Report: Sanitation union deliberately slowed down snow plow efforts in NYC

The New York Post has an explosive report this morning on how the Sanitation Union deliberately slowed down snow plow efforts in NYC as a form of “payback” of sorts for Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s budget cuts:

Sources said budget cuts were also at the heart of poor planning for the blizzard last weekend. The city broke from its usual routine and did not call in a full complement on Saturday for snow preparations in order to save on added overtime that would have had to be paid for them to work on Christmas Day.

The result was an absolute collapse of New York’s once-vaunted systems of clearing the streets and keeping mass transit moving under the weight of 20 inches of snow.

The Sanitation Department last night denied there was a concerted effort to slow snow removal.

There are no organized or wildcat actions being taken by the sanitation workers or the supervisors,” said spokesman Matthew Lipani.

Joseph Mannion, president of the union that represents agency supervisors, said talk of a slowdown “is hogwash.” But he admitted there is “resentment out there” toward Mayor Bloomberg and his administration because of budget cuts.

His counterpart at the rank-and-file’s union, Harry Nespoli, has also denied there is a job action, though he admitted his guys are working lucrative 14-hour shifts.

Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser said only: “We would hope this is not the case.”

But multiple Sanitation Department sources told The Post yesterday that angry plow drivers have only been clearing streets assigned to them even if that means they have to drive through snowed-in roads with their plows raised.

And they are keeping their plow blades unusually high, making it necessary for them to have to run extra passes, adding time and extra pay.

One mechanic said some drivers are purposely smashing plows and salt spreaders to further stall the cleanup effort.

Wow. Just wow. Looks like Bloomberg’s head isn’t the only one that’s going to roll over the slow snow plow efforts once all is said and done. Can you imagine if this had happened in NJ, where Gov. Christie has been waging a successful war on selfish public employee unions, with a heavy emphasis on the teachers unions? I’d pay to see his reaction!

Anyway, as I always say, there’s never ever a dull moment in NY politics. Never …