a former corrections officer and the
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founder of One Voice United, a national advocacy group representing corrections staff.
The demanding schedules also can take a significant toll on staff’s physical and mental health, leading to burnout and further exacerbating the staffing crisis, as some officers leave the profession entirely. This cycle creates an even greater strain on the remaining staff, perpetuating a system stretched beyond its limits.
State prison populations also grew by 2 percent between 2021 and 2022, according to the most recent data from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, reversing a longtime downward trend.
The growth could continue: Several states recently have enacted laws aimed at cracking down on violent crimes, drug-related crimes, retail theft and other crimes that could send more people to prison. The states include Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Oregon and Tennessee.
Yet prisons across the country have long struggled to recruit and retain staff. In 2023, the number of people working in state prisons fell to its lowest level this century, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Some states have tried to address prison understaffing by raising starting wages and offering comprehensive benefits packages. But the strategies that attract new hires won’t retain them if mandatory overtime and poor working conditions continue, say worker advocates.
“There’s a real blind spot when it comes to how employees are treated, how they are trained, how they are looked at in this paramilitary structure,” said Potter, who worked as a Michigan state corrections officer for more than 20 years.
“I don’t think you’ll ever see a level of success from locking down a prison,” he said, “other than you have to be able to maintain the security and the safety of those that are in your custody and those that are in your employment.”
Stateline, founded in 1998, provides daily reporting and analysis on trends in state policy.
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Department of Corrections and Community Supervision
Elmira Correctional Facility, a maximum security state prison located in Chemung County, is one of 44 state-run correctional facilities in New York.
The Department of Citywide Administrative Services established a 368-name list for Police Communications Technician on October 2, 2024. The list is based on Exam 4304, 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
NYC Transit is accepting applications for
through
The current minimum salary is $25.01 per hour for a 40-hour week increasing to $35.73 in the sixth year of service. Benefits of this position include, but are not limited to, night and weekend salary differentials, paid holidays, vacation and sick leave, a comprehensive medical plan and a pension plan. The fee is $68.
THE JOB
Maintainer’s helpers - Group B, under direct supervision, assist in the maintenance, installation, inspection, testing, alteration and repair of bus and other automotive electro-mechanical equipment. They clean and lubricate bus parts; move bus parts and equipment using forklifts, hi-los, hoists, hand trucks and conveyors; remove and replace worn bearing races; measure tire pressure and change flat tires; check and maintain fluid levels of engine oil, batteries, radiator and windshield washer reser-
Maintainer’s helpers with NYC Transit start at $25, rising to to $36 in 6th year
voirs; fuel buses; drain waste oil; sandblast parts; drive buses and trucks; and perform related work.
Maintainer’s helpers work outdoors in all weather conditions; walk on slippery surfaces while washing parts; read gauges in dimly lit areas; climb and descend ladders; wear goggles, gloves or a face mask while using sandblasting equipment; use both hands to work overhead for extended periods of time; respond to audible signals, such as alarms, bells, horns and whistles; respond to visual signals, including distinguishing colored lights; and lift heavy equipment and move it manually. They may be required to work various shifts including nights, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
QUALIFICATIONS
Successful applicants must have either 1) four years of satisfactory full-time experience as a helper or trainee assisting in the performance or inspection, installation, alteration, maintenance, testing or repair of bus, truck, automotive or aircraft electro-mechanical components, such as bodies, engines, transmissions, brakes, electrical or air conditioning systems, or related
components or systems; or 2) have graduated from a vocational high school with a major course of study in automotive maintenance, or a closely related field; or 3) graduated from a recognized trade school or technical school with a major course of study in auto-mechanics, or a closely related field, totaling at least 600 hours; or 4) have an associate degree or higher from an accredited college or university in auto-mechanics or a closely related field; or 5) have a four-year high school diploma or its educational equivalent, plus three years of fulltime experience as described in “1” above.
Qualifying part-time experience will be credited on a prorated basis. The experience requirements must be met by Dec. 15 this year and the education requirements must be met by Dec. 15 next year.
THE EXAM
Applicants who meet the qualifying requirements will be given a multiple-choice test measuring their knowledge, skills and abilities in the following and other related areas: Tool usage, automotive theory, written comprehension and meter usage.
A score of at least 70 percent is required to pass this test. Scores on this test determine places on the eligible list. Veterans’ or disabled veterans’ credit will be granted only to eligible passing candidates who request that they be applied. The credit should be requested at the time of application but must be requested before the date the eligible list is established.
REQUIREMENTS
Appointees must possess either: 1). A valid Class A or Class B commercial driver’s license with no disqualifying restrictions that would preclude the performance of the duties of this title or 2) a valid driver’s license valid.
