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Sanitation Men's Strike

New York City Mayor John Lindsay, leads an inspection tour along a street in the Harlem area of Manhattan, New York, on Feb. 10, 1968, as uncollected garbage piles on the sidewalks and in the streets.

This is Mayor Lindsay. New York City must reject the sanitation strike settlement proposed by Governor Rockefeller's special mediation panel this morning. The cost of the proposed agreement is twenty percent higher than the contract terms accepted by the sanitation union leadership only two weeks ago. Its acceptance may well bring about an expensive escalation of the cost of negotiating future contracts with unions representing city employees.

I respect the skill and integrity of the mediation panel members. They work hard and diligently, and I'm deeply grateful to Gov Rockefeller for his fine efforts in this emergency. The ultimate responsibility for concluding this on equitable terms, however, remains with the city and the uniform sanitation men's Association.

The union struck the city in deliberate defiance of state law. The city cannot agree to contract terms the reward that lawlessness. The people of New York City have endured this disgusting garbage strike for more than seven days. The city has bargained with the sanitation Union for more than seven months. The mediation panel appointed yesterday proposed settlement terms with one descent in a little more than seven hours.

I said yesterday the city would not be a blackmail in order to conclude this strike the proposed settlement in my view asks the city to pay a little blackmail. We won't do that. We refuse to ask the already burdened taxpayers of New York to pay more now when it will mean paying many millions more in the future.

Our goal is not to end the strike at any cost. We could have done that on any one of the past seven days. Our goal is to end this illegal strike within the careful guidelines already established in a new contract signed with the city's two of the uniformed services the police and fire departments. Our position is on change the city cannot relent under the pressures of expediency. It will not junk a fair or reasonable collective bargaining system by opening the municipal Treasury to the irresponsible demands of unlawful force.

Twenty-four hours ago I declared New York City to be in a state of emergency. At that time I asked the state has to send the city all appropriate and available assistance including the National Guard. The emergency has deepened since that call we must protect the people of the city from a severe public health and safety hazards the strike is created. We must deal energetically and forcefully with those who willfully violate both the sensibilities of their fellow citizens and the laws of the state. My effort here is to do whatever I can to establish the principle of the rights of 8 million people cannot be vitiated by selfish interests.

Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection

WNYC archives id: 150339
Municipal archives id: T2025

This is a machine-generated transcript. Text is unformatted and may contain errors.

This is Mayor Lindsay New York City must reject the sanitation strike settlement proposed by Governor Rockefeller special mediation panel this morning the cost of the proposed agreement is twenty percent higher than the contract terms accepted by the Senate Taishan union leadership only two weeks ago its acceptance may well bring about an expensive escalation and the cost of negotiating future contracts with unions representing city employees I respect the skill and integrity of the mediation panel members they worked hard and diligently and I'm deeply grateful to govern Iraq a feller for his fine efforts in this emergency the ultimate responsibility for concluding this strike on equitable terms however remains with the city and the uniform sanitation Men's Association the union struck the city in deliberate defiance of state law the city cannot agree to contract terms that reward that lawlessness the people of New York City have and your of this disgusting garbage strike for more than seven days the city has bargained with the sanitation Union for more than seven months the mediation panel appointed yesterday proposed settlement terms with one dissent in a little more than seven hours I said yesterday the city would not pay blackmail in order to conclude this strike the proposed settlement in my view asks the city to pay a little blackmail we won't do that we refuse to ask the already burdened taxpayers of New York to pay more now when it will mean paying many millions more in the future our goal is not to end this strike at any cost we could have done that on any one of the past seven days our goal is to end this illegal strike within the careful guidelines already established in contracts signed with the cities to wear the uniform services the police and fire departments our position is unchanged. The city cannot relent under the pressures of expediency it will not junk a fair reasonable collective bargaining system by opening the municipal Treasury to the irresponsible demands of unlawful Force twenty four hours ago I declared New York City to be in a state of emergency at that time I asked the state to send the city all appropriate and available assistance including the National Guard the emergency has deepened since that call we must protect the people of this city from the severe public health and safety hazards the strike has created we must deal energetically and forcefully with those who willfully violate both the sensibilities of their fellow citizens and the laws of this state and my effort here is to do whatever I can to establish the principle that the rights of eight million people cannot be vitiated by selfish interests.

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