672 School Lay Offs

Bloomberg Lays Off 672 School Employees in Largest Firing in Three Terms

The school employees, who were laid off today by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, had worked as school aides, parent coordinators, family workers, and other support positions at roughly 350 schools, The New York Times reported.

The union representing the workers, District Council 37, had ''made three proposals to the city that included giving up paid holidays and reducing the maximum number of hours school aides were allowed to work as ways to save money,'' The NYTimes reported. Mayor Bloomberg rejected each of the union's proposals.

Mayor Bloomberg is on a rampage to bust all of the municipal workers' unions before his third term is up.

Bloomberg Discrimination Update

City Workers’ Discrimination Lawsuits Rise under Bloombo Dicto's Thr33 T3rms, Reports NYT

From The New York Times :

"The number of discrimination cases filed by city employees in New York has risen even as Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has adopted a far less adversarial tone than his predecessor did in dealing with the city’s vast work force.

"During Mr. Bloomberg’s first two terms in office, the number of lawsuits by employees accusing the city of discrimination was 12 percent higher than the number during Rudolph W. Giuliani’s two terms as mayor, according to government data furnished under Freedom of Information Law requests. ...

"Workplace discrimination has been an awkward issue for Mr. Bloomberg. The financial services firm he founded and led, Bloomberg L.P., has been battling a long-running lawsuit contending that Mr. Bloomberg and top managers created a hostile workplace for pregnant employees. Mr. Bloomberg testified for about eight hours over two days in 2009; the case is expected to go to trial next year," reported The Times.

Improbable As It May Seem, Mayor Bloomberg Dares to Call Albany Budget Cuts An ''Outrage''

Readers' Comments : Bloomberg Calls State Budget Deal an 'Outrage'

''The mayor said the proposed budget was likely to require the city to make another round of cuts,'' reported The New York Times. Remember, this is the same mayor, who has, among other things, been trying to close firehouses, shut down senior citizen centers, cut childcare, layoff teachers, pretend like votes don't go missing, build luxury condos on the hallowed ground of St. Vincent's Hospital, make money from government information, and end Progressive Era reforms. Here's the best of readers' comments :

52.

Bob

Tribeca

March 28th, 2011

4:26 pm

hey Bloomberg, now you know what it feels like to feel outraged, and that's how we feel about you getting a third term, trying to bust our unions, and giving NYC away to your rich developer friends! attention all new yorkers, keep booing the mayor at all his public functions, you're doing a great job and it will prevent him from ever holding public office again! boo Bloomberg!

(Hyperlink added.)

Mayor Bloomberg Was Booed At The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Ceremony ; Media Coverage Insults Memory of the Dead

27 March 2011 Updated! No major New York City newspaper has reported that Mayor Bloomberg was booed at the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire 100th anniversary ceremony.

NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg was booed at the 100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire ceremonies today.

NEW YORK - At a ceremony commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was loudly booed by labor activists and union supporters, the wire service Agence France-Presse reported.

Mayor Bloomberg had been delivering a speech about fire safety and the importance of labor protections when activists began to boo the unpopular mayor. The ceremony took place in Greenwich Village, outside the building where the fire broke out on March 25, 1911. The building is now owned by New York University.

Since he changed the term limits laws to run for a previously impossible third term as mayor, Mr. Bloomberg, a billionaire, has been on a scorched-earth campaign to shut down firehouses all across New York City. Critics allege that the closing down of firehouses and the layoffs of firefighters would put the city at risk should a large fire take place.

Today's ceremony was marking the deaths of 146 people at the Triangle Waist Company ; the outrage following the fire and deaths resulted in reforms in labor laws in New York and around the nation. For weeks before the memorial ceremony, many newspapers and even some cable news channels, such as NY1, had been paying tribute to the ''far-reaching impact on workplace safety, the labor movement and the New York political scene'' that came about as a result of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire. To not report how community activists booed the New York mayor over his scorched-earth campaign to close down firehouses, attack city unions, and do nothing to prevent hospital closings reveals that the media tributes were not only superficial, but, at the end of the day, the total media coverage has been an insult on the sacrifice made by the 146 people, who died in 1911.

Without A Proxy, The Rudin Family Is Harvesting St. Vincent's Remains

Rudin Interview on New York Real Estate Harvesting From Bankrupt Hospitals.

William Rudin, chief executive officer at Rudin Management Co., talks about New York City's real estate and the outlook for commercial property, including the millions the family stands to make from the carcass picking of the real estate property of St. Vincent's Hospital. Watch at 5:40.

To add insult to injury, naturally this interview was broadcast on Bloomberg Opinion, in keeping with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's worldview of starving the beast until it dies in the back of an ambulance, stuck in crosstown traffic.