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Bosses’ avarice kindled Triangle Factory fire

"Give us 18 minutes. We'll give you the end of your lives"If the owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory had a podcast back in 1911, that might have been their bumper intro. They could have sold …

Bomb train disasters are the symptom of elite rule

The horrific Norfolk Southern train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, last month is just the latest of a long line of recent train disasters. The chemical fireball poisoned the city and sickened …

Bragging rights

Around 20 years ago, when a public school principalship first became an entry-level position under New York City's then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg, I recall being present at the time clock and …

Dioxin seltzer

"Double double, toil and trouble. Fire burn and cauldron bubble.” East Palestine, Ohio, site of the toxic hell triggered by the train derailment and human malfeasance, is channeling Shakespeare's …

Workers lose, creditors win in Ukraine war

No matter how or when the horrific war in Ukraine ends, one thing is certain: the working class will lose. Before 2022, foreign creditors and Ukrainian elites were already attempting to gut labor …

The long arm of the law or its stump?

What is the fair market value of the Constitution? Nothing, if it can be bent, folded, stretched or otherwise re-invented to accommodate the designs of powerful people and institutions. Unless …

Adams not yet a statesman

It seems that every weekend is another occasion for shootings, stabbings, a person pushed down a flight of steps, another onto subway tracks. Mayor Eric Adams wants us to believe that statistics show …

Teleworking from the Bermuda Triangle

Is the value of workers' productivity greater in their employers' eyes if the labor was achieved while the workers were needlessly inconvenienced? Does it detract from workers' high standard of …

We are all gig workers

I have been a gig worker for almost two decades.You might be wondering how a professor could be a gig worker. After all, isn’t a gig worker someone who is employed through an app?Yes and no.Because …

Firing for just cause, not just because

The National Labor Relations Board recently expanded and strengthened the penalties on employers who illegally demote or terminate employees for their union activity. The trick is, of course, in the …

Avoiding death on the job

Labor unions are the main reason that deaths in workplaces have been reduced. They are the reason that safety precautions exist and are enforced at all, though far from universally. Every workplace …

The return of the fighting union

If you are wondering what kind of union you belong to, longtime labor lawyer Joe Burns has some pointers in his new book, “Class Struggle Unionism.”You may be in what he calls a business union if …

Teachers and high-stakes heroism

After trying to wrest a gun and deflecting the bullet trajectory away from her classroom of kids, a kindergarten teacher in Virginia was shot in the chest and nearly killed two weeks ago. Her first …

It’s time to fight management rights

Has management claimed the right to make decisions about staffing and scheduling, what and how to produce, and other issues without input from the union? Did your union tell you it is powerless to …

Among Dems, dividers aplenty

Looking at the two major parties, I wonder if the Republicans’ function is to be so horrible that they make awful Democrats look good. This serves the purpose of America's multi-billionaire class, …

A federal receiver in disguise

A year ago, Louis Molina came to the New York City Department of Correction as the commissioner and friend of the correction unions. In published letters to The Chief, I celebrated Molina’s …

Building Carlos' Law

Remember that historic photo, one of the most popular postcard keepsakes for tourists, of the laborers snacking on a narrow girder suspended high in the air, seemingly above the clouds, during the …

We are working class

Try as you might, it is nearly impossible to hear a politician of either major party talk about the working class. They all seem to prefer the term “middle class.” While Democrats are especially …

Deli man becomes House speaker

After 15 ballots and near fisticuffs on the floor of the House, Deli Man Kevin McCarthy won the Speakership. His “win,” such as it was, didn’t come without cost or consequence for his party or …

Is Adams’ Medicare Advantage ploy ‘a game of chicken?’

About midway through Monday’s City Council hearing on Mayor Eric Adams’s demand that a Medicare Advantage plan become the only no-premium healthcare option for municipal retirees, Council Member …

‘Which side are you on?’

Dear Council Speaker Adrienne Adams,In recent emails with your office I was told that you were looking forward to listening to the debate about whether or not to amend Administrative Code 12-126, …

Pay up!

Which is easier to figure out: the reason that pigeons are incapable of walking without bobbing their heads, or ingenious and devious ways that employers will devise to circumvent and weasel out of …

Bomb cyclone

The New York State legislature, in order to demonstrate to the commonplace citizenry that despite being special, they too are ordinary people equipped with the routine human vices of greed, envy and …

New Year’s wishes for the workers movement

One of the nice things about being born on January 8th, besides sharing the day with David Bowie and Elvis, is that I get to celebrate several holidays at this time of year.

Democratizing our unions

Although my union proudly calls itself a “member led union,” it is extremely undemocratic in several ways.We do not have “one member, one vote” for the leadership. This means a new caucus …

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