Rep. Ed Towns Addresses Hundreds of Brookdale Hospital Workers & Supporters at 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers Rally

On Friday June 10^th, Rep. Edolphus ‘Ed” Towns addressed Brookdale University Hospital workers (1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers),at a rally outside of the facility. The dispute between the union and Brookdale is over the failure of Brookdale Hospital management to make payments for health coverage. In a statement released last week the Congressman put his support behind the workers. “These workers entered into a good faith contract and it is the responsibility of the State Department of Health to see to it that every effort is made to resolve this dispute in favor of the workers and the community”, said Towns.

May Day Call For Working Class Unity In NYC: Unions-Immigrants To Combatby PeoplesVideo - YouTube

April 26, 2011 joint press conference on the steps of NYC City Hall joined the May 1st Coalition for Worker and Immigrant Rights with the Labor & Immigrant Rights & Jobs for All Coalition. The two coalitions announced plans to conduct a joint rally in Foley Square after the May 1st Coalition led march to the downtown site from Union Square. They announced intentions to combine forces in a post May Day battle against the forces of austerity and repression that have declared war on the whole working class.

New Yorkers to Wall Street on May 12: Make Big Banks & Millionaires Pay

COALITION PLANS WEEK OF ACTION TO STOP BLOOMBERG’S BUDGET CUTS WITH TAXES ON MILLIONAIRES AND ENDING GIVEAWAYS TO BIG BANKS

National Movement Connects the Dots to NYC, Demands Reform and Fair Share in Taxes from Financial Sector
A growing coalition of community, labor, and progressive groups announced today plans for a week of events starting May 9^th, calling for Mayor Michael Bloomberg to end taxpayer-financed giveaways to Wall Street and ask for fair-share taxes from millionaires to mitigate his proposed budget cuts. The week of action will culminate in a major mobilization in Lower Manhattan on Thursday, May 12.

The coalition, uniting under the banner “Make Big Banks and Millionaires Pay” will contrast the corporate welfare, property tax giveaways, and seemingly endless local and national tax cuts enjoyed by the financial sector with Bloomberg’s proposed cuts to childcare, classrooms, public safety, and dozens of other services working New Yorkers rely on.

“The big banks wrecked our economy and are back to making billions in profits and lavish bonuses, while the rest of us are still cleaning up the mess they created,” said Mary Brosnahan, the Executive Director of the Coalition for the Homeless. “Now Bloomberg has a choice: ask Wall Street bankers to contribute their fair share to fixing New York City, rather than enacting devastating cuts to working families.”

The organizers promise more than a typical “rally” on May 12^th, with a day of diverse, creative actions across the downtown financial district. Michael Mulgrew, President of the United Federation of Teachers, said: “On May 12, tens of thousands of New Yorkers will descend on Wall Street, creating a giant school without walls throughout the financial district. Together, we will educate our city and expose the people and institutions that are destroying our jobs and our economy, and the politicians who are letting them get away with it.”

The week of actions coincides with a growing national movement by communities increasingly questioning the practices of the financial industry and fighting back against attacks on working people. “We are connecting the dots from the big banks that crashed our economy, destroyed millions of jobs and foreclosed on millions of family homes to the human impact here in the financial capital of our country, ” said Michael Kink, Executive Director of Strong Economy for All Coalition.

As the week of action approaches, organizers plan to release new data detailing the tax breaks and giveaways New York City doles out to the banking industry, as well as the effect of Wall Street-caused foreclosures on New York’s communities and tax revenue. “When New Yorkers see the skewed choices this city has made, it is no longer an abstraction,” added Kink. “Homeless shelters are bursting at the seams, and child care and senior centers are closing down -- not because we have gone broke, but because Bloomberg has chosen to spend hundreds of millions in subsidies for the people who need it least.”

The following community groups and unions have joined the May 12 coalition (list in formation):

Center for Children Initiatives
Center for Working Families
Citizen Action of New York
Coalition for the Homeless
Community Voices Heard
Housing Works
Make the Road New York
New York Communities for Change
New Deal for New York Campaign
Organization for a Free Society
Picture the Homeless
United Students Against Sweatshops
Urban Youth Collaborative
VOCAL-NY
1199 SEIU
SEIU 32BJ
CWA 1104
CWA 1180
CWA District 1
Professional Staff Congress – CUNY
United Federation of Teachers

Learn more at www.Onmay12.org
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/OnMay12
On Twitter: http://twitter.com/onmay12

Working Family Party Celebrates Ferreras Victory in 21st City Council District...

The Working Families Party congratulated today the historic victory of Queens City Council candidate Julissa Ferreras in the Special Election for the 21st City Council district.

The grassroots party played a major role in the victory, lending its staff to run Ferreras' bid to become the first Latina elected official in Queens.

“Julissa Ferreras will be a force for New York’s working families in the City Council,” said a jubilant Jose Schiffino, member of the Queens Chapter of the Working Families Party. “We endorsed Ferreras because of her tireless work fighting for responsible development and better schools, and we’re proud to have helped put her over the top.”

