So Air Traffic Controllers wanted fair wages and decent working conditions, Reagan fired them

[branford]

19. You need to acknowledge that the strong labor protections afforded the unions

you agree with, also protect the NYPD unions. Similarly, the police, as public employees, are entitled to the same constitutional protections as other more liberal public employees. Lastly, the type, nature, extent and procedures for discipline are governed by the various collective bargaining agreements between the city and unions, which in a blue state and city like NY, favor workers.

You may find the actions of the officers abhorrent, and to a great extent I certainly agree, but I'm not to about to abandon my liberal labor ideals and become a hypocrite over some posturing between a mayor of NYC and the police, hardly a historically uncommon circumstance, and a few less traffic and parking tickets, no less look to Reagan's PATCO firings as an inspiration.

In additional to the police officers' legal protections, threatening discipline, no less termination, is a political dead end. Whether anyone here agrees or not, the police have solid public support, solidarity with police elsewhere, and could not be easily or readily replaced. In fact, the mayor's continued dispute with the NYPD rank-and-file, which started before Gardner and the police murders and primarily relates to the contentious negotiation and now binding arbitration of the PBA contract, is largely responsible for the deBlasio's precipitously declining support in the polls. DeBlasio certainly doesn't want to inflame the situation even more, despite his belief that the union criticisms are unfair and unfounded.

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/news-and-events/quinnipiac-university-poll/new-york-city/release-detail?ReleaseID=2120

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/new-yorkers-who-like-cops-dont-like-de-blasio/

Lastly, the police have not threatened deBlasio outside the entirely lawful political sphere, and certainly not his family. Such inaccuracy and hyperbole are not helpful and potentially counterproductive.