Enough Blame to Go Around

Veteran labor journalist Richard Steier is editor and columnist for the Chief-Leader and the coauthor (with Len Ragozin and Len Friedman) of The Odds Must Be Crazy: Beating the Races with the Man Who Revolutionized Handicapping and Created The Sheets. He lives in Bellerose, New York.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroductionList of Acronyms and AbbreviationsUnions on the Run A New Sheriff’s in Town; The Town Is NottinghamStaring Down the Barrel of Reagan’s LegacyThe ‘Evil Genius’ Loses One‘Christmas Bonuses’ and Other Wicked FablesUnions Finally Aroused by Mayor’s DistortionsPensions a Beachhead for Class WarfareTabs to Randi: Burn, BabySister Randi Explains It AllOTB Workers Unwilling to Gamble on Defiance‘The Prince’ Incarnate in a Cuomovellian GambitWith Leaders Like These… Judge Speaks Loud for McLaughlin’s VictimsA School Bus Frame-Up DOE Won’t Talk AboutLet’s Not Strike for SpikeBusfellas’ Past Helped Mayor to Break StrikePolice Unions in All Their Complexities Enough Blame to Go AroundA Tough Guy Gets UndressedSavage Steps Out BoldlyGiuliani’s Toxic CynicismThe Demise of a Once-Great Union Targets: Friends of RudyGotbaum’s Revised HistoryStern Reaction for DC 37Delusions of EntitlementAn Absence of LeadershipSad Tale of Two CharliesShe Didn’t Stick to StoryDC 37, after the Gold RushButler’s Banana RepublicRoberts Is Queen of DenialRoberts Wins, DC 37 LosesElegy for a Flawed FighterSame Old Song for DC 37The Rise and Fall of a Militant Whose Vision Went Sour Toussaint’s Quiet RevolutionThe World v. Mr. ToussaintHard to Be Toussaint in CityFor Toussaint, Power Is All That’s LeftWhat Killed Roger Rebel? A Self-Inflicted WoundEpilogueIndex

"The book provides a crash course into New York public sector labor relations. Readers will learn a surprising amount about pension legislation—for those of us in the public sector, Steier's explanation of the Variable Supplement Fund alone is worth the book's price—and the 30-plus years' erosion of union power in the city." — Solidarity"The New York City public sector is the largest municipal workforce and as such, can provide both positive and negative lessons for union leaders. Steier's volume provides many of the lessons on both sides of the ledger and should be required reading for all union leaders, particularly those dealing with public sector employees." — Labor Studies Journal"Richard Steier … is the best full-time reporter on the New York City labor beat … Steier's work takes guts, not just in the timely writing but in the republishing of what could be dismissed as old news; at least old to city-based labor activists and those reading Steier religiously … How many scribblers can stand by their work a week after publication, let alone years or decades? Steier can. His is still instructive." — Michael Hirsch, Working USA"With 151 municipal contracts to be negotiated, this is the perfect time to peruse Enough Blame to Go Around." — New York Times"No one knows New York City's working men and women better than journalist Richard Steier. Whether he's depicting the heroic exploits of legendary union leaders or exposing the excesses of corrupt labor bosses or recounting pivotal battles over labor contracts, Steier always provides fresh, behind-the-scenes insight into the vast world of municipal workers, a group that too often is unfairly maligned. And he does it all with a powerful bare-knuckle style that will leave you wishing for more." — Juan Gonzalez, staff columnist, New York Daily News"If you want to know about municipal unions in New York City, you need to read Richard Steier. I sometimes disagree with him, but for more than two decades he has been one of the most informative and provocative chroniclers of the ins and outs of public sector labor." — Joshua B. Freeman, author of American Empire: The Rise of a Global Power, the Democratic Revolution at Home, 1945–2000"New York City's labor unions have been luckier than they deserved to have had reporter and editor Richard Steier around to spotlight their occasional triumphs and their much more frequent failures. Like Murray Kempton, another great New York columnist who loved the men and women of labor but who never suffered the fools who sometimes ran their unions, Steier's columns are filled with news, insight, and always compassion for those who ride (and drive) the early trains and buses to work." — Tom Robbins, CUNY Graduate School of Journalism"Steier presents an impassioned case for public sector unions and the benefits they have won, along with fascinating tales of the machinations inside several of the largest unions in New York City—District Council 37, Transport Workers Union Local 100 and the 2005 strike that paralyzed the city, and the United Federation of Teachers." — Alair Townsend, former New York City Budget Director and Deputy Mayor