Buried in is an incredible set of special concessions to unionized school teachers in New York. None of these changes were contained in Governor Paterson's original "pension reform" proposal, . The worst of the giveaways to teachers in the final Read More
Governor Paterson today that New York State faces "an unprecedented financial emergency," and asked the Legislature to choose between passing his deficit-reduction plan or granting him a new "executive option" to cut the budget unilaterally. But t Read More
Some awful ideas just keep turning up. Take, for example, the old state and city stock transfer tax. The last vestiges of the tax were effectively phased out in 1981, although technically survives due to a weird tax law quirk whose repeal has b Read More
in today's New York Post explains why—and how—the Paterson administration should declare a fiscal emergency and seek to impose a three-year freeze on all state and local employee salaries in New York. This would save taxpayers statewid Read More
Democratic mayoral challenger Bill Thompson said something good yesterday: "Can you afford 4 percent [raises for teachers] in the current environment? Probably not," he . Thompson's right. The education payroll, not including benefits, is alread Read More
, Nicole spotlights the troubling implications of the hot-and-heavy political love affair between City Comptroller (and would-be mayor) William Thompson and Local 100 of the Transit Workers Union (TWU). Her bottom line: New Yorkers ne Read More
The Transport Workers Union (TWU) local 100, which represents most Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) union workers in the city, has launched a "no contract, no peace" effort to push the MTA into dropping its lawsuit against the state's re Read More
As France-based Veolia Transportation under an initial five-year contract, New Orleans's transit workers will be growing accustomed to a private-sector-style pension scheme, too. Read More