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As Mamdani lauds ‘worker power,’ unions for NYC employees get a cooler reception
By
Walter Wuthmann
Published Sep 10, 2026
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Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
By
Walter Wuthmann
Published Sep 10, 2026
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This column originally appeared in The Politics Brief, our weekly newsletter on the people, power and policies that shape New Yorkers' lives.
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Mayor Zohran Mamdani has positioned himself as a staunch ally to workers, endorsing a boycott of Starbucks while its baristas were on strike shortly after his election and then joining union nurses on the picket line. But that warm embrace has mostly been reserved for workers in the private sector.
Mamdani has taken a much cooler approach in his dealings with New York City’s public sector unions. Last week, when Mamdani announced the creation of a new Office of Worker Power at City Hall, he was flanked by hotel workers, Amazon delivery drivers, and home health aides as he signed the executive order. Teachers, firefighters and sanitation workers were noticeably absent.
“When workers have power, this city works better for everyone,” Mamdani said.
The Mamdani administration is meanwhile seeking to block $10,000 bonuses for paraprofessionals, arguing the payments violate state collective bargaining law. Mamdani had supported the payments while campaigning for mayor, and they have been a priority for the city’s influential teachers’ union.
“ We've been trying for over a year-and-a-half now to solve this crisis, and they have not been willing to do it,” United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said in an interview. “This precedes this administration, this mayor, but he’s still responsible for his agencies.”
All of this comes as contracts covering hundreds of thousands of municipal workers begin to expire this fall and City Hall prepares for its first round of possibly contentious bargaining sessions.
“The administration is proud to stand with both public and private sector workers as we build a city that works for working people,” said Deputy Press Secretary Cassio Mendoza, adding that City Hall is in frequent contact with all of the city’s public sector unions.
In a letter to members earlier this year, Henry Garrido, executive director of DC37, the city’s largest municipal union, expressed optimism about the future negotiations with the new mayor, writing “we welcome this new leadership and the opportunity to move our city toward a more just and equitable future.”
Labor experts say mayors often have thorny relationships with public sector unions. But Mamdani’s self-styled pro-worker image puts him in a difficult spot now that he’s on the other side of the bargaining table.
“ There's really a striking difference in the approach to those two hats the mayor wears,” said Joshua Freeman, a history professor at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies.
Freeman said that approach is reflected in Mamdani’s appointments of nationally recognized pro-labor voices for roles that deal with the private sector. He hired former acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su as his deputy mayor for economic justice, and chose Tony Perlstein, a longtime leader with the United Auto Workers, to lead the Office of Worker Power. “But he just kept the old crowd in for the public sector,” Freeman said.
As mayor, Mamdani faces new pressures that he did not face as a state assemblymember and advocate. The city is staring down a projected $6.4 billion deficit for the next fiscal year. DC37’s contract, which covers about 90,000 municipal workers, expires this fall. And Mamdani needs funding to cover his signature campaign issues, like universal childcare, free buses and city-owned grocery stores.
“ Mamdani is facing the same structural situation that other pro-labor mayors have faced in the past,” Freeman said.
Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, for example, who’s widely remembered as a champion of workers, also had a sometimes fraught relationship with public employees.
La Guardia drew a sharp line between private and public sector unions, and did not believe city workers should be allowed to strike.
When the city took over the private subway and train lines that became the MTA, La Guardia refused to recognize the workers’ unions and their contracts. “ It was a huge fight that went on for many, many, many years, and it was only after La Guardia left office that the union finally re-established the right to collective bargaining,” Freeman said.
Mamdani often cites La Guardia as a historical role model and inspiration. But today’s city employees hope the new mayor leaves the Little Flower’s attitudes toward the public sector in the dustbin of history.
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This week in New York politics
- Three top advisers to Mayor Mamdani recount how Islamophobia post-9/11 altered the trajectories of their careers.
- New York’s landmark law compelling oil companies to pay for state efforts to address climate change has been struck down. Could something similar be in store for a similar bill in New Jersey?
- While nearly 100 towns in New Jersey have banned data centers, you shouldn’t expect a statewide ban anytime soon.
- Upstate foie gras farmers want New York City's ban overturned, saying their methods for force-feeding ducks have become more humane.
- The Mamdani administration is calling for Columbia University to reopen College Walk. The university locked the gates to the thoroughfare in October 2023 after the war in Gaza set off protests on campus.
- The Trump administration has once again refused to grant New York and New Jersey more than $250 million to help both states recover from February’s blizzard.
- New York City’s $6 billion power line from Canada — which was supposed to bring enough energy to power 1 million homes — has been operating at a trickle since coming on line in June.
- New York judges oppose the passage of Kyra’s Law, saying the bill would have unintended consequences and make their workloads untenable.
- New Jersey’s controversial Office of Public Integrity and Accountability, which is tasked with prosecuting public corruption in the state is being disbanded.
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Walter Wuthmann
Walter Wuthmann is a reporter covering public safety and the legal system.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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