WPCNR COUNTY CLARION-LEDGER. From the Westchester County Board of Legislators. September 8, 2020:

The County Board Committee of the Whole will quiz Con Edison and New York Electric and Gas in a teleconference with the power executives appearing by zoom to respond to their alleged “inadequate” response to Tropical Storm Isis last spring.

Board Chairman Benjamin Boyin said, “After Storms Quinn and Riley in 2018, we were assured things would be better next time. But nothing has changed. When confronted with Isaias, the results were just as inadequate. From the over-reliance on mutual assistance, to inadequate in-house resources, the system remains broken. We want to hear that substantial changes are coming.”

The meeting is not open to the press or the public. You may see a stream live on www.westchesterlegislators.com . A link to the stream will go live when the meeting begins. Be patient.

Posted on August 31, 2019 by John Bailey

WPCNR NEWS AND COMMENT. By John F. Bailey. SEPTEMBER 7, 2020. Reprinted from the CitizeNetReporter Archives:

It is Labor Day 2020.

Look back at the history of the labor movement, workers have always had to fight and die to make progress.

Because management is not fair, equitable, or humane. They don’t care about you as a person. They use you up. Use you. And when you get hurt. Too bad. And now our feckless Supreme Court has taken away the class action suit.

Business and government “internships” today are a nice word for slavery without whips.

Labor Day first made its appearance when low wages and long hours were protested against in the mid-nineteenth century during the American Industrial Revolution.

Management works for themselves, always.

Oregon instituted the first Labor Day in the 1870s, and New York in the 1880s.

The National Labor Day Holiday came about because of national outrage over two violent strikes that were ended by armed intervention by the military and private detectives, the notorious “Pinkertons.”

Let’s go back to the 1890s and learn what Labor Day is all about. It’s not about a day off. It is a memorial day. It’s not about “good job.”

The gay 90s were not so gay if you were a worker.

They were a time when the so-called robber barons thought nothing of bringing out private security forces to shoot strikers. They  lowered wages with no mercy. It was all about them, their mansions, their fortunes, their tax-free profits. (No income tax before 1913, folks).

In the Homestead, Pennsylvania steel factory strike in 1892, Andrew Carnegie, the steel baron, wanted to lower wages to make the Homestead factory  more profitable. (Instead of pulling down statues, they should change the name of the Carnegie Institute. Mr. Carnegie was no saint.)

Steelworkers in Homestead Pennsylvania, made $10 a week, working 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, as much as  84 hours a week.

Carnegie’s Deputy  Chairman Henry Frick wanted to pay them less, and attempted to bring in non-union laborers to replace them.

Two thousand union workers barricaded the plant.

Frick hired Pinkerton Detectives to disperse them. On June 29, 1892, “Pinkertons” killed 7 union workers with gunfire, and injured “countless” others and three Pinkertons were killed.

The Governor called in the National Guard to restore order. The armed intervention broke the Amalgamated Association union.

After this, according to “Steelworkers in America” by David Brody, wages of steelworkers at Homestead declined 20% from 1892 to 1907 and workshifts went up from 8 hours to 12 hours (96 hours a week). 

What a great fellow, Carnegie. What a humanitarian! That’s your robber baron. He’d fit right in with today’s Wolves of Wall Street, and our national leadership wouldn’t he? He’d be in the Trump cabinet.

This union-killing in Pennysylvania was followed by the 1894 Pullman Strike in Pullman Illinois.

George M. Pullman, the creator of the sleeper car, housed his workers in Pullman City, Illinois, and charged them rent. 

In the depression of the early 1890s, in 1893 wages at the Pullman Palace Factory fell  25%, but Pullman did not lower his rents to his workers.

The rent, if not met, was deducted from worker pay.

Pullman was a garbage person.

A nice guy, George Pullman.  He could run a bank today, couldn’t he? He could run an airline and an airliner manufacturing company.

On May 11, 1894 workers with the American Railroad Union under the leadership of the great  Eugene V.  Debs, started a wildcat (unauthorized) strike in protest of Pullman’s policies.

On June 26, 1894, union members refused to service trains with Pullman Cars in their consist, to leave Chicago, delaying the U.S. Mail.

Twenty-four railroads in an organization called the General Managers Association announced that any switchman who refused to move rail cars would be fired.

Mr. Debs and his union stood their ground.

Debs said if any switchman was fired for not moving Pullman Cars, the union would walk off their jobs. On June 29, 50,000 union men quit.

Union supporters stopped trains on rails West of Chicago.

President Grover Cleveland was asked by the railroads to use federal troops to stop the strike.

(Does all this sound familiar? Right out of today’s political rhetoric.)

When Debs went to Blue Island to ask railroad workers there to support the strike, rioting broke out, tracks were torn up. Railroad cars were burned.

The Attorney General of the United States Richard Olney, at the urging of the railroad owners, obtained an injunction July 2 that declared the strike illegal.

When Debs’ union members did not return to work, when they did not return to work—-

President Cleveland sent federal troops into Chicago.

