Part 6 - Bargaining, Bailout, Burnout: Public Employees and the Service Crisis

This episode of New Yorkers at Work focuses on the unusual position of public sector workers and their unions. Teachers, welfare case workers, dentists, public sector union officials, and others talk about their struggles to earn the right to collective bargaining, the 1975 fiscal crisis, and their troubled relationships with prominent New York City government officials - Robert Moses, Fiorello La Guardia, and Robert F. Wagner.
Narrators Frederick O'Neal and Martha Greenhouse provide historical backdrop, speaking of the Condin-Wadlin and Taylor Acts and the Municipal Assistance Corporation, and interstitial prerecorded music is played

The program begins with a woman asking for a living wage in a city beset with fiscal difficulties.
Frederick O'Neal and Martha Greenhouse talk about public sector jobs. They talk about the misleading statistics about the number of public sector employees and the mix of job security and altruism. O'Neal talks about the difficulties with collective bargaining.

Susan Metz talks about choosing to work as a teacher. Ben Arciograsso talks about going to school and then becoming a teacher. Elliot Wreath talks about working in the parks department; he recalls the poor treatment he received from La Guardia and Robert Moses.

O'Neal talks about the Condin-Wadlin act (1947) which prohibited public sector employees from striking. It was replaced by the Taylor Law (1967) which fines rather fires employees. Wreath talks about meeting with Mayor Wagner to settle the strike.

Greenhouse talks about the organizing ferment in New York. Ida Klaus was hired by Mayor Wagner to be the go-between between labor and governor. Klaus talks about fighting against the right for public workers to strike. Wagner looked at the problem from the perspective of his desire to be reelected. They drafted "the little Wagner act."

John Bore, of DC37, recalls Wagner flying to Bermuda rather than work out an agreement with the union. The event was called "Bermuda Day." It lead to collective bargaining hearings.

Oscar Brand performs a variation on the song "Company Story" replacing the title with "PTA."

The right to collective bargaining act developed in 1962. Ben Arciograsso recounts the drive to collective bargaining.

Bernie Caccione talks about organizing the social service employees union. He recalls that the previous union was destroyed by McCarthyism. He talks about anti-union sentiments. Lonnie Caccione talks about the union.

O'Neal talks about the 1975 fiscal crisis. Bobbie McGee sings about the plight of the public worker. Greenhouse talks about the formation of MAC - the Municipal Assistance Corporation. MAC put out bonds to cover the costs of governance which were bought in large part by members of DC37.
Grace Weiner, dental hygenist talks about the bailout. Lonnie Caccione discusses it as well. DC37 fought against MAC, a group run by bankers and others, seeing it as antithetical to the needs of the city and its employees.

O'Neal talks about the difference between the approach to combating economic downturns during the depression, when programs were created, and 1974-5, when programs were cut.

A song is performed.

Weiner talks about the layoffs of 1975. 33% for the workforce were laid off. The people they cared for were the working poor. Ben Arciograsso talks about burnout as a teacher and increased class sizes. Susan Metz talks about the 1975 cutoff and the damage done.

O'Neal talks about the new private sector approaches to public sector problems and the inadequacies of the private sector. Weiner talks about learning of end of her dental program in the paper rather than from the union; she describes it in detail.

A song about unemployment and inflation is performed.

Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection

WNYC archives id: 92587