FOR THE RECORD

FOR THE RECORD

In delivering a fusillade against Transport Workers' Union Local 100 on the first day of the transit strike last week, Mayor Bloomberg used tributes to other municipal unions as a way of isolating Local 100 from the labor mainstream. He contended that the union and its president, Roger Toussaint, "have shamefully decided they don't care about the people they work for and that they have no respect for the law."

"I have butted heads with the PBA, the UFT, the UFA, and the Sanitation and Corrections unions - strong unions that form the backbone of our municipal workforce, keeping our city streets safe and clean, putting out fires and educating our children," the Mayor told a large media assemblage in the City Hall Blue Room. "But for all the acrimony, they never walked out on the job, walked out on New York, and hurt the people they work for." In running down that list of "strong unions" that understood boundaries, Mr. Bloomberg inadvertently - we think - slighted one of his primary labor backers, District Council 37. Unless, of course, he wanted people to draw the inference that the city's largest municipal union was a cheap date that had never given him occasion to "butt heads."

One particular concern of the Mayor's had the strike continued past New Year's Day would have been the lagging attendance in the city's high schools.

On the first day of the walkout, only 31 percent of high school students were in attendance, and Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein seemed just a bit more cheerful than was warranted when he reported the following day that the turnout had grown to 41 percent. After all, despite the gains in student achievement in the lower grades during the past year, the high schools still remain a distinct weak link in the system.

The low turnout rate had less to do with teenagers looking for an early start to the Christmas/Chanukah recess than the lack of transportation for the sizable percentage of them who travel significant distances to school. One 11th grader we know, when informed on the evening of the first day of the strike that he would be driven to his school at the other end of Queens the following day, responded, "How am I getting home?" That retort carried the day when weighed against the available option - a railroad shuttle to Jamaica that would still leave him nearly 100 blocks from his house.

Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Klein acknowledged the problem, but also said there was nothing the city could do to rectify it.

"There's no viable option to provide private bus service to students," the Chancellor said.

A Firefighter who was seriously injured while riding his bike to work Dec. 22 was in critical condition at a local hospital as this newspaper went to press the following day.

Firefighter Matthew Long of Ladder 43 was struck by a bus at East 52nd St. and Third Ave. in Manhattan at approximately 5:50 a.m. while traveling by bike. He was headed to a firehouse to start his morning shift.

Firefighter Long, a 12-year veteran of the FDNY, suffered multiple fractures and serious internal injuries as a result of the accident. He was transported to Weill Cornell Medical center, where he underwent surgery. When District Council 37's Health and Security plan refused to cover Thomas Albino's hybrid dental procedure, the retired Parks supervisor took his case to a Small Claims Court.

An arbitrator there ruled this past summer that Mr. Albino was entitled to the $150 reimbursement, agreeing that the dentist-recommended treatment was included under the plan.

But the court decision has only spurred on Mr. Albino, who is working to establish a watchdog committee to help those filing complaints against the health plan. "What happened to me can happen to others," he asserted. "I went through hell, I wrote letters and it took a long deal of time."

He continued, "But obviously I was right, and I want to prevent further occurrences." Individuals who have had similar problems or who want to join the group should call 718-259-3750.