When, last spring, Mayor Bill de Blasio implored the New York Legislature to defeat a bill requiring the city to grant unlimited sick time for municipal employees for line-of-duty ailments incurred during the World Trade Center rescue and recovery, he promised that he would grant the benefits through collective bargaining.
And so he claimed to have done so in October for EMS members, who were not covered under the unlimited sick-time rules for uniformed services like the NYPD and FDNY.
But de Blasio's botched it, making things so complicated that qualifying persons are finding it impossible to access. And it applies only to two locals, not the whole of the city workforce, whether unionized or not.
Remember, this is for heroes with WTC-related cancers and other deadly conditions to take time off for chemotherapy and the like. The mayor is treating them like takers instead of selfless New Yorkers who sacrificed their health for their country.
Since the mayor's promise was hollow, the answer is for Gov. Cuomo and the Legislature to impose the WTC sick-time mandate on the city, as was done with every other local government.
Look to Washington. In Congress, upstate Reps. Chris Collins and Joe Morelle have joined every member from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut in sponsoring a bill to make permanent the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund.
Collins and Morelle could teach de Blasio about honoring the heroes.
