Unions are putting the pressure back on Verizon to come to a new labor agreement by midnight tomorrow or else the communications giant will be facing a walkout next week from 65,000-plus workers. The original deadline for a new contract came and went last weekend with the Communications Workers Union agreeing to hold off on a strike. But labor leaders accuse Verizon of "dragging its feet" on the last few sticking points and gathered at......

After bringing many construction projects, including high-profile ones like the new Yankee and Mets stadiums and Freedom Tower, to a halt by striking last week, cement truck drivers are back at the negotiating table. Teamsters Local 282 and the Association of New York City Concrete Producers have not given specifics about what they are discussing, but Local 282's Francis Finnerman told NY1, "We're not asking for the moon, we're not asking for outlandish raises. All......

The new Yankee Stadium, Second Avenue subway, Citi Field and Freedom Tower are just some of the projects whose progress may be delayed a little more due to a strike by cement trucker drivers. Local 282 represents about 400 truck drivers, who bring cement to the various building union sites in the city. The NY Times reports that the concrete companies were caught by surprise when the union decided to strike a half hour after......

Though the clock ticked past last night's midnight deadline for contract negotiations between Con Ed and the Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2, the two sides kept working and have worked out a tentative deal to avert a strike of about 9,000 members. Union spokesman Joe Flaherty, who had called Con Ed's previous offer insulting and "asinine," said though the talks were "extremely contentious," they came to an agreement about wage, safety, health care......

Tonight, if midnight strikes without a new contract from Con Ed, the 9,000 workers represented by the Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2 could go on strike (unless Governor Paterson intervenes again, of course). The two sides are resuming their talks today at a NJ hotel. Union spokesman Joe Flaherty said the two sides are still fare apart, with Con Ed only offering a 0.5% raise for the first year, and 1% raises in......

Con Ed and the union representing 9,000 members agreed to extend their contract negotiations for another three days, after Governor David Paterson intervened late yesterday. The governor's spokesman Errol Cockfield said Paterson "expressed his concern that there should be no disruption in services and asked them to agree to a...cooling-off period. The governor suggested this time would allow tempers to subside and then both parties could return to the bargaining table in a more measured......

Thousands of Con Ed employees may be striking tomorrow, if the utility keeps up their act. Joe Flaherty, spokesman for the Local 1-2 of the Utility Workers Union of America, said of Con Ed's 0.5% base raise, "They want us to strike, no doubt about it. Half a percent, followed by 1% in the years after that, is just asinine." Flaherty says the union made their wage proposal on June 18, "After 12 today (noon......

Con Ed and about 9,000 workers are locked in a contract battle that may threaten the city's power come Sunday. According to Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2, the utility and workers are "miles and miles apart." Union spokesman Joe Flaherty explained the union wants better wages and medical cost coverage, benefits for workers retired on worker's comp, and advancement in job titles. But Flaherty blasted Con Ed, "It's basically the Nancy Reagan school......

A New York State Assemblyman ticked off about congestion pricing for suburban drivers is retaliating by proposing a $4-per-ride surcharge for taxi riders, rather than the congestion fee of $8 for motorists entering Manhattan below 60th St. That taxis are another form of mass transit that allow New Yorkers to get around without owning a car escapes Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, whose district includes parts of Westchester County. Brodsky and other representatives of suburban communities feel......

Last week there were rumblings of the writers' strike coming to an end, over the weekend it was pretty much confirmed, and since then the TV-nation has been waiting with bated breath. Until last night, that is, when word came in that the WGA (trying to steal Obama's thunder?) announced that the strike has officially come to an end. Fin! In the last of what has seemed like an endless amount of WGA press releases......

As we mentioned yesterday, the writers' strike may be coming to an end. Michael Eisner leaked that we'd be hearing news of it this weekend, and the former Disney CEO was right. Today Variety reports that "the WGA has finalized its tentative agreement with the majors and will present details of the pact to members today in meetings in Los Angeles and New York." The New York meeting is taking place at the Crowne Plaza......

Multiple news outlets are reporting that the WGA strike could be over with professional writers back to work as early as next week. Unnamed sources are saying that a tentative deal between the guild and Hollywood studios and producers has been reached. At issue was revenue sharing between writers and producers over content distributed over the Internet. Alternative distribution methods, like downloading and web-streaming, were leaving writers out in the cold and on the short......

Hundreds of thousands of commuters can breathe a sigh of relief today as a threatened strike by Amtrak workers has been avoided. A strike would have shut down Penn Station, diverting travelers on the Long Island Rail Road, Amtrak lines, and New Jersey Transit to subways and the PATH system. The city was already preparing contingency plans to have LIRR riders disembark in Brooklyn, and Jamaica Station and Woodside in Queens to take the subway.......

What has Conan O'Brien been doing in his spare time? His writers have only been putting pen to paper for their picket signs, and even though he returned to his late night desk earlier this month -- he's been a one-man show, lacking his trusty troupe of scribes. Alone and living in a world of reruns, he's been unloading in his diary strike journal. In EW's latest issue, which hit newsstands today, they dive into......

As The Daily Show and Colbert Report are just moments away from filming their first shows in quite some time, picket lines are standing strong outside of their studios. WGA spokeswoman Sherry Goldman tells us, "These pickets will be against the media conglomerates – NBC and Viacom - and not the specific hosts who we understand were forced to return to the air without their writers who remain on the picket lines." Just because the......