Those qualifying under “2”, appointments will be subject to the receipt of a valid Class B CDL with a passenger endorsement and no airbrake restrictions, or any other disqualifying restrictions within 14 days of appointment; and a valid Class B CDL with no disqualifying restrictions within 120 days of appointment, or their employment will be terminated.
The CDLs with no disqualifying restrictions must be maintained for the duration of employment in the
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.
➤
➤
5105/5305
(Electrician)
5612 Structure Maintainer - Group B (Mason)
5613 Car Maintainer - Group B (Machinist)
NASSAU COUNTY EXAMS
➤ 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
Department of Social Services. MECHANICAL ENGINEERING IN-
–8 eligibles between Nos. 48 and 91 on List 3005 for 1 job at NYC Transit.
MOTOR VEHICLE OPERATOR–313 eligibles between Nos. 32 and 816 on List 8302 for 15 jobs in Department of Correction.
STAFF ANALYST–67 eligibles between Nos. 384 and 2152 on List 9008 for 4 jobs at HA.
STOCK WORKER–6 eligibles between Nos. 26 and 249 on List 2100 for 1 job in Department of Transportation.
PROMOTION
ADMINISTRATIVE PARK AND RECREATION MANAGER–169 eligibles between Nos. 1 and 171 on List 4505 to replace 5 provisionals in Department of Parks and Recreation.
ASSOCIATE WATER USE INSPECTOR–31 eligibles between Nos. 1 and 33 on List 3575 for 1 job in Department of Environmental Protection.
CAR APPEARANCE SUPERVISOR (CAR EQUIPMENT)–144 eligibles between Nos. 1 and 154 on List 3712 to replace 117 provisionals at NYC Transit.
HOUSING MANAGER–6 eligibles between Nos. 7 and 54 on List 3519 to replace any of 12 provisionals at HA.
PARK SUPERVISOR–103 eligibles between Nos. 7 and 282 on List 2555 to replace 20 provisionals in DPR.
PRINCIPAL POLICE COMMUNICATIONS TECHNICIAN–77 eligibles between Nos. 7 and 83 on List 3584 to replace 2 provisionals in Police Department.
SUPERVISOR ELECTRICIAN–9 eligibles between Nos. 2 and 14 on List 529 for 1 job in DOT.
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
Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator (3A) $47,450 ➤ CLOSES JANUARY 15
Office Systems Analyst I $49,642 ➤ CLOSES JANUARY 22 0170
$52,017
Medical Services Specialist $76,708 2670 Emergency Medical Technician (Basic) $37,000-$60,000 2673 Emergency Medical Technician (Critical Care) $37,000-$60,000 2674 Emergency Medical Technician (Paramedic) $37,000-$60,000
title. Active members or former members who were discharged in the past year of the military or New York National Guard and have experience driving a commercial motor vehicle in the military or New York National Guard may be eligible for a waiver of the NYS commercial driving skills test through the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles. Those who believe they may be eligible for this waiver must apply for it through the DMV. Applicants will be medically examined to determine whether they can perform the essential functions of the position. Where appropriate, a reasonable accommodation will be provided for persons with a disability to enable them to perform the essential functions of the job. Applicants must pass a drug screening in order to be appointed. City residency is not required for this position.
For complete information of the position, including on how to apply, go to https://new.mta.info/document/156436.
LABOR AROUND THE WORLD LABOR AROUND THE WORLD LABOR AROUND THE WORLD
Mandatory high school exit exams dwindle to about half a dozen states
BY ELAINE S. POVICH Stateline
Jill Norton, an education policy adviser in Massachusetts, has a teenage son with dyslexia and ADHD. Shelley Scruggs, an electrical engineer in the same state, also has a teenage son with ADHD. Both students go to the same technical high school.
But this fall, Norton and Scruggs advocated on opposite sides of a Massachusetts ballot referendum scrapping the requirement that high school kids pass a standardized state test to graduate.
Norton argued that without the high bar of the standard exam, kids like hers won’t have an incentive to strive. But Scruggs maintained that kids with learning disorders also need different types of measurements than standardized tests to qualify for a high school diploma.
Voters last month approved the referendum, 59 percent to 41 percent, ending the Massachusetts requirement. There and in most other states, Scruggs’ position against testing is carrying the day.
Just seven states now require students to pass a test to graduate, and one of those — New York — will end its Regents Exam as a requirement by the 2027-28 school year. Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and Virginia still require testing to graduate, according to the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, a group that opposes such mandates.
In Massachusetts, teachers unions favored getting rid of the exam as a graduation requirement. They argued it forced them to teach certain facts at the expense of indepth or more practical learning. But many business leaders were in favor of keeping the test, arguing that without it, they will have no guarantee that job applicants with high school diplomas possess basic skills.
