99 Pickets Demands Christine Quinn Allow A Vote On Paid Sick Days

99 Pickets Launches Working Group To Confront Christine Quinn Over Paid Sick Days

83% of New Yorkers support a Paid Sick Leave bill mandating that employers provide a small number of paid sick days to their workers. Though Mayor Michael Bloomberg would likely veto such a bill, support on the City Council is deep—there are enough votes to override his veto.

That’s great news for the workers of New York. Unfortunately, the Speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, doesn’t personally support the bill. And rather than simply voting against it, she’s using her power as speaker to stop the City Council from even voting on it.

Quinn is harming millions of workers, simply to please her allies in the 1%. It’s time to put a stop to this. It’s time to hold Christine Quinn accountable.

99 Pickets is planning a campaign of creative direct action, to highlight Quinn’s embrace of the 1% and rejection of the democratic process. If you’re interested in getting involved, please use the form below to sign up.

Sign up : Working Group: Quinn/Paid Sick Days Campaign

Fran Lebowitz OWS Christine Quinn

Read Also : Fran Lebowitz And Frank Rich At The Town Hall : A Review Of The State Of The Union Conversation

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Fran Lebowitz spoke about the intersection of Occupy Wall Street and Michael Bloomberg, and New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

"... The thing I have enjoyed the most, I have to say, about Occupy Wall Street, because I am a vengeful and superficial person, is to see Bloomberg not have any idea which way to go with this thing. ... We know how he really feels, because, I mean, this mayor is not even in the 1%. He's in the 1% of the 1%. We have a mayor, who is so rich, that he will not live in a place actually called Gracie Mansion. It's not nice enough for him, you know ? He has not in any way attracted the ire of these [activists], which is shocking to me. I mean, when I walk around and sometimes these kids talk to me, I say, 'Go to Bloomberg's house.' You know, the day that they went to rich people's houses, I said, 'Go to Bloomberg's house,' and those kids said to me,'No, no, no. He's O.K., he said we could stay.' I said, 'What are you talking about ? This isn't his city. Anybody can stay. This is not his estate.' ...

"... And we've seen the new, doe-eyed Christine Quinn -- all of a sudden, champion of the people, you know, not in fact his henchman or henchwoman that she's been for the last 40 years of his mayoralty, who helped him overturn two elections in order to have this third term." ...

Two days after the Zucotti Park eviction, Ms. Lebowitz said, Mike Bloomberg "is a central villian in all this." In respect of Speaker Quinn and all the conflict between the OWS activists and powerholders, Ms. Lebowitz said, "She is an architect of this."

Bill Rudin Blood Condos

Surgeon General's Warning : Closing hospitals in order to build luxury condos for the 1% causes serious risks to your health.

Keith Olbermann reports about #OccupyWallStreet's march to St. Vincent's Hospital

#OccupyWallStreet Healthcare march to St. Vincent's Hospital is reported by Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

Keith Olbermann interviewed Dr. Steven Auerbach about the closing of St. Vincent's Hospital and the #OccupyWallStreet march for Healthcare for the 99%. (The segment about St. Vincent's and the #OWS march begins at about 0:34.)

St. Vincent’s was a Catholic-run hospital, which had a charity mission to serve the under-insured and uninsured.  St. Vincent’s lacked the corporate clout to negotiate fair reimbursement rates from profit-driven insurance companies, leading to financial instability.  Moreover, the short-term focus of the highly-paid executives and consultants pushed St. Vincent’s into bankruptcy – leading to a public health emergency:  there is now no hospital on the Westside below 57th Street.

Politicians ranging from New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to Manhattan Community Board 2 Chair Brad Hoylman to Mayor Michael Bloomberg did nothing to save St. Vincent's.

Two months ago, The New York Post reported that the Manhattan District Attorney was investigating whether hospital executives intentionally let St. Vincent’s fail, so that the Rudin Management Company could buy the hospital’s real estate as part of a controversial luxury condominium development project.

Rudin paid pennies on the dollar to buy the hospital’s real estate, and Rudin now stands to sell luxury condominiums and townhouses, once constructed, that are expected to have a combined fair-market value of over $1 billion.