Eight separate unions representing Amtrak workers are threatening to go on strike as early as January 30th if they are not presented with new contracts, which they've worked without for years. A strike would hurt more than people taking the Acela between Washington D.C. and Boston. If Amtrak workers strike, it would close Penn Station and hundreds off thousands of daily commuters on the Long Island Rail Road, NJ Transit, and Amtrak would be seriously......

Building workers such as doormen, office cleaners, and janitors will probably not go on strike at the start of 2008 after their local union reached an agreement with Manhattan commercial property owners. Union members still have to vote to ratify the new four year contract, but the union leaders are recommending they do so. NY1 described a jubilant scene with union members cheering upon the announcement of an agreement: "The $6.8 billion deal will give......

CNBC's Money Honey Money Honey Says Mind the Gap Earlier this week, while in Grand Central Terminal we heard a familiar voice reminding us to “Mind the gap.” It turns out it was CNBC “Money Honey” Maria Bartiromo. Apparently Metro-North riders aren’t the only ones who are being reminded, as the Post reports that Long Island Rail Road commuters are getting similar reminders. The recorded messages were the brainchild of MTA board member Mitchell Palli.......

After Letterman announced his show's comeback with new episodes, writers' strike or no writers' strike, the leaders of late night all followed suit. Conan O'Brien, who has been growing a "strike beard" and paying his non-writer employees out of pocket, will return on January 2nd -- and his West Coast network-mate, Jay Leno, will do the same. Yesterday the WGA released the following statement regarding this move.“The AMPTP walked away from the bargaining table on......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a person under a train at East Fordham Rd. and Jerome Ave. in the Bronx, a shooting on Henry and West 9th Sts. in Brooklyn, and a homicide on Roosevelt Ave. in Queens. New Yorkers found guilty of repeated incidents of ignoring recycling laws may be required to throw out their trash in see-through bags for easy inspection. Ads soliciting the perfect ass might not make it onto city......

A poignant week for LAist as they lose their trusted and amazing editor Tony Pierce to the LA Times, but what a blast his last week was. He shared his 25 Favorite CDs of 2007 and wrote a great review of just a good movie, No Country For Old Men. At UCLA, thousands of students celebrated the end of their quarter by running around campus in their undies (lots of photos in a two-part......

A look at some of this week's noteworthy television: 60 Minutes (Sunday, 7:00 p.m., WCBS 2) Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is interviewed by Katie Couric in the wake of the baseball steroids scandal. Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale (Sunday, 9:00 p.m., HBO) The Ricky Gervais series concludes its run with an 80 minute special episode. Duel (Monday-Friday, 8:00 p.m., WABC 7) No, it isn’t Steven Spielberg’s 1971 feature length film debut made for......

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......

The New York Times recently dispatched no fewer than five reporters to the streets of the city in order to uncover the latest piece of breaking news: cab drivers can be rude and will attempt to take financial advantage of you if given the opportunity. The investigation uncovered a citywide fleet of yellow taxis in which just over half are compliant in installing credit card readers, and many that did have them falsely told passengers......

The city's shocking sidewalks strike again! An Upper West Side pup was electrocuted Thursday during a late night walk on 72nd and Amsterdam. This has happened too many times over the past few years, more recently to a NY Post reporter's dog in Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, who died from the shock. A few years ago when Jodie Lane died, and her two dogs were injured from a similar shock, Con Ed reported they......

Early this morning Hayden Panettiere and other Hollywood elite looked ready to hit the town for a night out even though it was 5:30am. They were announcing this year's Golden Globe nominees, often a good sign for who will be nominated for that other gold statue. All in all New York-based shows and movies fared well as the envelopes were opened sheets of paper were read from. 30 Rock (Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical......

Thousands of commercial office workers, such as janitors and doormen, voted to strike on January 1 if building owners do not agree to give them raises. The workers, part of Service Employees International Union's Local 32BJ union, believe that building owners can afford to give them "significant raises" because owners have been benefiting from high rents. However, the owners says the economy is too shaky to give them raises. Members of the union marched from......

There was a bit of drama Friday at the Broadway theater where The Color Purple performs, just not onstage. The lobby of the theater was mobbed by disgruntled ticket holders demanding refunds when ex-American Idol Fantasia, who stars as Celie, failed to turn up for work. Lobby spies for Post columnist Michael Riedel witnessed an 8-year-old girl “sobbing uncontrollably when she heard Fantasia was not going to be in the show.” But it seems there......

After drivers of Access-a-Ride vehicles went on strike yesterday, a federal mediator will step in and attempt to help negotiations along. The drivers have been unhappy with a tentative contract that put more of the burden of health care on them, which then makes a pay raise less substantial. The strike affects about 40% of the Access-a-Ride drivers; there are about 20,500 people who use the service. MTA, which uses Access-A-Ride but is not part......

Drivers from four different companies that operate vehicles for disabled and ill passengers have gone on strike. The 1,500 drivers want a new contract with the bus companies. The union has rejected a settlement with some wage increase and a slight increase in medical benefits twice. And not all drivers wanted to walk off the job - one driver told WCBS 2, "To have use go out on strike right now during the Christmas holiday......