Media Links

July 6, 2011

  • Broken Subway Escalator Set for Repairs
    Source: Fox NY

    When riders get off E trains at the East 53rd Street and Lexington Avenue platform, they're packed like proverbial sardines in a can. MTA workers use flashlights to signal conductors so they do not close train doors on the many commuters, while others say they come perilously close to the edge.
  • Mayor Bloomberg... Walmart Spokesman?
    Source: NY Daily News blog
    Mayor Bloomberg is so bullish on Walmart coming to Brooklyn that he actually insisted on answering questions on the superstore’s behalf during a press conference today. Our Erin Einhorn reports: The presser was held to announce Walmart’s $4 million contribution to the city’s summer youth ...

July 5, 2011

  • Donohue: Transit workers in danger
    Source: NY Daily News
    Here's a question for the six-figure MTA executives when they try to sell the notion that transit workers should get a series of zeros when their contract is up for negotiation later this year: When was the last time someone tried to burn down your office when you were in it?
  • Steven Greenhouse: The Wageless, Profitable Recovery
    Source: NY Times
    Source: NYTimes
  • $4 fee turns ferry into ghost ship
    Source:
    They've abandoned ship! Business sank like the Titanic on the new East River ferry service last week once passengers had to start paying. "When it was free, it was packed," said student nurse Jamie Fried, 28, of Greenpoint, Brooklyn. "There's definitely a big difference since you have to...
  • The 23 Percent Pay Hike! America Is Back! Not.
    Source: Working Life blog

        Silly you. Bet you were confused, thinking that that extra money was hidden in your paycheck, a gift from those companies sitting on a trillion dollars in cash. C'mon, this is the United States of America where the only people who deserve more money are those that have plenty already: The CEOs of the country, many of whom helped cause the financial crisis that bankrupted millions of Americans.

    Life continues to be good for CEOs:

    Brace yourself.

    The final figures show that the median pay for top executives at 200 big companies last year was $10.8 million. That works out to a 23 percent gain from 2009. The earlier study had put the median pay at a none-too-shabby $9.6 million, up 12 percent.

    Total C.E.O. pay hasn’t quite returned to its heady, prerecession levels — but it certainly seems headed there. Despite the soft economy, weak home prices and persistently high unemployment, some top executives are already making more than they were before the economy soured.[emphasis added]

    ...split...

    They just don't live like you:

    In some ways, chief executives seem to live in a world apart when it comes to pay. As long as shareholders think that the top brass is doing a good job, executives tend to be well paid, whatever the state of the broader economy. And some corporate boards were probably particularly generous in 2010 after a few relatively lean years for their top executives. In other words, some of this was makeup pay.
    ....
    According to a report released by GovernanceMetrics in June, the good times for chief executives just keep getting better. Many executives received stock options that were granted in 2008 and 2009, when the stock market was sinking.

    Now that the market has recovered from its lows of the financial crisis, many executives are sitting on windfall profits, at least on paper. In addition, cash bonuses for the highest-paid C.E.O.’s are at three times prerecession levels, the report said.

        And for, you, the average schlub:

    The average American worker was taking home $752 a week in late 2010, up a mere 0.5 percent from a year earlier. After inflation, workers were actually making less.[emphasis added]

        None of this is a surprise.

       The richest are taking a bigger slice of the wealth all over the planet.

        Profits at the Fortune 500 registered the third largest gain in history.

       “There has been a massive wealth transfer from middle-class America’s retirement accounts to the bank accounts of the privileged few".

        The Audacity of Greed is running rampant.
  • As workers protest, Minnesota government shuts down
    Source: MN Independent
    Source: The Minnesota Independent
  • President Hansen's letter to the Editor on how GOP is Playing Games with U.S. Economy
    Source: Washington Post
    Source: UFCW / Wash Post

July 1, 2011

  • City 'disciplinarian' disciplined
    Source: NY Post
    She can't say she didn't know the rules. The director of the disciplinary unit at the city's housing agency has been disciplined herself for misusing government vehicles.
  • NJ Transit 'Early Getaway' Service
    Source: NJ Transit
    New Jersey Transit is adding early afternoon trains and buses for northern New Jersey commuters planning an early getaway for the July 4th holiday weekend.
  • WFP Looks to Pressure Cuomo on Hydrofracking Ban
    Source: Gotham Gazette
    The Working Families Party is urging its members to sign a petition demanding Gov. Andrew Cuomo to oppose a lifting of the moratorium of hydrofracking in New York.
  • ArtsBeat: City Opera Players Provide Their Own Accompaniment at Labor Protest
    Source: NY Times
    New York City Opera musicians protest to keep the financially troubled orchestra from moving from its Lincoln Center home.
  • Push to Repeal Ohio Law on Public Workers Gains Ground - NYTimes.com
    Source: NY Times
    A coalition of public and private sector workers has collected 714,137 signatures to place the issue on the ballot.
  • Gov. Cuomo Closing Prisons To Save State Funds
    Source: CBS New York
    Cuomo's office says they will close in 60 days, eliminating approximately 3,800 unused prison beds and saving the state $72 million this year and $112 million next year. Remaining inmates will be transferred.
  • No Strike For NYC Crane Operators Friday
    Source: CBS New York
    Louis Coletti of the Building Trade Employers Association says two unions representing crane operators, excavators and maintenance engineers agreed on a new contract less than two hours before their contracts expired.
  • LIRR jobs saved under new deal with unions
    Source: YourNabe.com
    The Long Island Rail Road says it has avoided a shutdown of nearly a score of ticket windows, including Flushing-Main Street, and layoffs of two cleaning crews as a result of a short-term agreement with one of its unions.
  • A Good Year in Albany, IF Governor Cuomo Signs
    Source: Mobilizing the Region / Tri-State Transportation Campaign
    Legislatively, it was a surprisingly good year in Albany for sustainable transportation and smart growth issues. Six good bills successfully navigated the Legislature’s gauntlet, one bad bill was killed, and now, real success for the season lies in the Governor’s pen.
  • Boeing Dispute Becomes Political Football in South Carolina
    Source: NY Times
    The challenge to a new Boeing plant in South Carolina by a union in Seattle has turned into a political firefight between the foes and partisans of organized labor.
  • Feds shutter bus company in fatal Pa. crash
    Source: AP
    Federal transportation officials Thursday shut down a bus company involved in a fatal crash on the Pennsylvania Turnpike after finding the two drivers involved never took required drug tests and falsified records.
  • Port Authority authorizes $3.7M engineering study around Port Street in Newark | NJ.com
    Source: NJ.com
    Paving the way for a 50 percent increase in container traffic over the coming decade, port officials are planning a quarter-billion dollars in improvements to ease truck congestion on port roads at the Port Newark/Elizabeth Marine Terminal container complex.

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