State by state, graduation tests have tumbled over the past decade.
In 2012, half the states required the tests, but that number fell to 13 states in 2019, according to Education Week. The trend accelerated during the pandemic, when many school districts scrapped the tests during remote learning and some decided to permanently extend test exemptions.
Studies have found that such graduation exams disadvantage students with learning disabilities as well as English language learners, and that they aren’t always a good predictor of success in careers or higher education.
An oft-cited 2010 article by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin may have ignited the trend to scrap the tests. Researchers’ review of 46 earlier studies found that high school exit exams “produced few of the expected benefits and have been associated with costs for
the most disadvantaged students.”
Some states began to find other ways to assess high school competency, such as grades in mandatory courses, capstone projects or technical milestones.
“Minimum competency tests in the 1980s drove the idea that we need to make sure that students who graduate from high school have the bare minimum of skills,” said John Papay, an associate professor of education at Brown University. “By the mid-2000s, there was a reaction against standardized testing and a movement away from these exams. They disappeared during the pandemic and that led to these tests going away.”
Despite the problems with the tests for English learners and students with learning disabilities, Papay said, the tests are “strong predictors of long-term outcomes.
Students who do better on the tests go on to graduate [from] college and they earn more.”
Papay, who remains neutral on whether the tests should be required, pointed out that high school students usually have many opportunities to retake the tests and to appeal their scores.
Anne Hyslop, director of policy development at All4Ed, a think tank and advocacy group for underserved communities, noted that in many states, the testing requirements were replaced by other measures.
The schools “still require some students or all students to demonstrate competency to graduate, but students have many more options
on how they could do that. They can pass a dual credit [high school/college] course, pass industry recognized competency tests. …
“A lot of states still have assessments as part of their graduation requirements, but in a much broader form,” she said.
Massachusetts moves Scruggs said her son took Massachusetts’ required exam last spring; he passed the science and math portions but fell 1 point short in English.
“He could do well in his classes, but if he didn’t pass the three tests, he wouldn’t get his regular diploma,” Scruggs said. “How do you go out into the working world, and you went to school every day and passed your classes, but got no diploma?”
Her son has taken the English test again and is awaiting his new score, she said.
Norton, by contrast, said the exam, called the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System, or MCAS, gave her son an incentive to work hard.
“I worry that kids like him … are going to end up graduating from high school without the skills they will need,” Norton said. “Without the test, they will just be passed along. I can’t just trust that my kid is getting the basic level of what he needs. I need a bar set where he will get the level of education he needs.”
Students in Massachusetts still will have to take the MCAS in their sophomore year of high school, and the scores will be used to assess
Amazon workers in India join Black Friday strike action for better wages and working conditions
BY SHONAL GANGULY Associated Press
Amazon staff in India have joined strike action calling for better wages and working conditions as the company prepares for one of the busiest shopping periods of the year.
About 200 warehouse workers and delivery drivers rallied in the capital, New Delhi, under a ``Make Amazon Pay” banner. Some donned masks of Amazon chief Jeff Bezos and joined hands against the Seattle-based company’s practices.
The walkout on Black Friday, which starts one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year, was repeated at Amazon warehouses in other countries as workers called for higher wages, better working conditions, and union rights.
Manish Kumar, 25, an Amazon warehouse worker who joined the New Delhi protest, said the monthly basic salary is 10,000 rupees ($120), “which should be at least 25,000 rupees ($295).”
“And the environment there is to work under pressure,” he added.
Nitesh Das, a union leader, said the workers took to the streets because they wanted the government to take up their cause.
Amazon, in a statement issued in India, accused the workers of “intentionally misleading and continuing to promote a false narrative.”
“Our facilities are industry-leading and provide competitive pay, comfortable working conditions, and specially designed infrastructure to ensure a safe and healthy working environment for all,” the
“The environment there is to work under pressure.”
— Manish Kumar, AMAZON WAREHOUSE WORKER
company said.
“We’ve created more than 1.5 million jobs around the world, and counting, and we provide a modern, safe, and engaging workplace whether you work in an office or at one of our operations buildings.’’
A statement from the Amazon India Workers Union said similar protests are planned in other parts of India and in other countries, including the United States, Germany, Japan, and Brazil. The demonstrations will call on Amazon to pay its workers fairly, respect their right to join unions, and commit to environmental sustainability, it said.
The union said it would submit a memorandum highlighting its demands to India’s Labor Minister Mansukh Mandaviya.
The gig economy has become huge in India due to its fast economic growth, but workers face low wages and difficult working conditions.
India’s National Human Rights Commission sent a notice to Amazon in June 2023 after local media reports that workers were being made to work without breaks during the peak hot summer season. Amazon India denied the charge.
their overall learning. But failing the test won’t be a barrier to graduation beginning with the class of 2025. The state is still debating how — or whether — to replace the MCAS with other types of required courses, evaluations or measurements.
