DID CUOMO KILL THE PREVAILING WAGE? 100 LEADERS FIGHTING FOR WORKERS CAN IMMIGRANTS SAVE UNIONS?
CIT YANDSTATENY.COM
@CIT YANDSTATENY
September 2, 2019
Robert Bonanza
Mason Tenders District Council, Business Manager
Congratulations!
On being recognized as two of New York’s Labor Power 100 The 17,000 members of the Mason Tenders’ District Council thank you for your leadership and support. Thanks to you we have dignity, respect and fairness on the job.
Patrick Purcell Jr.
Greater New York LECET, Executive Director
September 2, 2019
CELESTE SLOMAN; JOSEPH SORRENTINO/SHUTTERSTOCK
EDITOR’S NOTE
JON LENTZ Editor-in-chief
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City & State New York
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A CENTURY AGO, Gov. Al Smith nominated Frances Perkins to the New York State Industrial Commission. Perkins had made her mark lobbying for groundbreaking workplace safety measures following the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which more than 100 female workers were killed. But Perkins – the first woman named to an administrative post in New York state government – faced resistance. State lawmakers feared she was a radical, since she hadn’t taken her husband’s name. Organized labor and business owners claimed she didn’t represent them. But Smith, elected in 1918 when women voted for the first time in New York, stood by Perkins. “She represents the millions of working girls of the state,” Smith said. “I determined on her when I felt that a woman should be named on the commission. I do not know what her politics are and I don’t see why the representative of any particular interest should be appointed to this or any other position.” Smith’s successor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, kept Perkins on, and as president he appointed her labor secretary, making her the first woman in a Cabinet position and a key architect of the New Deal. Today, the struggle for workers’ rights continues and New Yorkers, just as in Perkins’ time, are leading the way.
CONTENTS
HÉCTOR FIGUEROA’S LEGACY … 8
The 32BJ SEIU president led from the left
IMMIGRATION … 10 Labor is under threat. Immigrants to the rescue? GIG WORKERS … 16
Will they ever get basic labor protections?
PREVAILING WAGE … 20 Why the effort to redefine “public works” failed
LABOR 100 … 25
The most powerful labor leaders in New York
WINNERS & LOSERS … 66 Who was up and who was down last week
CityAndStateNY.com
September 2, 2019
Jewish community for small donations in the hopes of making the debate, but only managed to get 670 donors, far short of his goal of 10,000 contributors. Yet the perennial underdog is still seeking a breakthrough moment to resuscitate his campaign.
SCRAPPING GIFTED AND TALENTED PROGRAMS?
GILLIBRAND OUT, DE BLASIO SOLDIERS ON
After failing to qualify for the third round of Democratic presidential primary debates, U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has ended her campaign, following Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, Rep. Seth Moulton and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper to
the exits. Gillibrand plans to endorse a fellow Democrat, but has not made a decision yet. Despite a national appearance in a CNN town hall, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also failed to make the next debate, which will only have 10 candidates this time. De Blasio, who has been polling at or close to 0%, made a desperate plea to the ultra-Orthodox
An advisory board empaneled by de Blasio to address segregation in New York City schools issued a report with a bold recommendation: scrap the city’s gifted and talented programs, on the grounds that they perpetuate inequality. Most of those programs begin in kindergarten, and students take a test at age 4 to qualify, shaping a child’s academic path with a single test. The advisory board also recommended getting rid of most screened public schools, proposing instead a new admissions process
A RISING TIDE Climate activist Greta Thunberg arrived in New York City last week after sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to draw attention to climate change. The 16-year-old Swede embarked on a zero-emissions yacht – featuring solar panels and underwater turbines to generate electricity – and will speak at the U.N. Climate Action Summit in September.
“You’ll make it up anyway, so why should I tell you?” – former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, when asked how he spends his time outside of jail as his corruption case is reviewed by an appeals court, via the New York Post
“We’re not giving out salaries just so the Daily News can write a story.” – New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s campaign spokeswoman Jaclyn Rothenberg, on whether the mayor’s presidential campaign staffers have “good-paying jobs,” via the Daily News
for public schools, and using magnet schools and enrichment programs to replace gifted and talented programs. The call to eliminate gifted and talented programs was criticized by some, including New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, but some education experts applauded the proposal. De Blasio will make the final decision, but has not yet indicated his position.
DE BLASIO PROPOSES RULES ON BUILDING HOTELS
Not long after the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council became the first – and so far only – union to endorse and contribute to de Blasio’s quixotic presidential campaign, the mayor has begun pushing for one of the union’s biggest priorities. De Blasio has asked the city Department of City Planning to come up with a proposal for a new special permit for hotel development, a move that could restrict new construction – and indirectly put the HTC in a stronger position to help ensure that new hotels employ unionized workers.
