Labor Unrest in NYC — City Workers Need Raises, Not Roses

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The first week of June in New York City saw 7,000 day care workers and 23,000 home healthcare workers on strike, as well as a massive rally of teachers, firefighters, and cops at City Hall.

The day care workers have been without a contract for three years now; some earn as little as $6.50 per hour. Even Mayor Bloomberg admitted, “They are not well paid.”

At the end of the two-day strike, the union claimed victory because Bloomberg was drawn back into negotiations. However, the billionaire mayor has shown no signs of giving a good raise to these workers.

The home healthcare workers also went on strike that week, demanding a $10 hourly wage. Some employers conceded a paltry increase of 20 cents to bring wages to $7.20, with the promise that wages will go to $10 by 2007 – hardly a great victory.

On June 8, over 70,000 teachers, firefighters, and cops rallied in front of City Hall, the biggest NYC union rally in years. All three groups are working without a contract. The rally also came in response to the horrible contract accepted by another NYC public sector union group, AFSCME District Council 37.

This three-year contract includes a $1,000 bonus for the first year in lieu of a raise and paltry raises for the next two years, with the final increase being paid for by cuts in pay and benefits for new hires. Bloomberg hailed the settlement as a model agreement for all unions in NYC, and has told the teachers union that all work rules will be scrapped.

Bloomberg claims that the city does not have the money to fund decent contracts for workers, even though there is a city budget surplus of over $1 billion. A New York Jets/Olympic stadium proposal for the West Side of Manhattan is being given $600 million. So, there is enough money for handouts to rich developers, but not enough for our teachers, day care workers, and firefighters. Even if there was no budget surplus, a progressive tax on Wall Street could help fund higher wages and social programs.

New York’s Taylor Law makes it illegal for public sector workers to go on strike. However, the city cannot fine and fire hundreds of thousands of workers if they act together. If all public sector workers went on strike for one day to demonstrate their anger and power, this would be a major step toward breaking this anti-union law and winning real gains in pay and working conditions.

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