FOR THE RECORD

Marty Fishgold, the always outspoken (some would say curmudgeonly) editor of the newsletter of Social Service Employees Union Local 371 of District Council 37, last week accused the AFL-CIO of hypocrisy for honoring a journalists' group while condoning censorship in union publications.

He took exception to the AFL-CIO presenting its 2006 George Meany-Lane Kirkland Human Rights Award to the International Federation of Journalists "in recognition of its members' unfailing courage and selflessness in pursuit of truth on behalf of media workers around the world."

Mr. Fishgold, a former president of the International Labor Communications Association, said, "The AFL-CIO should get its own house in order before it bestows human rights awards for journalism ethics on others."

He asserted, "The presentation of this award by an organization that never printed a critical letter in its magazine, America@Work, that suppressed information about its own finances, about union corruption and about the war in Iraq, that never stood up for media democracy in its own member unions, that fired communications department staff for distributing information unfavorable to its leadership, is an exercise in hypocrisy of the worst order and is an insult to those thousands of journalists who have been imprisoned, tortured, or killed for communicating the truth."

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Despite police recruiting problems that led his Police Commissioner to question his bargaining policies, Mayor Bloomberg continues to enjoy a high approval rating among city residents, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released May 23.

Among the 1,108 registered voters surveyed between May 15 and May 21, 74 percent gave the thumbs-up to Mr. Bloomberg's performance in office, and 22 percent of them said they would like to see him run for re-election in 2009, even though he is barred from doing so by the city's Term Limits Law.

Ironically, 60 percent of those surveyed said they would support the Mayor for Governor - a job that he does not seem interested in pursuing - but only 37 percent were reasonably certain they would choose him for President, a job that seems to have at least piqued his curiosity.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly got a 58 percent approval rating, showing that he continues to rebound from a slide in popularity that followed the fatal shooting six months ago of Sean Bell by police outside a Queens nightclub. He had been as low as 52 percent early this year, with the shooting - for which three cops are awaiting trial - the main reason.

While Mr. Kelly has ruled out the possibility of running for Mayor in two years, he did better in the voter survey than two officials who have indicated they will seek the office: City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who got a positive rating from 47 percent of those surveyed, and City Comptroller Bill Thompson, who was one point below her.

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The percentage of unionized workers in New York and New Jersey dropped again last year, continuing a 15-year trend, although the two states are among the most organized in the nation.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, last year 1,981,000, or 24.4 percent of the wage-and-salary workers in New York, were union members, down from 26.1 percent in 2005; in New Jersey the drop was from 20.5 percent two years ago to 20.1 percent.

Nationally, union membership was recorded at just 12 percent, compared to 20.1 percent in 1983, the first year the BLS did the survey.

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Vicki Flaris, a Chemistry Professor at Bronx Community College, has been elected president of the Society for Plastics Engineers, a global organization with 20,000 members from more than 70 countries. She has taught for the past 3-1/2 years at BCC and is currently focusing on environmentally friendly membranes. While working in private industry, she helped develop the first polypropylene-based bumper, as well as the X-Box.