Rats let loose in NY city council meeting during layoff protest
By JORGE FITZ-GIBBON
The (Westchester, N.Y.) Journal News
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YONKERS, N.Y. - City officials said that as many as a dozen rats were set loose in the City Council chambers on Tuesday night, when union workers showed up to protest looming layoffs - a showdown that ultimately included expletive-filled taunts and squealing, scurrying rats.
"It borders on not only disobedience in terms of disorderly conduct ... but criminal mischief, because I think there were some things that were broken in the chambers," said Adam Brill, a spokesman for council President Chuck Lesnick.
The incident came as dozens of Teamsters and other union members gathered outside City Hall to demonstrate against job cuts and included the appearance of a giant inflatable rat that is common at union rallies.
Union members protested the cuts during the public comment portions of a council budget meeting and a subsequent regular board meeting.
Most of the commentary was civil, officials later said.
But Yonkers police were later called in, and Brill said they are now investigating the rat incident and have determined that several rodents were purchased at various locations in the city before the meeting.
Jose Caraballo, president of the Local 628 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said the department is due to see two fire companies shuttered and faces layoffs in its ranks, and is still reeling from the death of a city firefighter in the fall.
Calls at Local 456 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters were not returned.
Murtagh said he accepts assurances from union leaders who told him that they had no involvement in the release of the rats, an act he
called "outrageous conduct by anyone, most especially employees of the city."
But he also said the incident raised questions about the union leadership.
"If you take them at their word, then that shows to me that they have a complete lack of control over their membership, and indeed that their membership has a complete lack of respect for their leadership," he said.
Union leaders have complained that they have taken enough hits in recent years as the city has struggled with numerous budget crunches.
This year, lawmakers are facing a $109 million deficit, a shortfall union officials contend can be more easily closed with cuts elsewhere.
But with the debate over budget cuts likely to continue well into next year, Brill said the city would expect a "certain decorum" in the future - and a vermin-free City Hall.
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I live in Yonkers, NY and the unions are destroying everything. They refuse any concessions whatsoever and are bankrupting the city.
I wish every single one of these union goons is laid off and replaced with non-union scabs.
