THE WPCNR WEEKLY POLL. September 29, 2006: This week one hundred persons filled the public meeting area at Education House to protest Walgreen’s planned takeover of the former Sports Page site on Mamaroneck Avenue at the Rosedale Avenue intersection. On White Plains Week, the Dean of White Plains Journalism, Jim Benerofe, in discussing the subject suggested that the Walgreen’s move is just the beginning and could lead to a second downtown. Mr. Benerofe raised the issue that the city might wish to define in very clear terms what a “neighborhood business” is. WPCNR has devised this week’s poll to see what Mr. and Mrs. and Ms. White Plains think. Vote by clicking your choice at the right.
Custodians Reach Accord Reap 7.4% Raise Over 4 Years. $14.4M in New Benees
WPCNR LABOR LETTER. From Kate Feranti, SEIU. (EDITED) September 29, 2006: The Local 32BJ Westchester Bargaining Committee tonight announced a tentative four-year agreement on a $247 million contract for 1,250 residential building service workers that maintains fully employer-paid health care coverage and pension security, provides a 7.4% (1.9% per year) pay increase over the life of the contract and creates a wage standard for all workers.
The contract is top-weighted with new health benefits. The tentative agreement will provide an additional $14.4 million in health care coverage – a 65% increase from the previous contract. By the end of the contract in 2010, workers will earn an additional $50 per week in wages.
“At a time when employers are pushing health care costs onto employees, we successfully maintained fully employer paid family health insurance,” said Héctor Figueroa, Local 32BJ Secretary-Treasurer. “Further, we secured a fair wage increase and established a first ever wage floor to ensure higher standards for all members.”
“This contract is a major victory for Local 32BJ members, who were stronger and more united than ever,” said Mike Duffy, Local 32BJ Westchester District Supervisor. “It not only provides current workers with the wages and benefits they need to support their families, it raises the bar for future wages.”
The tentative agreement is subject to ratification by the union membership next Thursday. It was reached at 6 pm on Friday night, one day before the expiration date, and averted a strike that would have affected more than 450 buildings across Westchester County.
Earlier this year, Local 32BJ negotiated a contract for 28,000 New York City residential workers that maintained employer-paid health care, secured pensions and provided a wage increase.
With more than 85,000 members in six states and Washington, DC, including 4,500 in Westchester, Local 32BJ is the largest property services union in the U.S.
Cibelli-Power to Debate on Cable TV for Council Seat
WPCNR THE VOTING BOOTH. From The League of Women Voters. September 29, 2006:
The
Dennis POWER —
Cass CIBELLI
10 ROUNDS ON WPGA-TV, OCT. 18 7 PM CHANNEL 75
Cable 75 will rebroadcast the program on the following Wednesdays at 7:30 pm (Oct.25 and Nov 1) and Saturdays (Oct. 28 and Nov.4) at 3:00 pm.
Ms. “For The Record,” Janice Minieri to Retire as City Clerk After 35 years
WPCNR CITY HALL CIRCUIT. September 29, 2006: An indispensable and loyal public servant in the ideal sense has announced her retirement. Janice Minieri is leaving the post of City Clerk after thirty-five years of service to the city. Ms. Minieri who is responsible for city records, such as marriage licenses, birth certificates, and the City Charter, and dispenses the mysterious Rossetta Stone of city government: the monthly Common Council Agenda and booby-trapped “backup material” while recording faithfully the Common Council proceedings through the years of Urban Renewal, the building of the Galleria, the Westchester, right through to the Renaissance of today.
She has sworn in the legends of City Hall, Alfred Del Vecchio, Mary Ann Keenan, Michael Keating, Mike Coffey, Robert Ruger, Jo Falcone, Rita Malmud, Joseph Delfino, Robert Greer. Ms. Minieri has run an office that has always been polite and efficient in the way it treats the public, and has always treated the distinguished members of the press with the dignity and respect they deserve.
Janice Minieri, City Clerk, Retiring. She is seen at her post at the Common Council, 2001.
A Minieri Moment, consulting with then private citizen, Adam Bradley, prior to swearing Glen Hockley (in background) on March 15, 2002 after the Court of Appeals decided the historic Hockley-Delgado jammed voting machine case.
Janice Minieri, swearing in Councilman Glen Hockley, March 15, 2002.
Photos WPCNR News Archive.