Union Members’ Rally Cry: Jets in N.Y. Means Jobs

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The New York Sun

A group of several thousand labor union members gathered on West 33rd Street to rally for the Hudson Yards redevelopment yesterday afternoon. At noontime, construction workers, teamsters, and hotel and restaurant workers, some of whom were unemployed, rallied in front of Madison Square Garden to support the 59-block redevelopment that includes the New York Sports and Convention Center – a stadium for the Jets – and the expansion of the Jacob K. Javits Center.


“After 9/11, we need to rebuild New York and we need the Olympics,” said John Rondon, a mason tender from Local 79 who was working at One Penn Plaza and walked the few blocks to the rally during his lunch break. A carpenter for Local 608, Robert McLaughlan, took a vacation day from work to come to the rally.


“The New York Jets are playing in Jersey when they belong in New York,” he said.


“I hope this creates a lot of jobs for everybody, we all deserve a living wage and benefits,” said Pete Moundas, a wire latherer who has been unemployed for the past month.


Mayor Ed Koch was a surprise speaker, slurring his words after returning from dental surgery with a mouth numb from Novocain.


“I don’t usually speak like this, but I made a commitment to come, and I’m here!” he told the crowd, which stretched the length of 33rd Street from 8th to 9th avenues, with some spilling onto the next block.


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