John Hayward, Staff Writer 12.30.10

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New Yorkers have been complaining about the slow response from city authorities to this week’s massive snowstorm, especially the poor condition of city streets. Blocked streets have been blamed for several deaths, including a baby born in the lobby of an apartment building, who died when emergency crews could not reach the scene.

Now the New York Post is reporting that these clogged streets might have been the result of a deliberate slowdown by the city sanitation union, which is angry at Mayor Michael Bloomberg over budget cuts to their department. Anonymous sources talk of receiving orders to leave streets unplowed. Raised plows were allegedly used to make multiple passes on some streets necessary, earning extra overtime pay and leaving other streets untouched. There have even been claims of deliberate sabotage to street cleaning equipment.

Union officials angrily deny these charges, calling them “hogwash.” The Mayor is wilting under intense criticism for his handling of the blizzard response, and has every reason to investigate a story that would take some of heat off him. Angry New Yorkers are demanding explanations for seemingly inexplicable failures to deal with the storm. National attention has been riveted upon the city’s plight.

Now there is word that outgoing New York Governor David Paterson is calling for a criminal investigation into the slowdown allegations. If it proves to be true, this story could change America, with aftershocks felt in union halls from coast to coast. Private-sector union membership has been falling rapidly, while public-sector unions are driving state and federal budgets into terminal insolvency. Can the union movement handle the revelation of a deliberate work slowdown in the face of a huge natural catastrophe, when deliberate negligence may have cost lives?