The Local: Feb. 6, 2025 news roundup
Welcome back to The Local, a publication of NYC-DSA Labor Working Group reporting every two weeks. As always, send any tips, corrections, and other feedback to thenyclocal@substack.com. In this issue, 1199SEIU files several petitions to represent a swath of healthcare workers across the metro area, president Richard Davis of Transport Workers Union Local 100 is suspended by the international, the Trump administration takes over the NLRB (and the rest of the administrative state), and ICE raids in the metro area hit a workplace in Newark. EWOC is also hosting a February Workers’ Circle on Feb. 24th, RSVP here.
Photo by Alexandra Chan at Claire Valdez’s inauguration where she is sworn in on No Shortcuts by Jane McAlevey.
Organizing (asterisks indicate employer-filed petitions for union election)
Workers at the Winifred Masterson Burke Rehabilitation Hospital voted 132-109 against joining 1199SEIU.
Building service workers at the Park and 28th Street Condominium vote 6-1 to join SEIU 32BJ.
Workers at Roasting Plant Coffee vote 6-0 to join UFCW Local 1500.
Workers at Live Axe win their rerun election (the first election was held in April 2024), with workers voting 13-12 to join Workers United.
Workers at Foundation Building Materials in the Bronx vote 3-2 against joining Teamsters Local 11, in what was an employer-filed representation petition.
Paramedics, EMTs, and drivers at Citywide Mobile Response Corp are organizing with 1199SEIU, in what appears to be a raid on a unit currently represented by the Specialty Trades Union, Local 741. (If anyone knows anything about the history of the “Specialty Trades Union,” please drop us a tip!)
Physician assistants at Kings County Hospital (a New York City Health + Hospitals facility, with some functions contracted out to the private Physician Affiliate Group of New York, named here as the employer) are also organizing with 1199SEIU.
1199SEIU also goes public with another big organizing drive at an Optum facility, this time Crystal Run Healthcare in Middletown.
Paramedic/EMT supervisors at Empress EMS in Yonkers are organizing with Teamsters Local 445.
Bargaining & Action
01/24: NBC News laid off 20 union workers with NewsGuild NY during negotiations for a first contract.
01/24: Democracy Works staffers with NewsGuild-CWA ratified a first contract with News Media Guild.
01/27: REI Union SoHo ski shop workers won an agreement with REI to perform air quality testing by Mar 14 and returned to work after 54 days on strike.
01/27: Doctors Council SEIU physicians in ten public hospitals voted to approve a new contract with Health + Hospitals and its affiliates, but a majority of physicians at Jacobi Medical Center, North Central Bronx Hospital and Harlem Hospital Center rejected the deal and will go back into bargaining. [The City]
01/28: Starbucks Workers United at Park Slope went on strike over the company’s refusal to bargain with the union over the proposed store closure.
01/30: University of Rochester grad workers rallied in protest of the university delaying their election agreement.
01/30: 97% of New York Mag Union workers with NewsGuild NY are ready to walk off the job for a fair contract.
01/31: The National Association of Letter Carriers voted down a tentative agreement with the United States Postal Service with a vote of 63,680 against and 26,304 for. Now, the NALC and USPS will return back to the bargaining table and produce a new agreement within the next 15 days, which if that isn’t accepted it’ll go to a third-party arbiter. [Federal News Network]
02/01: ARTS-MSM/NYSUT/AFT, Pre-college Instructors at Manhattan School of Music, begin week-long strike after working under expired contract for five months.
02/03: NYC Alamo United with UAW held informational pickets as Alamo Drafthouse laid off 70 workers across unionized locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
02/04: IUE-CWA Local 81102 manufacturers at Steinway & Sons in Astoria voted down a tentative agreement.
Photo by Magdalena Moranda from the SBWU Park Slope strike.
City Hall
Given the city’s lack of public restrooms, taxi drivers call for special permits to briefly park in otherwise illegal spots while they relieve themselves. [Gothamist]
City Limits profiles the immigrant sex workers caught up in recent NYPD crackdowns along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. [City Limits]
Miscellaneous
Leaders from the Transit Workers Union are excited by mayoral candidate, and Queens assemblyman, Zohran Mamdani proposal to remove fares from city buses. They cite a free bus pilot program, passed by Mamdani in Albany, that saw a nearly 40% reduction in bus driver assaults. [The Chief Leader]
The Transit Workers Union international suspended Local 100 president Richard Davis after allegations of sexual misconduct came to light. However, there are questions in the union about the timing of the removal, because Davis was just elected and his replacement will be appointed by the union’s executive board, which would make another president appointed by the exec board after a sudden resignation. [Work Bites]
Peter Stern, the looooongtime head of DC 37 Local 508, retired after leading the union for lifeguard supervisors for over 40 years. This announcement follows attempts by rank-and-filers within the union accusing Stern of violating the union and international’s constitutions. [The Chief Leader]
The Trump administration’s rampage through the federal government continues. On January 28, Trump fired General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo and Member Gwynne Wilcox (formerly a union-side labor lawyer here in New York City, and the first black woman to sit on the NLRB). Though Abruzzo’s firing was expected and consistent with precedent, Wilcox’s position is protected by the National Labor Relations Act, which bans removals of NLRB members except for “neglect of duty or malfeasance in office”; Wilcox is now suing the Trump administration over the illegal firing. Trump then subsequently fired Abruzzo’s replacement, Jessica Rutter, before appointing William Cowen as Acting General Counsel. Although the NLRB continues to process cases for now, there is only so much they can do without quorum on the Board, which now only has two members – Republican Marvin Kaplan and Democrat David Prouty. [Reuters; NLRB Edge]
In a similar move, the Trump administration also fired two of the Democratic appointees on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, another independent federal agency with removal protections for its top officials. The EEOC, which enforces civil rights laws in the workplace, is now left with only two members – one Democrat and one Republican. [Associated Press]
The Trump administration also sends out deferred resignation offers to most of the federal civilian workforce (incorrectly labeled a “buyout” offer in the media, as it does not offer any paid time off, but rather only the option to work from home until September 30, 2025). The National Labor Relations Board staff union breaks down what is in the offer. [NBC News]
Two major public sector unions, the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and AFSCME, file a lawsuit to try to stop the Trump administration of stripping civil service protections for hundreds of thousands of federal employees.
ICE raids have picked up throughout the country, with one hitting a seafood distributor in Newark, NJ. As part of the raid, ICE agents stormed onto the shop floor, separated out the Spanish-speaking workers, and demanded identification. [The Washington Post]
Unions and worker centers begin educating members on what to do in the event of an encounter with immigration officials. [Documented]
Job Listings
Contract Administrator - American Federation of Musicians (Salary: $50,000 - $65,000)
Staff Attorney - Professional Staff Congress (Salary: $82,000 - $110,000)
Database Developer - SEIU 32BJ (Salary: $90,000)
Union Membership Analyst - Organization of Staff Analysts (Salary: $50,000)
Union Grievance Coordinator - Organization of Staff Analysts (Salary: $50,000)
A complete list of local union jobs can be found at unionjobs.com, alongside here is the complete list of New York City’s civil service exams. Additionally if you’re interested in taking a job in a strategic industry and want to be connected through the Labor Working Group, check out this form here.