{"id":1048654,"date":"2026-09-07T10:32:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T10:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1048654\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T10:32:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T10:32:42","slug":"mamdani-puts-city-hall-behind-worker-organizing-with-new-office-orders-proactive-labor-probes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1048654\/","title":{"rendered":"Mamdani puts City Hall behind worker organizing with new office, orders proactive labor probes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a> is marking Labor Day<\/a> by announcing a new City Hall office aimed at helping New Yorkers organize at work, while directing several city agencies to more aggressively pursue labor violations \u2014 including cases where no worker has filed a complaint.<\/p>\n

Mamdani signed the executive order Thursday at a ceremony with workers who had organized or were in the process of organizing their workplaces, according to City Hall. The order took effect immediately, while the administration is formally announcing the Mayor\u2019s Office of Worker Power on Monday in honor of Labor Day.<\/p>\n

Longtime labor organizer Tony Perlstein, a former New York-area longshoreman who most recently served as a director in the organizing department of the United Auto Workers, will lead the new office.<\/p>\n

The order directs the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP), the Taxi and Limousine Commission and Commission on Human Rights to develop procedures for proactively investigating workplace violations and other predatory practices when no complaint has been filed.<\/p>\n

The procedures are to prioritize employers with histories of labor violations or other signs of poor compliance, particularly companies employing large numbers of low-wage workers.\n<\/p>\n

More broadly, the order requires Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su to establish enforcement principles for city agencies responsible for worker-protection laws, directing them to prioritize monitoring, investigating and taking action against companies that deny workers workplace protections.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not enough for government to simply wait until workers come forward,\u201d Su told reporters during a briefing ahead of the announcement.\n<\/p>\n

Su said worker complaints are currently the most common way city investigations begin, but some of the workers most vulnerable to exploitation may be afraid to report violations because they fear retaliation, losing their jobs or having their immigration status used against them.<\/p>\n

\"\"Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su attends Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s ceremonial signing of an executive order establishing the Mayor\u2019s Office of Worker Power on Thursday, Sept. 3Photo by Kara McCurdy | Mayoral Photography Office<\/p>\n

For employers that have determined it is cheaper to violate labor laws because they are unlikely to get caught or face meaningful consequences, Su said, \u201cthose days are over.\u201d<\/p>\n

What the Mamdani labor executive order does<\/p>\n

The executive order, she said, charges city agencies with proactively ferreting out what she called \u201cthe worst violations in the city.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Asked how agencies would identify employers for investigation without complaints, Su said the city would use \u201call the information at our disposal\u201d and increase cooperation among enforcement agencies. She did not identify specific datasets or criteria that would trigger an investigation.<\/p>\n

The order also directs agencies, where warranted, to broaden investigations beyond an individual worker or complaint to address unlawful practices affecting workers companywide. Agencies are instructed to seek monetary relief for all workers affected by a violation, including those who never personally filed a complaint.<\/p>\n

It also calls for DCWP, TLC, CCHR and other designated agencies to share information about federal, state and local worker-protection violations within the limits of their existing legal authority.<\/p>\n

The executive order does not grant the new Office of Worker Power its own enforcement powers. Instead, the office is charged with supporting workers\u2019 legal right to organize, creating opportunities for workers to help shape city policies affecting their rights and examining ways the city can help them exercise those rights and report violations. The office will operate under Su.<\/p>\n

Su said the administration sees government\u2019s role as going beyond enforcing workplace laws to helping workers build lasting power on the job. In her briefing remarks, Su said workers need the ability to build \u201cdurable organizations,\u201d including labor unions and worker organizations, and said it was time for city government \u201cto take a stand on the side of workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Su said the administration\u2019s goal is to \u201csupport workers who want to organize formal power in the workplace,\u201d but stressed that City Hall will not itself run union drives.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThis office will not be directly going into workplaces and organizing workers,\u201d Su said. \u201cWe are not taking the place of unions or worker centers and others who do that work.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Instead, officials said the office plans to educate workers about organizing rights, connect them with unions, worker centers and community organizations, convene workers across industries and use city research and data to identify broader workplace problems.<\/p>\n

Su said existing city enforcement agencies could take a more aggressive role where industry practices are enabling widespread violations or exploitation.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will not hold back on the powers that we do have to make life better for working people and to make it easier for them to organize where they already should have that right,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n

The scope of the new office is still being developed. City Hall has not disclosed a budget or staffing target, and Perlstein is its first announced hire.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cTony is our first hire. He will not be our last,\u201d Su said.
\n\"\"Tony Perlstein, center, attends Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s ceremonial signing of an executive order establishing the Mayor\u2019s Office of Worker Power on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. Perlstein has been named the office\u2019s inaugural executive director.Photo by Kara McCurdy | Mayoral Photography Office\n<\/p>\n

Perlstein, who expects to begin the job in a couple of weeks, said he would judge the office\u2019s success after its first year by whether it had been able to \u201cconvene at scale large numbers of workers,\u201d bring their workplace experiences to light and connect workers who choose to organize with resources that can support them.<\/p>\n

He also said he thinks he will step down from the board of the Mayor\u2019s Fund to Advance New York City, which Mamdani appointed him to in April.<\/a> The administration at the time highlighted Perlstein\u2019s UAW organizing work and his earlier career as a longshoreman.<\/p>\n

Whether the Office of Worker Power will play a role for public-sector employees remains unsettled. Asked directly whether it would support both private- and public-sector workers, Su said the administration was \u201cnot drawing such strict lines about that\u201d yet and would develop some of those details as the office begins hearing from workers.<\/p>\n

The executive order also directs agencies that enforce worker protections to guard against discrimination, harassment and retaliation against workers seeking information or reporting violations, including retaliation based on immigration status. Agencies are also instructed to keep complainants\u2019 identities confidential wherever possible under applicable law.<\/p>\n

City Hall cast the new office as an extension of other worker-focused initiatives under Mamdani, including an executive order signed in June protecting outdoor workers from extreme heat and a recent partnership between DCWP and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg\u2019s office aimed at wage theft and other workplace violations.<\/p>\n

Mamdani has also publicly backed efforts outside government to expand union organizing. In April, he joined Sen. Bernie Sanders at the launch of Union Now, a nonprofit created to support workers involved in organizing drives, strikes and contract fights. At the event, Mamdani called increasing union density \u201cthe most effective tool\u201d for confronting income inequality.<\/p>\n

Su also framed the effort partly as a response to weakened federal labor enforcement, while acknowledging that city government cannot replace federal labor agencies. She said the city would instead use the powers already available to municipal government to protect workers and support their ability to organize.<\/p>\n

Perlstein said the reach of city government gives the new office an opportunity to connect large numbers of working New Yorkers with resources they might otherwise struggle to find.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a huge gap between what workers want and what workers would like to have, and the reality,\u201d he said of the disparity between support for unions and actual union membership. \u201cI think it\u2019s our role and our job to help bridge that gap.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Zohran Mamdani is marking Labor Day by announcing a new City Hall office aimed at helping New…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1048655,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,270969,5708,221265,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,419949,15742,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-1048654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-julie-su","tag-mamdani","tag-mayor-zohran-mamdani","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-tony-perlstein","tag-union","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117229308367529348","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1048654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1048655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1048654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1048654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1048654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}