Hochul's holdout

To the editor:

The good news: 60 percent of the votes went to re-elect Governor Kathy Hochul. The bad news: 40 percent think it's okay to vote for Bruce Blakeman, who blindly follows a President who threatens our democracy at home and uses our military for acts of aggression, not defense, against foreign countries.

     Blakeman tried to sound reasonable in his interview in The Chief's Oct. 30 edition. But in defending a poverty minimum wage ($17 an hour In New York City and $16 an hour in the rest of the state), he
was not successful. All workers need at least a living wage.

Employers will pay it if they are forced to for the employees they need. They won't hire those they don't need regardless of how little they can get
away with paying them.

     Also, Blakeman's proposal of an income tax exemption for those making up to $100,000 a year would create a revenue loss that would make it difficult to fund essential programs and grant state workers
raises. But that's what Republicans want.

     While Hochul's overall record is more favorable to labor, her opposition to the transit workers "Death Gamble" bill is one of her weak spots. Supporting this bill is a no-brainer. But her brain was out to lunch when she vetoed it twice, the second time after both houses of the legislature approved it unanimously.

     Currently, a transit worker's family receives his or her pension if that person dies after retiring. But for employees who die while working past their retirement eligibility, their families receive just
a lump-sum, three-year payment.
    Hochul claims the money isn't there to close the loophole and eliminate this unfairness. Hogwash.

How many transit employees are working past their retirement eligibility and how many who do die on
the job? Enacting this bill would not be a budget buster.

Richard Warren