New York, NY

Budget Provides Retiree Health Benefit Cushion; Unions Resist Mayor’s Push for Pension Cost Relief By REUVEN BLAU      Mayor Bloomberg Jan. 31 announced that a large portion of the city’s $3.3 billion surplus this year will be used “as a down payment” to cover future health care costs for retired municipal workers. More ... Hope to Revise Deal: TWU Board Votes To Return to Table By GINGER ADAMS OTIS      Transport Workers’ Union Local 100 executive board members voted overwhelmingly Jan. 31 to return to the bargaining table with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority as the next step in the union’s ongoing effort to get a contract. This was the first executive board meeting held since members vot More ... No ‘Stretch’ for Incumbents: Revised DEA Pact Clears a Hurdle By REUVEN BLAU      The Detectives’ Endowment Association has reached a new extended tentative agreement with the Bloomberg administration that further cuts benefits for newly promoted officers to finance various sweeteners for incumbent Detectives following the membership’s rejection of a contract in December. More ... Forest Service Unions Try To Stop Privatizing; Say Bush is ‘Wasting Public’s Money’ Over Ideology By GINGER ADAMS OTIS      Rangers and other Forest Service employees working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture are heading to Congress this week in an attempt to stymie an ongoing privatization push by the Bush Administration. More ... Faces Life Behind Bars: Convict Detectives’ Murderer By REUVEN BLAU      A Brooklyn jury Feb. 2 convicted Marlon Legere of first-degree murder for killing two veteran police detectives who were responding to a domestic violence call outside his mother’s home in East Flatbush. More ... UFOA Protests Using Chiefs In EMS Capacity By GINGER ADAMS OTIS      The Uniformed Fire Officers’ Association has filed an improper practice charge with the Office of Collective Bargaining, claiming that the Fire Department violated its members’ rights by assigning them some supervisory tasks normally done by Emergency Medical Service officers. More ... ACS Admits Failures: ‘Missed Chances’ In Abused Girl’s Death By HOWARD MEGDAL      Administration for Children’s Services Commissioner John B. Mattingly cited “two — at least two” instances in which failures by ACS caseworkers cost 7-yearold Nixzmary Brown her life, including a scrapped plan to visit Nixzmary’s home the night she died, during a Jan. 30 City Council hearing. More ... Lie Caused Arrest: Transit Must Pay $12G for Bad Rap By GINGER ADAMS OTIS      New York City Transit has been ordered to pay a former Traffic Checker $12,000 in damages after a jury decreed that one of the agency’s managers maliciously and intentionally gave police false information that led to the worker’s arrest for a crime he did not commit. More ... Mourn Officer Who Died In Making Arrest By REUVEN BLAU      Hundreds of friends, family members and colleagues gathered last week in Brooklyn to pay their last respects to Police Officer Kevin Lee, who collapsed and died Jan 27 during a struggle while arresting a teenager suspected of stealing a laptop computer. More ... Top Correction Chief Davoren Wraps Career By REUVEN BLAU      After 35 years of service, Correction Chief of Department Robert N. Davoren announced his retirement last week. More ... Sold Out to Firm: Ex-Fire Big a ‘Company Man’ By GINGER ADAMS OTIS      A top Fire Department official was forced to step down after receiving numerous free trips and other benefits from a health and technology firm looking to win a multi-million dollar contract with the FDNY, according to a Feb. 1 Department of Investigation report. More ... Auditor: No Problem: Guild Dissident Hits Accounting Delay By HOWARD MEGDAL and RICHARD STEIER      The auditor who played a key role in uncovering the theft of $2.4 million from the Civil Service Technical Guild last week is being criticized by a union dissident for failing to furnish forensic audits for the past three years. More ... Delay Security System: MTA: Video Watch Isn’t Synchronized By GINGER ADAMS OTIS      The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s multi-million-dollar high-tech surveillance system won’t be coming to a subway near you anytime soon. More ... Back From Military Stint: Iraq Opens AP’s Eyes on Education By HOWARD MEGDAL      Asst. Principal Charles Hernandez of Intermediate School 166 in The Bronx will return to his position shortly after an 11-month stint in Iraq. His military service only deepened his appreciation for the importance of education, he said in a Feb. 2 interview. More ... Includes 12-Percent Raise: City, State Hold Up Proposed PSC Deal By HOWARD MEGDAL      A frustrated Professional Staff Congress President Barbara Bowen went public late last month about a tentative contract with the City University of New York granting her members 12-percent pay raises, implying that state and city officials have dragged their heels since November on signing off. More ... Probation Union Gets 3.25% Hike In 1-Year Deal By REUVEN BLAU      The United Probation Officers’ Association and the Bloomberg administration have agreed to a tentative wage contract providing a 3.25 percent raise for slightly more than a year. More ... Jail Captain Is Charged With Sexual Assault By REUVEN BLAU      A newly appointed Correction Captain was arrested Jan. 31 and charged with sexually abusing eight juvenile inmates, the Department of Investigation said. More ... Elevate Prezant To Top Medical Post in FDNY By GINGER ADAMS OTIS      Dr. David Prezant became the Fire Department’s Chief Medical Officer Feb. 6. He was promoted from his former position as Deputy Medical Director for the FDNY Bureau of Health Services. Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta, in making the announcement, praised Dr. Prezant for his 20 years of service i More ... FOR THE RECORD      While union officials were pleased that Mayor Bloomberg’s budget proposal sets aside $2 billion toward the payment of retiree health benefits, a couple of them also suggested the long-term solution lies in the provision of national health insurance. More ... Please click here for our Copyright Notice.