Costumed performers and tour guides are fighting for unionization at the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, where they work to recreate the squalid living conditions of turn-of-the-century Jewish immigrants, the very group that was integral to 20th century unionization efforts. Dozens of the tenement employees protested last night outside a fundraiser for the museum at Chelsea Piers. Most of the guides work part time for an average $17 per hour, with no regular pay increases,......

A judge has finally ruled on a long-simmering dispute between a restaurant and its deliverymen. Last March deliverymen at the popular Vietnamese restaurant Saigon Grill, which has locations in Greenwich Village and on the Upper West Side, demanded a raise from owners Simon and Michelle Nget. The deliverymen reasoned that since the chain was pulling in more than $2 million a month, they ought to earn more than $120 for a 75-hour week. They were......

Sick of watching reruns? Nervous you'll only get 8 episodes of Lost next season? Well, The NY Times reports on the first break in the writers' strike.David Letterman is pursuing a deal with the Writers Guild of America that would allow his late-night show on CBS to return to the air in early January with the usual complement of material from his writers, even if the strike is still continuing. Executives from Mr. Letterman's company......

Workers crammed into small spaces and contending with oppressive heat on the Lower East Side. Thank goodness for the labor movement of the early 20th Century. Or are the very people who commemorate those days enduring the same conditions? The Villager reports that workers at The Lower East Side Tenemant Museum are taking a page out of their own history books and forming a union. Their complaints include extreme temperatures and cramped workspaces. They want......

The Daily News reports that "scarecrow cars" are being used by the NYPD to deter crime, much to the dismay of the police union. Scarecrow crows are empty radio cars that are stationed on highways in hopes of scaring drivers to straighten up with their driving. The Patrolmen's Benevolent Association sees the cars as a sign of short-staffing and poor recruiting the NYPD has had lately, due to the low salaries offered. The Daily......

The Manhattan office of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) served Starbucks a steaming hot cup of charges of anti-labor practices Friday. The move by the NLRB followed complaints by International Industrial Workers of the World organizers that the company was suppresing their union-forming efforts. According to its official website the website of its service industry branch, the IWW is "The anarchosyndicalist trade union, workers' confederation and section of the Anarchist International." driven by solidarity......

...but the president of the union said that there was a "good possibility" of a strike during an afternoon press conference, according to the NY Times. Union Local 32BJ and Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations are arguing over contributions to health care (the union doesn't want to contribute 15% of health premiums) and pay (the building owners want a pay freeze) for a year. And while buildings are saying they pay thousands towards healthcare,......

In what can only be an effort to further enslave Americans to the evil delights of caffeine, sugar (or sugar substitute), and milk, Starbucks is giving out free coffee this morning between 10AM-12PM. And it's not just free coffee at stores - they are using "Venti Vans" and those coffee backpacks to java junkies up. And if you're a union-supporter, don't feel bad about drinking up Starbucks' largesse (in fact, maybe you want seconds) -......

Mayor Bloomberg's press secretary, Ed Skyler, was named a deputy mayor, making the 32 year old the youngest deputy mayor in quite a while. Skyler, whom The Politicker calls the "arch-maven of media, will be the Deputy Mayor For Administration, which means he will assist Bloomberg with managing agencies like the NYPD, FDNY, Office of Emergency Management, and Office of Labor Relations and actually oversee agencies such as the Department of Sanitation, Department of Citywide......