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IN THE NEWS
Ithaca Workers Coalition Media Mentions
WICZ.com, 9/28/23
The Ithaca Public Workers Coalition (IPWC) has remained busy since their inception almost one year ago. IPWC members recently walked in solidarity with other local workers in support of Cynthia Brock, the Ward 1 candidate for the Ithaca Common Council who has been endorsed by the Midstate Central Labor Council, the regional arm of the New York State AFL-CIO...
Ithaca.com, 5/15/23
Ithaca has become a hotspot for organized labor as public sector workers have pressured the city to increase their wages without reducing benefits as many workers are struggling to keep up with rising costs of living in a city that has made the top ten list for most expensive places to live in New York State...
Public comment heard at the beginning of the Meeting. 47 speakers total, including 3 PBA Members: Condzella @ 00:47:45, Orsaio @ 00:50:30, and Amaro @ 01:31:35. Privilege of the Floor & Council Response @ 02:07:55)
We would like to thank the City Administration Committee for the opportunity to speak this evening. We understand that your time is extremely valuable, and there is much work to be done tonight. That said, we will try to keep our remarks brief...
The Ithaca Voice, 3/24/23
ITHACA, N.Y. —The Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility (IAWWTF) has been muddling through staffing challenges for years now, largely caused by uncompetitive wages it offers its workers. So when the plant’s Chief Operating Officer was getting ready to retire in 2022, the City of Ithaca contracted the Camden Group, a private company...
The Ithaca Voice, 3/15/23
ITHACA, N.Y.—Uncompetitive wages have driven staffing levels at the Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility (IAWWTF) into decline. The facility provides a critical service, eliminating contaminants from wastewater, preventing the spread of diseases like cholera, and treating water to the point that it can be returned to Cayuga Lake and the larger water cycle...
The Ithaca Voice, 3/14/23
ITHACA, N.Y.—Tensions that had been brewing between the city of Ithaca and its workforce over the past few years came to a head over the last several months, with demonstrations from city workers and labor leaders playing out in front of the public at Common Council. A long-awaited compensation analysis was touted as a way to soothe, or at least address, some of those tensions, though it appears the study that was submitted late last year proves what city employees have been publicly arguing...
Ithaca.com, 3/8/23
After months of deliberation and a changing of the guards on the city's negotiating team, the CSEA union representing staff at the Department of Public Works (DPW) has come to an agreement with the city to approve a new labor contract that won’t expire until December 31, 2025. The Common Council official approved the contract at their March first meeting...
The Ithaca Voice, 3/3/23
ITHACA, N.Y.—Over the course of its first two hours, Wednesday’s Common Council meeting would develop into an emotional cocktail. Eyes grew wet with tears and council chambers thrummed with applause when Alan Fe Nunn was granted Ithaca’s J. Diann Sams African American History Month Recognition Award for his life of leadership and invaluable contributions to the Ithaca community. Adding to the meeting’s potency, the city’s labor leaders converged to send a clear message that they’re going to keep pushing for the treatment and contracts they think the city’s unionized workers deserve...
The Cornell Daily Sun, 2/8/23
On Nov. 2, 2022, a coalition of leaders from labor unions representing city workers publicly confronted the Common Council about issues they have been facing both on the job and in the contract negotiation process. The relationship between the city and its workers has not improved over the last four months, as labor leaders confronted the Common Council once again during the Feb. 1 meeting...
The Cornell Daily Sun, 2/2/23
While the City of Ithaca Common Council meeting on Wednesday had multiple items on its agenda, continued concerns from the City’s employees over contract negotiations attracted nearly a hundred community members. The same concerns arose at the November Common Council meeting, but the city workers who expressed these troubles to the Council said not much has advanced since then...
The Ithaca Voice, 1/5/23
ITHACA, N.Y.—With the start of the new year, Ithaca’s Common Council has taken an affirmative step to try building a more positive connection between the city and its workers. But not without debate.
Ithaca.com, 1/10/23
In an effort to improve the relationship between the city and public sector labor unions, the Common Council approved a resolution to create the position of “labor liaison” during their first meeting of 2023. The resolution was proposed by Alderperson George McGonigal and would allow one or two members of the Common Council to be included, but not participate, in the contract negotiations between the city and the public sector labor unions...
The Ithaca Voice, 12/23/22
ITHACA, N.Y. — In light of complaints from the city’s public sector unions that the city’s contract negotiation tactics are overly hardball, a resolution is being considered by Ithaca’s Common Council that would place a labor liaison from the elected body in the negotiating room.
The Ithaca Voice, 12/8/22
ITHACA, N.Y.—Until Wednesday’s Common Council meeting, replacing City Attorney Ari Lavine on Ithaca’s negotiation team with an outside attorney seemed like the clearest step the city was going to take in an effort to reduce friction between it and its public service employees.
The Ithaca Voice, 12/9/22
ITHACA, N.Y. — Hardy Ithacans are by now well-prepared for snow: they have pulled out heavy coats, outfitted their cars with winter tires and put waterproof boots by the door. But the city agency responsible for clearing snow from roads is far less ready, hamstrung by a shortage of plow drivers that could mean more dangerous roads this winter...
Ithaca.com, 12/8/22
Public sector labor unions have come out against the city’s resolution to allocate $110,000 of taxpayer money to hire outside counsel to replace the City Attorney in contract negotiations through the end of 2023. CSEA, FDA, DPW and Executive Association leaders say the city should prioritize re-building relationships with their workers through direct negotiations without having lawyers at the table.
WENY News
ITHACA, N.Y. (WENY)— Many unionized City of Ithaca employees are not happy with the way they are being treated by the City.
