By Mark Scott
Buffalo, NY – City workers rallied in Niagara Square Thursday against the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority and Mayor Anthony Masiello.
Hundreds of city workers, led by their union AFSCME Council 35, criticized Masiello for refusing to consider a union-sponsored plan that leaders say would save the cash-strapped city $15 million. The workers received a big boost from their national union headquarters. AFSCME International President Gerald McEntee came to Buffalo to deliver an impassioned speech, saying such cost-saving measures as layoffs, mergers and privatization are the wrong choices.
"Sisters and brothers, you are the people who make Buffalo work, not the control board and not the mayor," McEntee told the crowd. "You are there 24/7. You are there every day. If you weren't there, Buffalo wouldn't work."
Frank Cahill says he was energized by McEntee's speech. He works for the city's department of audit and control in accounting.
"I work with numbers every day," Cahill said. "You can't look at the expense side of the ledger only. You have to look at the revenue side, too, and find a way to increase that revenue side."
And those who gathered Thursday say one potential source of new revenue would be a portion of the extra one percent sales tax that currently goes to the county.
McEntee presented the local union with a $50,000 check to help it in its campaign against the Masiello administration and the control board.