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CityAndStateNY.com
September 6, 2021
A fragile pea
CREDIT
LEV RADIN/SHUTTERSTOCK
T
HE WAY ERIC ADAMS talks, you’d think his expected election as the next mayor of New York City would be the biggest win for labor unions since the 40-hour workweek. “You should feel good because one of your own will become the mayor of the city of New York. One of your own,” Adams said to members of Construction & General Building Laborers’ Local 79 on Aug. 23 in the South Bronx. “Probably the first time in history that a union member will become the mayor.” (Not quite – John Hylan, mayor from 1918 through 1925 and William O’Dwyer, mayor from 1946 to 1950, reportedly once belonged to unions.) “I am you! I am you!” Adams said – a line that he’s been using on the campaign trail for months as he picked up the most high-impact labor endorsements in the crowded Democratic mayoral field. Adams showed love for Local 79, and the union loved him back. “He’s a hardworking guy like the laborers that we are,” Chaz Rynkiewicz, the local’s vice president, said when introducing Adams. “You guys like hard work?” A cheer went up in the orange-clad crowd. Local 79 may have some more hard work ahead if the union wants to be on Adams’ good side. After all, the local endorsed one of Adams’ leading rivals, Scott Stringer, in the Democratic mayoral primary, and an affiliated political action committee spent $333,334 backing Stringer’s run. It’s not like Adams was tight with the union before that – he’s often criticized the city’s construction trade unions for not having enough workers of color, and he stood against Local 79 on safety training legislation and prevailing wage legislation. Now, in the honeymoon period after the primary, everybody in labor wants to be Adams’ friend, and Adams wants to be friends with labor. But that’s easier said than done, as a number of unions will have to weigh just how hard they want to work to keep Adams on their side. The United Federation of Teachers may also have one of the greatest challenges in cultivating the new mayor as an ally. After all, the UFT spent $3.75 million supporting Stringer’s mayoral campaign and continued spending even after decades-old sexual harassment accusations against
