NYC officials 'improperly' barred access to union meeting: Investigators

Aides to Mayor Bill de Blasio and public school officials improperly barred journalists and the public from a union meeting held July 14 at a Brooklyn public school, city investigators said in a report released Tuesday.

The Department of Investigation and the Department of Education's special commissioner of investigation, in a 12-page report, said a flier for the meeting should have had a disclaimer stating the public school system was not sponsoring or endorsing the meeting, and New York Post journalists should not have been turned away. "It appears that these violations were inadvertent," the investigators said.

The meeting was organized by de Blasio and the Communications Workers of America to discuss CWA's contract negotiations with Bethpage-based Cablevision Systems Corp. for about 300 cable technicians in Brooklyn.

De Blasio apologized Tuesday, telling reporters, "It was a mistake ... a mistake we won't make again." CWA leader Bob Master said in a statement, "We will be sure to comply with such rules in the future."

Cablevision, which owns Newsday, said in a statement that the investigators' report "is further evidence . . . that Bob Master and the CWA are attempting to manipulate government in order to further the interests of the CWA union and prevent Cablevision employees from having a voice."

With Emily Ngo