‘We will remember in November’: Labor unions
fume over NYC plans to cut 22,000 municipal jobs
BY MARK HALLUM
With Mayor Bill de Blasio
threatening to lay
off 22,000 municipal
workers amid the city’s ongoing
budget crisis, labor unions are
shaking their fi sts at City Hall
– and the federal government
— warning that they will take
their complaints to the polls on
Election Day.
Several hundred workers and
labor leaders scorned the de
Blasio administration on Sept. 3
for recognizing the sacrifi ces of
EMTs, parol offi cers, Department
of Corrections staff and more at
the time when COVID-19 had the
city at a standstill back in March
and April — but then announcing
this week that job cuts were
needed to balance the budget.
Henry Garrido, the Executive
Director of District Council 37
and also the largest municipal
union in the city, explained at a
Thursday rally in Foley Square
how members continued work
in the pandemic often without
personal protective equipment;
as a result, 151 of their 125,000
members died.
“Thousands of city workers
got sick, thousands of them are
still sick and they were called
heroes… and how do they get
rewarded? with 22,000 layoffs.
Pink slips,” Garrido said. “The
federal government has failed to
do its job to fund the front lines,
we will remember in November…
We know the city’s in fi nancial
trouble, nobody’s denying that,
but a budget is a matter of priorities.
If you care for workers,
you make sure they’re properly
PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
funded.”
According to Garrido, DC37
had proposed a retirement incentive
program reckoned to save
the city up to $1 billion and is
lobbying Albany legislators to
approve Mayor de Blasio’s request
to borrow money to close the budget
gap about $5 billion. But the
union only wants credit to be used
on keeping workers employed.
City Comptroller Scott Stringer
– who is also mulling a 2021
run for mayor – said that the de
Blasio administration had incorrect
fi gures in determining that
22,000 layoffs were necessary.
He opposed the layoffs which he
said impact people of color, low
income, women with kids. He
would like the city to continue the
so-far fruitless pursuit of federal
funds despite the last stimulus
being the CARES Act in the
beginning of April.
“I watch the money for the city
and I can tell you the numbers
are wrong,” Stringer said at the
podium.
Then, Brooklyn Borough President
Eric Adams took to the mic.
“We’re in the fi ght of our lives,”
Adams said. “We are going to
fi ght to ensure all the essential
employees get all the essential
things they need just like the city
could get what they needed from
those of us who were essential.”
Stringer wants more students cycling to school
in new proposal for Department of Education
BY MARK HALLUM
To encourage more children to bike
to school, and build on the bicycling
boom in New York City, Comptroller
Scott Stringer is asking the Department
of Education to adopt a program with
CitiBike as in-person classes are expected
to resume on a part-time basis beginning
Sept. 21.
Stringer cited data gathered between
2009 and 2015 that showed the number
of kids pedaling to and from home dropped
from 23% to 18% and as the DOE considers
how to get students to and from safely
considering COVID-19 and reduced capacity
on buses.
The city comptroller’s proposal includes
the implementation of a half mile of bike
lanes around 50 schools in the city within
the next year and that the DOE provides
free bicycles or Citi Bike memberships to every
low-income public high school student.
“Reimagining our streets is not a job
we can postpone until after the pandemic.
Congestion is soaring, bus speeds are falling,
and New Yorkers are concerned for the
quality of life in their neighborhoods. We
should rethink our transportation strategy
and encourage sustainable alternatives both
now and in the years ahead,” said Stringer.
According to the comptroller the ability
of students to get to class may be increasingly
limited, not just because of limited
school bus service, but due to expected
changes in service from New York City
Transit buses and subways.
With the MTA facing a diabolical fi nancial
situation due to decimated ridership
numbers from the pandemic, transit leaders
PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
have said in recent weeks the service cuts
may be as drastic as 40% and fares could
be raised by a dollar.
“Building out bike lanes around New
York City high schools and providing bikes
to lower-income students would open the
door to biking for hundreds of thousands
of young people,” Stringer continued.
“By taking this action, we can allow New
York City’s youth to get around their city,
improve health and educational outcomes,
and connect with their communities. We
have a unique opportunity to make biking
easier, safer, and more accessible and fundamentally
shift how the next generation
thinks about getting around our city.”
In July, CarGurus.com reported that
of 779 shoppers surveyed 22% had not
considered doing so before the epidemic
and 33% expect to use cars more often
going forward. Up to 44% of shoppers
nationwide said they planned to avoid mass
transit entirely. Stringer hopes his bike-toschool
plan will prevent congestion and
greenhouse gases.
The DOE says its proceeding with busing
plans as a priority for the start of the
school year.
“We’re working to fi nalize safe transportation
plans by the fi rst day of school, and
we gave bus companies their route assignments
this week,” said Danielle Filson, a
spokeswoman for the DOE. “Busing is a
top priority to have in place by the fi rst
day, and we’ll be providing families with
their student specifi c bus information soon.
All transportation will have the necessary
health and safety protocols in place and students
with IEPs will be prioritized. We’re
in conversations with companies and the
process continues to move – we hope to
fi nalize contracts in the coming days.”
Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech contributed
to this report.
10 Sept. 10, 2020 Schneps Media
/CarGurus.com