MARIJUANA LAWS TAKE EFFECT
A new law decriminalizing recreational marijuana and further decriminalizing possession went into
MICHAEL F. HIATT, LEV RADIN, A KATZ, TUNATURA/ SHUTTERSTOCK; MICHAEL APPLETON/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE
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effect on Wednesday. It also will expunge nearly 160,000 marijuanarelated convictions for offenses that are now decriminalized, a process that automatically began when the law took effect. Under the new rules, the possession of up to two ounces of marijuana is no longer a criminal offense, and those caught carrying or smoking it will instead be fined up to $50 for less than an ounce and up to $200 for one to two ounces.
OUTSIDE INCOME FOR STATE LAWMAKERS OK’ED State legislators get to have their cake and eat it too. A judge ruled that
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WEEK AHEAD
City & State New York
state lawmakers get to keep earning unlimited outside income and still receive a $50,000 raise over the course of the three years. A state pay raise commission had originally recommended the raise be tied to a cap on the amount of money lawmakers could earn on the side, but the judge said the commission had exceeded its mandate. The ruling is at odds with a separate decision this summer in a different lawsuit, which found that lawmakers could keep the first portion of the raise they already received, but struck down upcoming raises as well as the ban on outside income. The two decisions will likely be reconciled during the appeals process.
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Why pedestrian deaths don’t get more coverage From reading the steady coverage of bicycle crashes on New York City streets, one would think that bicycling is a uniquely dangerous activity. But, far more New York City pedestrians have died in traffic this year. So why are cyclist deaths receiving more media coverage? Experts and city lawmakers point to a spike in cyclist deaths, the pitfalls of city initiatives to curb traffic fatalities and the cycling community’s ability to mobilize. Traffic fatalities in the city were at a record low in 2018, dropping to 200 total, with cyclist deaths also at an all-time low. There have been 19 cyclist deaths and 70 pedestrian deaths in 2019, thus far, with overall traffic fatalities up 25% compared to last year, according to data from the New York City Police Department. Deaths among bicyclists have seen a remarkable climb, up from 10 in all of 2018. It’s the steep rise in cyclist fatalities that’s caught the media’s attention and is largely responsible for this disparity in coverage between pedestrian and cyclist fatalities, Gersh Kuntzman, Streetsblog NYC’s editor-inchief, told City & State. “They’ve (pedestrian fatalities) been fairly consistent over the past few years,” Kuntzman said. “But the renewed attention to cyclist deaths is in response to what is on pace to be one of the bloodiest years ever for cyclists.” Though not as dramatic, pedestrian fatalities have increased 15% over last year. And, while 2018 saw record-low traffic deaths in total, pedestrian deaths saw a slight increase, rising from 107 to 114. The city’s strong community of cyclists can also be attributed to cyclist deaths gaining significant
media coverage over the past few months, according to New York City Councilman Brad Lander, who says that being a pedestrian is “less of an identity.” “Cyclists have a community of solidarity that pedestrians don’t have,” Lander said. “There’s a sense of organizing amongst cyclists, who have built up a community of political solidarity through StreetsPAC and other organizations. Folks who are cycling now see themselves in each other, whereas we’re all pedestrians.” On July 25, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio rolled out his $58.4 million “Green Wave” plan, following the 17th cyclist fatality this year. The plan’s main objective is to make the city safer for cyclists by installing more protected bike lanes, redesigning intersections and cracking down on reckless driving. Vision Zero, the mayor’s original initiative to curb traffic fatalities, which he launched in 2014, is focused on preventing all traffic-related incidents and deaths, not just cyclist deaths. Kuntzman argued that the city’s newest plan to increase cyclist safety, the Green Wave, includes design and enforcement measures that should have been authorized by the city when Vision Zero was initially launched. He also cited the absence of automobile reduction strategies in either plan as a hindrance to reducing traffic fatalities in general. “If the mayor would seek to reduce car usage, we would get close to the zero of Vision Zero,” Kuntzman said. “Until then, the Green Wave is just a slight improvement to the existing approach to road violence.” –Amanda Luz Henning Santiago
WEDNESDAY 9/4
SATURDAY 9/7
MONDAY 9/9
City & State celebrates the Labor Power 100 at The Mezzanine at 55 Broadway, keynoted by state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, chairman of the Committee on Civil Service and Pensions.