Wednesday evening during a City Administration meeting in City Hall, four labor unions were in attendance to once again address Common Council and Mayor-elect Laura Lewis about concerns of unfair pay, benefits, and labor contract negotiations...
The Ithaca Voice, 12/1/22
City Morale
Perhaps not coincidentally, considering the rampant tension between the City of Ithaca leadership and its employees that has been wildly evident in the last several weeks, the city reviewed the 2019 employee engagement survey that was used to gauge morale and issues within City Hall for employees...
The Ithaca Voice, 12/1/22
ITHACA, N.Y. — It might be best that City Attorney Ari Lavine no longer heads the team that negotiates labor contracts between the City of Ithaca and the unions that represent the workers across its public service departments. Replacing him in this role even comes at Lavine’s own recommendation.
Ithaca.com, 11/22/22
ITHACA, NY — Public servants of the City of Ithaca want to thank the six members of the Common Council who affirmed their commitment to fair, equitable and respectful treatment of the City’s unionized workers. We are grateful to Alderpersons Brock, McGonigal, Nguyen, Barken, DeFendini, and Cantelmo for strongly and boldly supporting the City’s employees while also condemning recent remarks made by the City Attorney...
The Ithaca Voice, 11/18/22
ITHACA, N.Y.—Demonstrations by angry city employees two weeks ago have sparked a fair amount of internal strife within the City of Ithaca’s leadership, pitting Mayor-elect Laura Lewis, City Attorney Ari Lavine and the city’s Common Council against each other, all while the city’s employees retain their initial complaints: that they feel mistreated by the city as workers, morale is at dire levels, and that the city’s bargaining tactics are unfairly harsh...
Ithaca.com, 11/17/22
ITHACA, N.Y., Nov. 15, 2022 - The City of Ithaca has a long history of being a pro-worker, pro-union community. Sadly, that sentiment has been shattered as evidenced by a packed room and long list of proud union workers who spoke during the public comment portion of the Ithaca Common Council meeting on November 2nd...
The Ithaca Voice, 11/16/22
The City of Ithaca has a long history of being a pro-worker, pro-union community. Sadly, that sentiment has been shattered as evidenced by a packed room and long list of proud union workers who spoke during the public comment portion of the Ithaca Common Council meeting on November 2nd...
The Ithaca Voice, 11/16/22
ITHACA, N.Y.—The city’s five labor unions have penned a joint letter responding to City Attorney Ari Lavine in the first official fallout from Lavine’s speech last week condemning certain city worker complaints at November’s first Common Council meeting...
City of Ithaca Planning and Economic Development Committee meeting, 11/16/22.
The Ithaca Voice, 11/14/22
No one wants to work in Ithaca. It’s true for the school district, and as the public comment at the recent Common Council meeting showed, it’s true for the city as well. Why? It’s not just about pay. People will stay in a job when they feel respected and valued...
The Ithaca Voice, 11/10/22
ITHACA, N.Y.—There have been uncomfortable moments in Ithaca politics from time to time, as there are in virtually any government. Those moments have seemed to come more frequently in the past 10 or so months as Common Council and Acting Mayor Laura Lewis adjust to their new leader and role, respectively, and two ethics investigations take place...
Ithaca.com, 11/9/22
It was a packed house at the City of Ithaca Common Council meeting on Nov. 2 where conversations regarding the city's commitments to its employees in the 2023 budget were the main topic of conversation. Members of almost every public sector labor union in the area were in attendance...
Ithaca.com, 11/9/22
Following a marathon public comment period that spanned more than three hours during the Nov. 2 meeting of the Ithaca Common Council, a majority of Common Council members voted to postpone a final vote on approving the cities 2023 Budget until their next meeting on Nov. 9...
The Ithaca Voice, 11/7/22
ITHACA, N.Y.— In his relatively brief time as the City of Ithaca’s Director of Sustainability, Dr. Luis Aguirre-Torres put Ithaca, a city of little more than 30,000, on the international map for its approach to fighting climate change on the local level. He gave backbone and potential to the Ithaca Green New Deal (IGND), a 2019 resolution of the City of Ithaca committing it to a monumentally ambitious set of goals to, ultimately, accomplish city-wide decarbonization by 2030 while prioritizing social equity....
The Ithaca Voice, 11/4/22
ITHACA, N.Y. — Before Ithaca’s Common Council meeting started on Wednesday, Alderperson Robert Cantelmo was fretting over the city budget. He shared his sense of anticipation with The Ithaca Voice on the sidewalk as he approached City Hall. Clearly, he was not the only one...
WSKG, 11/3/22
Dozens of Ithaca city employees packed City Hall during Wednesday’s Common Council meeting. Alderpersons had originally planned to vote on the city’s sweeping 2023 budget; that vote was postponed. For an hour and a half, unionized city workers spoke about their frustration with working conditions and ongoing union contract negotiations with the city...
WENY, 11/3/22
ITHACA, N.Y. (WENY)-- The Ithaca Common Council held a meeting Wednesday evening. However, the one item not on the agenda but a major topic of concern for many was public safety and the shortage of police officers...
Spectrum News 1, 11/1/22
A fatal stabbing just blocks from the Ithaca Commons last week has the president of the city’s Police Benevolent Association calling on city officials to take action. Thomas Condzella said staffing has fallen to critical levels, and more cooperation between officials and the department is necessary with violent crime in the city exacerbating the issue...
WETM, 10/5/22
ITHACA, N.Y. (WETM) – Law enforcement officials in Ithaca are blaming the city’s police reform initiative for staffing shortages. Now, a local news reporter says she was fired after she wrote an article shedding light on the issue. The Ithaca Police Department (IPD) is desperate to recruit new officers, and it’s even throwing in some pretty tempting hiring incentives...