Welfare Worker's Strike

Special address by Mayor Robert F. Wagner discusses the now week-long strike of welfare workers against the Dept. of Welfare. He mentions his efforts to repeal Condon-Wadlin Act Tape feed is a pick up from CBS.

Wagner talks about the weeks of negotiations with top union leaders and the staff involved. The talks involve two unions and the unfortunate who needs the help of the department. The "heartbreak people of New York" continue to be helped; union leaders present excessive demands, but the city made a fair offer. Mediation has failed, so voluntary arbitration may be the next step --but only nurses have agreed to it. The City has proposed to set up a fact-finding panel for hearing all the issues, whose function Wagner describes --but it has been rejected by the unions. The mayor says the city will not make concessions to the existing law. "In the interests of poor ---this illegal walkout," so employees will forfeit their jobs under the law. However, the City will continue good faith efforts under the law. A strike against the needy cannot be condoned, he says; strikes by public employees cannot be tolerated because of the public interest. Condon-Wadlin Act should be repealed. Something more moderate is needed.

Wagner says he will continue to be a friend of labor, but the strikers are not helping the situation in an honorable or right manner by maintaining this illegal strike.

Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection

WNYC archives id: 150568
Municipal archives id: T1262