Troops opened fire on strikers  attempting to stop a train traveling through downtown Chicago.

Debs and his union leaders were arrested for disrupting the delivery of mail.

Twenty-six civilians were killed for disrupting the mail.

Because the mail could not be delivered. Because the mail could not be delivered…how pathetic.

Debs, the union leader, stopped the strike.

Debs was sentenced to six months in jail and the union was disbanded. To my knowledge no federal troops who killed civilians were prosecuted.

A number of railroad workers were black listed and could not get a job on a railroad in the United States.

It was the first time federal troops were used to break up a strike.

Pullman workers were forced to sign a pledge they would never strike again.

The threat of the federal government stopping strikes lead to an end of strikes for at least 8 years.

President Cleveland, though, was facing reelection in 1894.

And, here’s how Labor Day became a national holiday.

Union leaders and citizens were alarmed at his handling of the strike.

As PBS put it in a documentary in 2001:

“But now, protests against President Cleveland’s harsh methods made the appeasement (italics WPCNR) of the nation’s workers a top political priority. In the immediate wake of the strike, legislation was rushed unanimously through both houses of Congress, and the bill arrived on President Cleveland’s desk just six days after his troops had broken the Pullman strike.

1894 was an election year.

President Cleveland seized the chance at conciliation, and Labor Day was born. William Jennings Bryant ran for the Democratic Party and the Populist Party in 1896, losing to  Republican William McKinley.

Then came a sea change in the great coal strike of 1902, when another “exemplary” capitalist J. P. Morgan fought the coal workers.

It happened in the coal fields of Easton, Pennsylvania, when the United Mine Workers headed by John Mitchell struck the coal operators  pushing for an 8-hour day.

The coal operators employed private police and the Pennsylvania National Guard to protect non-union workers.

President Theodore Roosevelt summoned the parties to the White House to bring settlement of the dispute by arbitration. After 6 months, the coal miners won a 9-hour day and a 10% increase in wages.

T.R.’s personal intervention lead to Selig Perlman, economist and labor historian at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, saying “this was perhaps the first time in history a labor organization tied up for months a strategic industry without being condemned as a revolutionary menace.’

The 1902 leadership of the great Teddy Roosevelt resulted in elimination of private police forces long used  by management to combat workers.

When Governor Samuel Pennypacker became Governor of Pennsylvania, Pennypacker created the Pennsylvania State Police in 1903, the first in the nation to supplant the independent organizations hired by management that were little more than strong-arm boys.

The lesson of Labor Day is to remember the bravery of the union leaders who put their members first, did not make deals, did not sell out their members,(and I might add, succomb to politicians’ whining) and held out for the good against managements that were neither kind, humane, fair, or appreciative of their workers’ contribution to their corporate success.

Management never  is. They talk a good game but it’s all talk. Look at the Covid firings.

So American workers should remember the struggles and the leadership of Debs and Mitchell. And the strikers and civilians who were shot down in the street for stopping delivery of mail, for God’s sake!

They introduced a new era of workers’ rights at the costs of their lives.

The battle against worker exploitation never ends. It’s still happening today.

Let’s stop it. Let’s fight it. Let’s boycott the robber barons, and vote out the scalywags in Washington, D.C. All of them.

WPCNR COUNTY HEALTH BULLETIN. From the Westchester County Department of Communications. September 4, 2020:

The Westchester County Department of Health has been notified that a second priest has tested positive for COVID-19 at Holy Innocents Catholic Church, located at 431 Bedford Road in Pleasantville.   To date 2 priests and one church staffer have tested positive.

Anyone who attended the following services must quarantine, as required by the New York State Department of Health, for 14 days (regardless of a negative COVID-19 test) from that last visit to the Church during these days:

•           August 24 – Morning Mass

•           August 26 – Morning Mass

•           August 29 – First Communion Ceremonies

•           August 30 – ALL MASSES

Contacts of contacts, meaning secondary exposed people, are currently not at risk and do not have to quarantine. 

The County is currently working closely with the Church, the Archdiocese of New York, the Pleasantville School District and the Village and will continue to update the public as information becomes available.

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) New York State Hotline

The New York State Department of Health has set up a hotline at (888) 364-3065 where Department of Health experts will be available to answer questions regarding COVID-19.

COVID-19 Hotline numbers for the public:
People under self-quarantine and medical providers seeking information: (866) 588-0195
People inquiring about testing: (888) 364-3065
General Information: call 211

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From a White Plains CitizeNetReporter. September 3, 2020.

The following is an official communication from the United Federation of Teachers, the New York teachers union on Covid-19 testing procedures under which the union has agreed it will proceed with returning to New York City schools September 21:

New York City will make COVID-19 testing readily available for all its residents, including children, at over 200 locations across all five boroughs. NYCDOE encourages all its students and school-based staff to get tested within seven days of reporting to buildings and at regular intervals throughout the remainder of this crisis. In order to support testing, New York City will prioritize testing for NYCDOE students and staff and rapid communication of test results at any of its 34 city-run testing locations. 

