When
The Rockettes went on strike at
Radio City Music Hall in 1967, Schmertz helped negotiate a deal that brought the dancers a pay increases of 15%. A 1969 negotiation he oversaw brought 2,000 striking cab drivers back to work. While negotiating a labor agreement relating to adjusting the schedules of employees of the
New York City Fire Department in 1970, Schmertz spent time with a firehouse and joined the firemen on calls to incidents. Koch was so bothered by the favoritism he perceived that Schmertz had for union workers, that he said that he had "turned Schmertz into a verb and a noun", so that "If you have been abused, we say you have been Schmertzed. If you get an unwarranted and undeserved payment from the City of New York, you say, 'Thank you Mr. Mayor, for the Schmertz.'" Schmertz had been a faculty member of
Hofstra Law School from the time it was formed in 1970 and was named as the school's dean in 1982. In that role he created a program teaching students about mediation as an alternative to using the court system. In 2005, Schmertz was part of an independent committee that oversaw a 10% salary increase as part of a new contract for officers of the
New York City Police Department, with Schmertz noting that police officers in surrounding communities were paid more despite having "less duties, less responsibilities and less stress and danger" and stating that he would have approved an even larger increase if he had the opportunity. == Further reading ==