A fight is shaping up in New York City as Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the city council prepare measures to slash social programs, cut thousands of jobs, and squeeze some $500 million in concessions out of the public workers’ unions, taking his original "share the pain" budget proposal another step further.

The mayor is using threats of putting the city under a financial control board, which in 1975 carried through a massive assault on working people in the city by cutting tens of thousands of jobs along with a range of social programs.

With a matter-of-fact efficiency, the new mayor is proving he is the man for the job the capitalist rulers of New York City need to get done. With neat charts and tidy lists, he hopes to lead the city government to methodically cut program after program--with devastating consequences for entire sections of working people in New York.

The crisis comes after years of deteriorating conditions for millions of working people in the city, who face the combination of assaults by the employers and attacks from the federal, state, and city governments.

The drive by the Clinton and Bush administrations to eliminate whole sections of the Social Security Act and begin tearing apart the social safety net that millions of workers and farmers depend on was backed by the Giuliani administration. It has forced thousands onto fake "workfare" programs.

Bloomberg’s plan to slash services to the homeless, end medical services at shelters, and eliminate food programs come as a record number of children and adults are being admitted to the city’s homeless shelters.

The projected cuts in education will accelerate the physical dilapidation of the already overcrowded schools and the general decline in the education system in the city.

The labor resistance and social protests taking place--from rallies by teachers to transit workers to immigrants demanding translators for public services--stand as the main obstacle in the way of the bipartisan attempt to run roughshod over working people under the guise of a "budget crisis." The actions help point the way for other workers to organize and collectively fight to defend our hard-won gains.

The transit workers’ battle to maintain their health coverage should be championed by all working people. The bosses use every possible means to try to whittle away at any temporary gains wrested from them by working people--in this case claiming the plan is near "bankruptcy." Health care remains a basic right that is denied to millions of people across the country, including in New York City itself.

The fact that the attacks by the superwealthy rulers are occurring on a city, state, and federal level helps point to the need for a political fight on a national level against the depredations of capitalism. First and foremost is the battle to demand Social Security be expanded so every single person in the United States is provided cradle-to-grave health-care coverage, workers compensation, and old age pensions. In the face of layoffs and unemployment, working people can fight for full union-scale unemployment benefits and measures to force the government and employers to create jobs, such as launching a massive public works program and shortening the workweek with no cut in pay.
 
 
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Workers in New York respond to first steps by mayor toward imposing massive cuts
 
 
 
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