Working Families Party staff ran the Ferreras effort, and organizer Ted Fertik served as the campaign manager. The WFP and its affiliates, including ACORN, the Hotel Trades Council, and SEIU locals 1199 and 32BJ, together knocked on over 20,000 doors to help put Ferreras across the finish line.

Julissa Ferreras said: “Without the Working Families Party, I never would have been able to get out my message of uniting our communities. This campaign was about fighting for all of us, and I was proud to have the WFP with me every step of the way.”

The Working Families Party has helped elect dozens of City Councilmembers, including Letitia James, who became the first victorious third party Council candidate in decades in 2003.

In 2008, the Working Families Party received over 210,000 combined votes across New York for its Congressional candidates.

Queens Senator Expects a Boost From McCain by Jonathan P. Hicks - City Room Blog - NYTimes.com

I could be wrong but I think that Obama will win SD-15 with approximately 60% of the vote...If I'm right, this is another example of Serf being out-of-touch with the district...

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It is one of the most hotly contested races on the ballot for the general election. Nonetheless, State Senator Serphin R. Maltese says that he is encouraged about his re-election prospects on Nov. 4, because he expects to benefit from the presence of John McCain at the top of the Republican ticket.

Mr. Maltese, a Republican who represents a moderate- to conservative-leaning district in Queens, said that his party’s presidential candidate is popular enough in the 15th State Senate District to provide coattails for candidates, like him, who are farther down on the ballot.

“I think that John McCain will run a very competitive race in my district,” Mr. Maltese said in an interview on Tuesday. “I expect he will get perhaps 50 percent of the vote in my district. That means I have more of a shot of getting not just the Republican votes, but the votes of other independent voters in my district.”

Two years ago, Mr. Maltese, who was first elected to the Senate in 1988, was challenged by Albert J. Baldeo, a lawyer who was not particularly well known in the district and who was not backed by the Democratic Party organization in Queens. That year, Mr. Baldeo came within 2 percentage points, about 900 votes, from defeating the longtime senator.

In this year’s race, Mr. Maltese’s Democratic challenger is City Councilman Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. Mr. Addabbo has the enthusiastic support of the Democratic organization in Queens and has a well known family name (his late father was a congressman from the borough). And the party — in Queens and in the state — has made Mr. Addabbo’s campaign a priority.

The district, where registered Democratic voters outpace Republicans, stretches from Howard Beach through Middle Village to Maspeth.

Apart from the help he expects to get from Senator McCain’s presence on the ballot. Mr. Maltese also points to his support from unions this year, saying that they will provide him with needed campaign volunteers. Just last week, he was endorsed by 1199 S.E.I.U., the large healthcare workers union.

“I’m especially pleased with that endorsement because they put their men and women where their mouth is,” Mr. Maltese said. “They have assets and men and women who are willing to come out and campaign door to door.”

But Mr. Addabbo said that he has his own list of unions supporting him and that the Democratic ticket will also draw many voters to his side of the ballot.

“We have a list of unions supporting my campaign, too,” Mr. Addabbo said. “And we’re proud to have so many labor unions with us. But in the end, it’s not who endorses you that counts as much as what the voters themselves do. And we’re out there talking to voters and I think they’ll do the right thing.”

New Player Enters Senate Fight by Irene Jay Liu - New York Politics Capitol Confidential - Albany Times Union

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32BJ SEIU, the largest private sector union in the state, and sister union to the powerful 1199 SEIU healthcare union, is thowing themselves into the fight for the Senate majority. And unlike their sister, they’re backing the Senate Democrats.

32BJ has committed upwards of $250,000 to the wider effort of helping the Democrats take control of the Senate. They’ve donated to individual campaigns, given money to the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, and are doing independent mail and television ads for select candidates, including Democrats Brian Foley on Long Island, “Baby Joe” Mesi in Buffalo, and Joseph Addabbo in Queens.

The photo above is from a mailer that 32BJ is sending out to households in the 3rd SD on behalf of Democratic challenger Brian Foley, who is challenging Republican Sen. Caesar Trunzo. They’ll be sending out five different mailers, not in coordination with the campaign. See two full mailers here and here.

In addition, they are enlisting their membership to help Addabbo against Maltese. In this race, they’ll be up against their sister union, 1199, which recently endorsed Maltese.

Also, the union is heavily supporting Mesi in Wester New York. They’ve purchased airtime and will run television ads for the last ten days of the race, starting next Friday.

This is the first time that 32BJ has really thrown itself into the Senate fight, and unlike most unions (which generally support incumbents), is thowing all its resources behind the Democrats.

The majority of 32BJ’s membership is in the New York Metro area, but they’re weighing in heavily in an upstate race, a “sign of things to come,” said 32BJ spokesman Matthew Nerzig.

The union represents building maintenance workers and deals mostly with private real estate companies - and have had less intereaction with state government compared with 1199. Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith is a businessman and has ties to the real estate industry.

32BJ is heavily invested in IDA reform and part of the reason they are working so hard in the Foley/ Trunzo race is because Trunzo “has not been very cooperative in helping our efforts to reform IDAs,” said Nerzig.