High school students in Massachusetts and most states still have to satisfy other graduation requirements, which usually include four years of English and a number of other core subjects such as mathematics, sciences and social studies. Those requirements vary widely across the country, however, as most are set by individual school districts.
In New York, the State Education Department in 2019 began a multiyear process of rethinking high school graduation requirements and the Regents Exam. The department decided last month to phase out the exit exam and replace it with something called a “Portrait of a Graduate,” including seven areas of study in which a student must establish proficiency. Credit options include capstone projects, work-based learning experiences and internships, as well as academic achievement. Several other states have moved recently to a similar approach.
Harry Feder, executive director of FairTest, an advocacy group that works to limit standardized testing, said course grades do a better job of assessing students’ abilities.
“Standardized tests are poor ways of incentivizing and measuring the kinds of skills and knowledge we
should have high school kids focusing on,” Feder said. “You get ‘teaching to the test’ that doesn’t bear much of a relationship to the kinds of things that kids are being asked to do when they go on to college or the workplace.”
Max Page, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association union, said phrases such as “teaching to the test” disrespect teachers and their ability to know when students have mastered content and competency. The high school tests are first taken in the 10th grade in Massachusetts. If the kids don’t pass, they can retake the exam in the 11th or 12th grade.
“Educators are still evaluating students,” he said. “It’s a mirage to say that everything that a student does in education can be measured by a standardized test in the 10th grade. Education, of course, goes through the 12th grade.”
He added that course grades are still a good predictor of how much a student knows.
Colorado’s blueprint
Several of the experts and groups on both sides of the debate point to Colorado as a blueprint for how to move away from graduation test requirements.
Colorado, which made the switch with the graduating class of 2021, now allows school districts to choose from a menu of assessment techniques, such as SAT or ACT scores, or demonstration of workforce readiness in various skill areas.
A state task force created by the legislature recently recommended some changes to the education accreditation system to “better reflect diverse student needs and smaller school populations.” They include creating assessments that adapt to student needs, offering multilingual options, and providing quicker results to understand student progress.
The state hopes the menu of assessment options will support local flexibility, said Danielle Ongart, assistant commissioner for student pathways and engagement at the Colorado Department of Education.
“Depending on what the student wants for themselves, they have the ability to show what they know,” she said in an interview. In particular, she said, the menu allows for industry certificates, if a student knows what type of work they want to do. That includes areas such as computer science or quantum computing.
“It allows students to better understand themselves and explain what they can do, what they are good at, and what they want to do,” she said.
Stateline, founded in 1998, provides daily reporting and analysis on trends in state policy.
New Belgium law gives sex workers contracts, benefits and safety protections
BY CHRISTOPHER RUGABER Associated Press
Starting Sunday, sex workers in Belgium were able to sign formal employment contracts and gain labor rights on par with those in other professions in a legal breakthrough some call a “revolution.”
The new law also establishes fundamental rights for sex workers including the right to refuse clients, choose their practices and stop an act at any moment.
The move follows the country’s 2022 decision to decriminalize sex work. Under the new regulations, sex workers will have access to health insurance, paid leave, maternity benefits, unemployment support and pensions. The legislation also establishes rules on working hours, pay and safety measures, addressing a long-standing gap in legal protections for those in the industry.
“This is an incredible step forward,” said Isabelle Jaramillo, coordinator of Espace P, an advocacy group involved in drafting the legislation. “It means their profession can finally be recognized as legitimate by the Belgian state.”
“From the employer’s perspective, this will also be a revolution. They’ll have to apply for a state
authorization to hire sex workers,” Jaramillo said.
“Under the previous legislation, hiring someone for sex work automatically made you a pimp, even if the arrangement was consensual,” said Jaramillo. “Now, They’ll have to apply for state authorization to hire employees.”
Employers must now obtain authorization, adhere to strict safety protocols, and meet background requirements, including no prior convictions for sexual assault or human trafficking. They must provide clean linens, condoms, and hygiene products, and install emergency buttons in workspaces. Independent sex work remains permitted, but unregulated third-party hiring or violations of the legal framework will be prosecuted.
Critics argue the law cannot fully address the stigma and risks tied to the trade, especially for undocumented sex workers.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” said Jaramillo, emphasizing the need for better police and judicial training to protect marginalized workers.
While countries such as Germany and the Netherlands have legalized sex work, none have implemented labor protections as comprehensive as Belgium’s.
Courtesy of the UFT
New York could become the next state to eliminate the practice of requiring high school students to pass a standardized test in order to graduate. Florida, Louisiana, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas and Virginia are the only other states that still have such a requirement.