NYC Central Labor Council’s Response to Mayor Bloomberg’s State of the City

By John T. Ahern, President, NYCCLC
February 8, 2011

Reprint, January 21, 2011 – www.nycclc.org

In his remarks yesterday (1/19/2011) Mayor Bloomberg took up what has become a trendy political mantra – blame working Americans for the current state of economic affairs.  He essentially called for forced concessions as a prerequisite for new contracts.  We strongly object to this tactic.

In times of crisis New York’s unions have consistently stepped up to provide assistance.  In fact the city was saved from bankruptcy in the 1970’s because unions helped forge a robust recovery.

We look forward to working with the Mayor and the City Council to find constructive solutions to today’s problems.  We will not however stand back and allow our members, the hard working New Yorkers who are the backbone of this great city, to be scapegoated as the cause of those problems.