32BJ Rescinds Endorsement Of Micah Kellner Over Sexual Harassment Allegations
NEW YORK – The Executive Board of 32BJ SEIU voted unanimously today to rescind the union’s endorsement of Assembly Member Micah Kellner for a City Council seat. It was the first time the union, which has 75,000 members in New York City, has ever rescinded an endorsement. “Given the allegations against Kellner, we cannot in […]
Labor Unions Call for Dreamers’ Release and Return to Their U.S. Hometowns
NEW YORK CITY—National and local labor leaders have written a letter calling on President Obama and Immigration and Customs Enforcement director John Morton to release on humanitarian parole nine young immigrant activists who were detained attempting to return to their families in the U.S. The Dream 9, as they are known in reference to the […]
NEW HAVEN — Public school cleaners in New Haven tonight asked the Board of Aldermen to support them in their fight for fair wages. “Unlike custodians who work for the city, our employer has not provided us with any raises, healthcare, sick days or retirement benefits,” cleaner Arnold Hunter told the board. “We’re doing the same work for much less pay and no benefits. We are being treated like a second-class workforce.” Hunter has worked for GCA Services Group as a contracted custodian in New Haven Public Schools since custodial services were outsourced two years ago. Custodians who clean the schools are paid between 25 and 30 percent less than custodians who work for the city. “What’s worse, taxpayer money is being used to fund this unfair, two-tier system,” Hunter said. “The city is saving millions of dollars by privatizing our jobs, but many of my co-workers not only can’t afford to see a doctor when they’re sick, they can’t even afford to take the time off from work because they need the money.” The cleaners asked the Board of Alderman to pass a resolution urging the school district to raise the floor on cleaners wages. Earlier in the day, the cleaners delivered a petition to Mayor John DeStephano Jr., asking for his support. Hunter himself works two jobs to help put his daughter through college, he said, but many of his co-workers are supporting themselves and their families on the low wages they receive as part-time, contracted custodians. “We’re not asking for anything that’s out of the reach of the public schools budget,” Hunter said. “We’re just asking to be brought to the same level of wages and benefits as the cleaners in City Hall.
Hundreds Protest Four-Year Wage Freeze, Health Insurance Loss at Bronx Co-op
New York City – Concourse Village workers, tenants and hundreds of their supporters rallied outside the apartment complex this afternoon to protest the co-op board’s proposed four-year wage freeze for their maintenance staff. Though the contract expired in 2011, workers and their union, 32BJ SEIU, have bargained in good faith with the co-op board for the […]
32BJ SEIU Celebrates Historic Senate Vote in Favor of Path to Citizenship
New York, NY—32BJ SEIU and other leading immigrant advocates have been fighting for a path to citizenship for 11 million aspiring Americans for years, and now is finally the time to pass a law that fixes our country’s broken immigration system once and for all. This bill is not what we would have crafted. The […]
Almost Half Of Buildings Required To Pay Prevailing Wage In City Tax Exemption Program Aren’t Complying With The Law
NEW YORK—Hundreds of service workers at apartment buildings across the city protested at three sites in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens today, because they said employers were stiffing them out of wages and benefits mandated by a law granting luxury buildings tax exemptions. Close to half of the buildings that are receiving tax exemptions through the […]
Dozens of Concourse Village Workers Protest 4-Year Wage Freeze Proposal
New York – Dozens of porters and handypersons working for Concourse Village residents in the Bronx and their supporters rallied Thursday afternoon to call for a fair contract. Workers and their union, 32BJ SEIU, have bargained in good faith with the apartment complex’s co-op board since the contract expired in 2011 to no avail. Though willing […]
Airport Workers And Community Protest New JFK Billion Dollar Terminal For Lack Of Good Jobs
NEW YORK, NY—Airlines and terminal operators including JFK International Air Terminal, which owns and operates Terminal 4, broke promises to create good jobs at the John F. Kennedy International Airport while getting nearly $3 billion for terminal expansions and improvements since 2002, airport service workers and Southeast Queens residents charged at a raucous JFK rally […]
Labor Leaders, Elected Officials, Blast Con Ed For Poor Treatment Of Low-Wage Guards And Cleaners
NEW YORK (MAY 20, 2013) — Labor leaders, workers and elected officials today slammed Con Edison for its shabby treatment of contracted security guards and cleaners at a press conference and rally outside the utility’s Union Square headquarters in Manhattan. “Con Ed has a long history of being a bad actor,” Kyle Bragg, secretary-treasurer of […]
Elected Officials, Workers, Residents, Clergy Call for Better Pay For Workers and Community Input on Planned JFK Expansion
QUEENS, N.Y. (May 16, 2013) – Elected officials, clergy and Southeast Queens residents tonight called for community input and fair treatment of sub-contracted workers as JFK Airport expands and Delta Airlines renovates a major terminal. “I read in the paper the other day that Delta Airlines is doing quite well these days, that it is […]