Taking on Unions, And Paying a Price

When East Side City Council member Eva Moskowitz decided to confront the city's public-school unions over the touchy issue of work rules, she knew she was taking one of the biggest gambles of her brief political life.

"I knew months ago, when I decided to do this, that this was a difficult topic," she said of her decision to question powerful union officials representing teachers, principals and custodians. "Initially, it wasn't even clear my staff wanted me to do it, because this was a very politically risky thing to do."

Any ambitious Democrat with thoughts of running for higher office-and the 39-year-old Ms. Moskowitz fits that description-has to consider the power and influence of the city's unions, particularly the potent United Federation of Teachers. Nevertheless, Ms. Moskowitz pressed forward, and the result was a municipal rarity: A series of confrontational_public hearings that attracted reporters and produced headlines. City Council hearings generally pass with little or no notice in the media. Not these.

In publicly airing the work rules that many education reformers have criticized for years, Ms. Moskowitz earned praised from Republican colleag