Once in-person learning has commenced, the NYC DOE will implement the Random Sample Survey of COVID-19 in Schools, a robust program of repeated random sampling and COVID-19 testing of adults and students present in DOE schools.

• Obtain written parental /guardian consent for students to be tested in school from every possible student/parent at the beginning of the school year and continuously throughout the school year, including consent to have results shared with NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Test & Trace Corps, and Department of Education as necessary. Parents will be informed that, as testing is performed throughout the year, if parental/guardian refuses to provide consent for a student who has been selected randomly for testing, the student will be moved to the remote learning cohort.
• Obtain consent from teachers and staff to have results shared with NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Test & Trace Corps, and Department of Education as necessary.
• Establish mandatory time every month at each school dedicated to conducting the Random Sample Survey of COVID-19 in Schools beginning October 1.  The percentage of individuals to be tested will be determined by the number of students enrolled in the school who have opted into blended learning in order to create a statistically significant sample size
  • 20% of the individuals in schools with fewer than 500 students
  • 15% of the individuals in schools with 500 to 999 students
  • 10% of the individuals in schools with 1000+ students
    • Test and Trace Corps and DOHMH will utilize a sampling technique based on standard protocols, in consultation with outside experts. 
    • All UFT titles will be required to participate in the Random Sample Survey of COVID-19 in Schools program. In the unlikely event a UFT member is selected for random testing and refuses, they will go on unpaid leave.
    • Other school staff will also be asked and are expected to participate in the Random Sample Survey of COVID-19 in Schools program.
• Specimen collection will be conducted or supervised by appropriate personnel from City agencies, outside organizations, and/or outside contractor nurse support.
  • Each school’s need for testing support will be evaluated based on the number of students and teachers that must be tested
  • Self-collection kits for COVID-19 PCR testing will be an option, but other testing methods will be evaluated and considered for potential use as they become available.
  • Test and Trace Corps and DOHMH will provide kits to each school each month to collect specimens and will work with DOE to collect specimens on site in each school each month (or, in certain circumstances, at an appropriately designated off-school site or at home as necessary).
• Students and staff are required to report any positive test result, either taken independently or through this random COVID-19 testing program, to the DOE
• There will be a weekly meeting of all stakeholders to review the implementation of the Random Sample Survey of COVID-19 in Schools program and resolve any issues that arise in the process.

Early Warning Signs

The health and safety of students and staff are of the utmost priority when considering reopening schools. In order for school buildings to reopen and stay open, the percentage of positive tests in New York City must be less than 3% using a 7-day rolling average. School buildings will need to close and revert to fully remote learning for all students if the percentage of positive tests in New York City is equal to or more than 3% using a 7-day rolling average. It is important to note that the above threshold is just one trigger for closing school buildings, but may not be the only trigger. For example, a decision to close all of the school buildings in the City would be made if there were recurrent, uncontrolled outbreaks of COVID-19 in schools, even if the overall case rates across New York City were to remain low.  Likewise, a decision to close individual schools would be made where there were multiple cases of COVID-19 identified (see “School Closures”).

If any zip code within NYC reports a percentage of positive tests of 3% or higher using a 7-day rolling average, the city will deploy additional testing efforts within the community, including, but not limited to, increased testing of individuals in schools, opening new testing sites, door-to-door canvassing and targeted robocalls. The closure of school buildings within these communities, if necessary, will continue to be governed by the “School Closures” policy set forth herein.

All Registered New York Voters Can Request a Ballot Here

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the launch of New York’s absentee ballot portal where voters can directly request an absentee ballot for the upcoming November 3rd election. The Governor acted by Executive Order to allow any voter concerned about risk or exposure to COVID during the ongoing pandemic to request an absentee ballot. 

“As the November election approaches we know that many voters feel vulnerable in the midst of this pandemic,” Governor Cuomo said. “In line with the sweeping reforms we have implemented to make it easier for New Yorkers to exercise their right to vote, today we launch the online portal through which every registered voter concerned about COVID-19 can obtain an absentee ballot. Voting is the cornerstone of democracy and we want each and every voter to feel safe and secure in the exercise of voting.”

Last month, Governor Cuomo signed into law sweeping election reforms that will make it easier for New Yorkers to vote and be counted in November. These new measures Include  allowing absentee ballot applications to be submitted to the Board of Elections immediately, allowing a voter to get an absentee ballot due to risk or fear of illness including COVID-19 and ensuring all absentee ballots postmarked on or before Election Day or received by the Board of Elections without a postmark on the day after the Election will be counted. Ballots with a postmark demonstrating that they were mailed on or before Election Day will be counted if received by November 10.    

The Governor also issued an executive order to bolster and support New Yorkers’ right to vote. The order requires county boards of elections to take concrete steps to inform voters of upcoming deadlines, be prepared for upcoming elections and help ensure absentee ballots can be used in all elections.