The unemployment rate in New York City jumped to 9.6 percent in July, up two-tenths of a percentage point since June, and the highest level in twelve years, even as the state figure fell slightly, to 8.6 percent from 8.7 percent, the state's Labor D Read More
Writing in today's Post, New York Building Congress head Richard Anderson Gov. Paterson against signing a bill that would change governance procedures at the state's public authorities. One main complaint, which Anderson calls a "fatal flaw Read More
Private employment has dropped nine times faster than state and local government employment in New York since last year, according to by the Albany-based Rockefeller Institute. But the national trend showed even more of a disparity between the priv Read More
Mayoral candidate Bill Thompson, currently the city comptroller, suggested privately to one of the city's powerhouse labor unions that the Taylor Law, which has governed public-sector labor relations in New York State for 42 years (with various amendments along the way), needs reform. Read More
The Post's E.J. Kessler has a good up today about the race for who will succeed mayoral candidate Bill Thompson as city comptroller. Kessler observes that of the four candidates, all City Council members, trying for the Democratic nominati Read More
The Paterson Administration is backing off on plans to (finally) start collecting taxes on cigarettes sold by American Indian retailers, the Buffalo News .  This will add $65 million in red ink to The decision drew immediate Read More
S&P has a new report out with some calculations surrounding the MTA's forthcoming 2010-2014 capital plan, . The plan is $28 billion, 20 percent bigger than the program for 2005 through 2009. Of the $28 billion, $9.9 billion -- 35 percent -- Read More
Nicole has today on how last week's budget-busting arbitration award to transit workers has underscored the need for more openness in public-sector collective bargaining. If the MTA had had to release details of its generous offers in t Read More
Since last July, inflationprices (including food and energy) are down 2.1 percent for the nation, and 1.1 percent in New York, the BLS . If this rate keeps up for the rest of the year, the Trans Read More
As the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority launched negotiations with the Transport Workers Union last year for a new three-year labor agreement, one of the authority's biggest goals was to win the right to run "one-person trains" -- that Read More
And speaking of the MTA-TWU arbitration, Read More
Adjusting for inflation, the 11.3 percent pay hike awarded by an arbitration panel to Local 100 of the Transport Workers' Union (TWU) this week appears to be the transit workers' biggest score since the disastrously generous contract settlement that Read More