Did NYC Unions Order Worker Slow-Down During Winter Storm Emergency?
- Posted on December 29, 2010 at 5:28pm by
Meredith Jessup
- Print »
- Email »
Frustrated New Yorkers have vented their complaints over the city’s response to the “Blizzard of 2010,” including a slow response time from snow plows and sanitation workers. Fingers are being pointed at Mayor Michael Bloomberg, including from Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowtiz who complained that two days after the storm, a number of streets in Brooklyn and Staten Island boroughs had not been plowed yet.
So who is to blame for the seemingly slow response to the “snowpocalypse”?
After the storm clouds parted, a rumor reportedly floated around the city that a number of sanitation workers were purposefully working slowly as a protest to city budget and staff cuts. Borough President Markowitz told Good Day New York that he had not heard the rumor, but noted that the department of sanitation had handled bigger snow storms in the past “with flying colors.”
“The truth of the matter here is that there is no question that something happened. Something happened between 1 and 6 am within the department of sanitation. They did not send out enough trucks. We have one of the finest commissioners, but I believe something happened. Put hundreds of tow trucks, thousands of able bodied men and women, get these people out and get these streets open. These streets have not been touched,” Markowitz said.
In addition, New York City Councilwoman and sanitation chairwoman Letitia James also told Good Day New York on Tuesday that the “deployment of snow plows was orchestrated in City Hall as opposed to the respective sanitation garages in each of the community boards… there was a change in the response,” she said.
By Wednesday, the chairman of the Municipal Labor Committee, Local 831, which represents the city’s sanitation workers was busy denying the rumor that his members had worked slower during the recent snow storm. Instead, Harry Nespoli insisted that his workers don’t “mess around with the snow.”
“There is nothing to that (rumor),” he said. “I’m working very closely with the city. They worked 14 hour shifts. They’re getting annoyed over the fact that people are thinking there is a job action.”
But the explanation has not quelled the outrage of many New Yorkers who feel the city’s response was less than adequate.
Nespoli blames Mother Nature. “We had a blizzard. There were also an unusual amount of people on the streets on Sunday night and those cars never made it back to the curbs,” he said, referring to stranded vehicles and the difficulty they posed in getting plows through certain areas.
Popular Stories
Does Misstated Marathon Claim Prove Paul Ryan Is Dishonest? (POLL) 685 Comments
‘Jumah at the DNC’ Speaker: ‘Muslims Visited America Prior to Columbus’ & ‘It Was a Muslim’ Who Guided Him to the ‘New World’ 533 Comments
Paper Details Obama Admin’s Alleged Secret Note Sent to Iran: If Israel Attacks, We Won’t Get Involved 441 Comments
Obama: RNC Like Watching ‘Black-and-White TV’ Because Romney ‘Did Not Offer a Single New Idea’ 373 Comments
Roseanne Barr: Most Billionaires ‘Violent Pedophiles’ & ‘Heartless’ Cocaine Addicts 331 Comments
Faith
This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 286 Comments- Pakistani Muslim Cleric Accused of Framing Disabled Christian Girl in Koran-Burning Case Read More
- ‘Made Up Religion’: TV Historian Enrages Muslims, Receives Threats After Producing UK Documentary Questioning Islam’s Beginnings 294 Comments
Meet the Controversial German Imam Accused of Brutally Beating His Wife & Pushing Sharia Law Read More
‘Self-Proclaimed Messiah’ & Unification Church Leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon Has Died — Here’s His Life Story Read More
Business
President Obama Issues Major ‘Green Energy’ Executive Order 181 Comments- Germany’s Upcoming Court Ruling Will be Huge for the EU Read More
Ford Looks to Beat Toyota for Best-Selling Car in 2012 With This Model 148 Comments
Bernanke & QE3: Here’s What You Need to Know Read More- ‘Extortion’: Why Did the Labor Department ‘Drop the Hammer’ on Oregon Farmers? 301 Comments
Technology
- This Is the Creationists‘ Response to Scientist Bill Nye’s Viral Pro-Evolution Video Claiming They Harm Children 286 Comments
‘TaserDrone’: Hackers Weaponize Quadcopter With Actual ‘Shocking’ Technology Read More
Ever Heard of the Wild ‘Burning Man’ Festival in the Middle of the Nev. Desert? Here’s Your Primer Read More
Stanford Develops Technology ‘Better Than Steroids’ for Athlete Recovery Read More
Have You Pretended to Know What ‘the Cloud’ Is? You’re Not Alone Read More
Submitting your tip... please wait!
Comments (98)
harvbell
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:29pmThe unions will only become more powerful as long as Obama is in office. They are the ones getting all of the stimulis contracts!
Report Post »MeteoricLimbo
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:29pmhave the unions possibly outlived their effectiveness…..they seem to be counter productive at this stage.
Report Post »wisehiney
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:24pmI hope they have a union in hell.
Report Post »Spawnomite
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:58pmIt will be found between Pelosi’s legs.
Report Post »silentme63
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:20pmseveral people died if the unions did order slow down they have some explaining to do? Can’t leave these thugs off hook any more give a inch they take a mile.
Report Post »Hickory
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:17pmYeah, we‘ll show these guys who they can’t mess with. We will go slow and demonstrate the power of our union. Next time they try and mess with us they will remember who we are. Riiiiight. You can believe the union thugs would do this. Let’s see, are they affiliated with SEIU?
Report Post »LadyIzShy
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:16pmmaybe the answer is in the middle.. it was a tough storm but maybe the unions also did slow down. I have seen it happen before
Report Post »jackboom
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:16pmNew York take a page from Chicago. We get rid of mayors who cant handle snow.
Report Post »mcpbob
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:15pmFor those who keep saying this was a big storm, i lived in New York for 48 years.. i have seen worse and i have seen less of a storm, but either way you slice it the response this time from N.Y. Sanitation was not acceptable…..
Report Post »Its Gonna Getcha
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:12pmFrom a holistic perspective, work is best when your small part is meaningful to YOU at the end of the day. Unions tend to eliminate that, and there is less joy in work. The work ethic becomes secondary. Unions exploit the rules.
Report Post »556GreenTip
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:12pmWelcome to life in the hell hole that is NYC… run by dumbocraps and organized crime… er, I mean unions…
Report Post »wisehiney
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:10pmDang Deltahawk, ya beat me to it.
Report Post »wisehiney
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:09pmIt‘s George Bush’s fault!
Report Post »tower7femacamp
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:09pmMagic building theory ??? L O L
Report Post »MotherRedDog
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:08pmI’m with GRANDMAOF5, someone should be held accountable for the 2 deaths (I can’t even imagine that poor baby suffering).
I know all about unions too. These tactics have got to stop. Unions are not necessary in a free society any longer.
Report Post »DeltaHawk
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:04pmNooooooooooooooo It‘s George Bush’s fault right?
Report Post »nottrollingguys
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:00pmEven those who do not support unions should recognize that this was an exceptionally intense storm, and that the workers were handling it as best as they could. I’ve several friends that work for the city–my own father is a volunteer–and none of them wasted a second trying to clear the roads, even after working double or even triple shifts.
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on December 30, 2010 at 5:07amAN INTENSE STORM MY BUTT this storm was nothing compared to historical data
Report Post »Psychosis
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:00pmridiculous
it amazes me every time a flurry hits the ground the ineptitude of the modern population to driving in the snow, and the removal of the snow
when i was a munchkin, i would go to bed with bare ground, and wake up in the morning with 3 feet of snow and a school bus waiting for me…….never had a snow day and lived right off lake ontario…
bunch of wimps and cry babies if you ask me …………….need some tissues?
Report Post »Rogue
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 7:29pmAgreed. Your street is completely blocked with snow and you can’t get out? Go grab a shovel and start clearing in front of your place. If there are 100 people living on your block, it is not an overwhelming task if people would pitch in. Here in Colorado, we often don’t get plows to the sideroads for many days after a big storm, so we have to dig ourselves out to a cleared road. And if people have trucks with plows on the front, or snowblowers, they will help out around the area, not just the street in front of thier own houses.
Then again, we’re talking about city folks. They aren’t about to band together and help clear the entire block – they don’t even know who thier neighbors are for the most part.
Report Post »mcpbob
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 5:58pmIn 1995 there was 3 storms back to back to back in New York that left more snow behind than this storm did, the roads were cleaned in a day….. by the third day Sanitation had their backloaders out removing every single mound and they trucked any snow left out to the east river. I have a friend that works for sanitation, this is what they do when they want to get things their way…… happens every time the city cuts their budget.
Report Post »Bull Dog
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 7:19pmMCPBOB
You are talking 15 years ago when the departments were swollen and overly expensive. I believe NYC is doing the right thing by scaling back these departments. It sucks when a blizzard hits but is a one time a year thing worth the price of paying these people the other 363 days of the year? Smaller government means less taxes and less services. I can live with that, but don’t complain about it if you are beating the drum for less government.
Report Post »Rickfromillinois
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 5:55pmI am not a fan of unions but come on, there was a whole lot of snow that fell in a short period of time.
Report Post »ShineTheLightBrighter
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 5:55pmIf these rumors become fact, then those in charge of the deployment/slow down now have some innocent lives on their hands.(see newborn dies after nine hour emergency response)
Report Post »Deda1
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 5:55pmYa right, I use to belong to a couple of different unions and that was a common tactic used to show we needed more employees and to show our displeasure with the tax payers and management.
Report Post »hologram5
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 8:03pmAnd again this is why unions need to go. They should be abolished and anyone eaks a union word and they’re promptly taken out and flogged in the public square.
Report Post »grandmaof5
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 5:55pmIf they did they ought to be charged with murder for the deaths of the baby and the lady who passed away, and appropriate charges for anyone else whose life was at risk. I can just see them sitting around debating whether their paygrades were responsible for going out and plowing or salting snow in the streets. And if there are charges, start at the “top” because that’s where the buck stops.
Report Post »heavyduty
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 5:52pmAs always the UNIONS are a cancer to AMERICA. We need to cut them out so that the NATION can heal. As long as the UNIONS exist they will keep sucking the life blood of our economy and will never be satisfied.
Report Post »frankee47
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 7:14pmhow true
Report Post »Wallace
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 5:50pmAs someone who was in New York for the storm, the response was certainly inadequate, but it is not likely there was an intentional slowdown. It was a hell of a storm. The plows were out, but the wind blew the snow back over the streets as soon as they had passed. There were not enough of them, but that is because of budget cuts to the Dept of Sanitation. One of the big problems was that cars and buses were abandoned in the middle of streets, making snow removal even harder.
Report Post »In-God-I-trust
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:14pmWhere I live, the sanitation dept. is not union and we can get up to 3 feet of snow, not a mere 19″, many times a year. Never have we had an issue with removal of snow or preparation for a storm. Our people don’t spend their time worrying about who next to protest or to blame but instead they just do their job for the people that are paying for their paychecks. If they don’t do their jobs, then the tax payers vote out who is in charge. Our school district also is not union and teachers don‘t keep their jobs if they don’t do their jobs and we have a district that teaches. When you take the power of the people paying taxes for the workers as unions do, out of the equation, then you have failure.
Report Post »Bull Dog
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 7:13pmIn-God-I-trust
I’m sure where you live there are not thousands of miles of roads and cars and buses littering every street. I am a non-union streets worker in my city and logistics can be hell when dealing with that much snow and where to push and haul it to. NYC cut the department budget which means less workers, so in situations like this it will take longer than before to clean up. That is all a part of smaller government and trying to stay within budgets.
Report Post »chasbronson
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 8:52pmI plow snow also ,and I can confirm people don’t have a lick of sense.They will park their vehicles anywheres and everywheres.They have no regard to how the snow is to be plowed when their vehicle is parked in the way.It should be a law that any vehicle parked in a snow plow route is there at their own liability.If the plow rig tears the side off, its their own problem.These parkers are probably the same people complaining.I have felt like pushing a few of these cars fifteen feet upside down on a snow bank a few times myself.
Report Post »dcwu
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 5:49pmGolbal warming did it.
Report Post »guyperram
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:08pmObviously the city workers were terrified of the massive global warming that the Times had predicted. Their terror was so high that they had to be far more through with each bit of work they were assigned to do. After all, because of man made global warming, the demon oil they were burning might cause flashes(or pockets) of extreme Global Warming, causing them to persh in the heat.
Report Post »Steverino
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:11pmA “14 hour day” has no meaning other than the fact that they were paid for 14 hours. Did they WORK 14 hours? Maybe. Maybe not.
This is a straw man argument if I’ve ever heard one…
I’m sure it was a mess, and they most likely did the best that they could. On behalf of all New Yorkers, I certainly hope so.
Steve
http://stephencharles-poppin-off.blogspot.com/
Report Post »azjoannie
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:26pmNah – George Bush did it!
Report Post »Cemoto78
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:35pmNew Yorkers need to quit complaining, you wanted the nanny state…well you’ve got it. How’s it working out for you?
Report Post »booger71
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 6:55pmDID HAARP have anything to do with it ?
No, but I heard VIOLIN did
Report Post »Cobra Blue
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 7:14pmHey New Yorkers! Beat your kinda pissed at the City government considering all the taxes you pay. Just like a liberal progressive meca. All show and no stay. In the words of the Mosslem in Chief…”just words…just speeches”. Got an idea…why don’t you leave the God forsaken place. Just my opinion…Enjoy!
Report Post »Curator_JDR
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 7:16pmMaybe the workers, who are basically conservative (even if their union leadership isn’t) saw this as an opportunity to get at Bloomberg because they don’t want the Ground Zero mosque?
New. A LOL Animated Short Feature Film “A Not So Grimm Fairy Tale” … Politically Incorrect Satire featuring “Bearah Sailin” and her grizzly bear clan taking back America from the Progressive clan of Sorge Goros & Nancy Poles-i-don’t-see & Charlie Rangel and the rest.
http://www.marcrubin.com/hairmerica.ivnu
Report Post »Angelacw
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 7:48pmGeorge W. Bush did it.
Report Post »Alfredo deLorenzo
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 8:40pmIt has to be GWB’s fault. All the hot air finally cooled down and caused the blizzard.
Report Post »thepatriotdave
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 11:40pm“Did NYC Unions Order Worker Slow-Down During Winter Storm Emergency?”
God I hope so!
Report Post »thepatriotdave
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 11:46pmPlease forgive me. The post above was written prior to me seeing the other post concerning the child that died because of the lack of snow plowing in NY.
The above comment… “God I hope so!” was meant as a joke because I would hope New Yorkers would smarten up and tell the Unions to get lost. It never occured to me how bad and dangerous it could have been for some.
Report Post »KICKILLEGALSOUT
Posted on December 29, 2010 at 11:50pmThis is a perfect example of how big government really is useless and how the people need to start to look out for themselves instead of looking to the government to solve all their problems.
Report Post »ishka4me
Posted on December 30, 2010 at 10:16amthe question asked“ did nyc unions order worker slowdown”? the answer is YES
Report Post »FreedomMissMeYet
Posted on December 30, 2010 at 11:43amFor every major snowfall, give the union 8 hours to get the snow cleared. After 8 hours, hire private contractors to finish the job. For every private contractor required to finish the job, permanently remove a union worker and replace him with a private contractor. Each snowfall, repeat as necessary until the corruption is solved or no union workers remain, whichever comes first ;-)….
Report Post »