Elizabeth Shuler, the AFLCIO’s secretary-treasurer, is the grand marshal of the annual New York City Labor Day Parade, which begins at 10 a.m. at 44th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.
The state Senate Codes Committee holds a hearing on personnel records of police officers and implementing discovery reform, at 10 a.m. on the 19th floor of 250 Broadway in Manhattan.
INSIDE DOPE
A measure passed this year will give defendants access to evidence earlier. A push to repeal 50-a, the state law keeping police and correctional officers’ records confidential, is ongoing.
CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY 6
CityAndStateNY.com
September 2, 2019
NEW YORK POLITICS EDITION
BY REBECCA C. LEWIS
Cards Against Humanity’s motto is “A party game for horrible people.” You know what else is a party game for horrible people? New York politics – with its long, proud roster of imprisoned alumni. Here’s a little something to play at Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s next $25,000-a-plate fundraiser. e Rat
Scabby th
e ill d wa, en B o “Wh o is in I ctually a i s _ a _ l B __ .” ___ ___ the city s n u r
The ghost of Fiorello La Guardia
Bo Dietl
Whoe ve mayo r the real r of M Verno ount n is Cor e Twi y Johns tter acc on’s oun t
“Actually, ______ ___ runs the MTA .”
Ziti
A gian t subw ay in an Ikea b dog ag The bud get coy ote Am a ng An col drew rabbi lar n C on uom g the o’s Fre s tre do et
Jeffrey Epstein ’s paintin g of Bil l Clinton in a dre ss Stat e fai r sau sage Jeff tan Klein nin g b ’s B ed fav ailin ori g o t u ep bo Anth izz t you ud on ap r oir y W lac e ph ei ot ne og r’s ra ph y
“Corrupt po have spe liticians nt their illegal ga ins on lin gerie, va cations a nd ________ _.”
has an“Cuomo a new d nounce ion to s is m com issue of e tackle th .” _______
BOTH legislative leaders convicted of corruption Where does upstate star t?
Gettin g do mo Billy Joel to re pho to-ops The Su of A mmer Pub ndre lic w c jus orrup t ki t ddi ion … ng!
September 2, 2019
City & State New York
A Q&A with congressional candidate
Chris Collins is the only person putting this district in jeopardy of not staying Republican.
CHRIS JACOBS What inspired you to run for Chris Collins’ seat? I believe I have gained the experience over the last number of years of my career as a business owner, as the founder of a scholarship fund for kids in Western New York and also that I’ve served in various stints of government. That I have a diverse skill set that would really make me, I believe, a really impactful legislator. I think that it’s important that we have a representative in that seat that can fully utilize all the tools that are typically at the disposal of members of Congress to advocate for this district. And I just believe that Congressman Collins, he’s done some good things in the past, but
currently due to his insider trading indictments, he’s limited in what he can do. Nate McMurray recently announced he would run again in the Democratic primary. How would you approach that race if you win the Republican primary? The big thing is this is a heavily Republican district; it should remain Republican. The only way it’s in jeopardy of not being a Republican district, and someone like Nate McMurray winning, is if Chris Collins runs. I think that is really a major issue. The situation that Chris is in with his indictments, he
won this district by, I think, 1,000 votes – he barely won. And that will be even more challenging this year. Chris Collins is the only person putting this district in jeopardy of not staying Republican. Collins has accused you of being part of the Never Trump movement and a former Republican. What’s your response to that? It’s completely false. There was a Politifact done a couple weeks ago after they started that narrative, and it determined it to be
false. But unfortunately, Chris Collins plays fast and loose with the truth. That’s part of the reason he’s in trouble with the FBI and others. But I won’t be going tit for tat with Mr. Collins, but more talking directly to voters about my record and my vision for this district and serving the president. The outlook for state Senate Republicans is a little bleak, and you’re leaving a potentially vulnerable seat open. Does the GOP have a pathway back to power in the state? I think my seat, even though it’s 3-to-1 Democrat, has a lot of moderate Democrats and a lot of independents
and will vote (based on) the person. And I believe there’s a lot of districts like that. I really believe that two years ago, several moderate Republicans lost to Democrats and I believe these Democrats are not what they billed themselves to be when they were running, that they were level-headed and moderate. I’m not saying we get the majority right back, but I think we will be in a much stronger place next term. I will also be very involved in identifying the best candidate to take over this seat and help him or her – and I have a “her” very much in mind – to make sure that they’re victorious.
Our Perspective
Corporations have consistently used all of the resources at their disposal to fight workers’ wishes to organize, and to politically hurt unions. With few exceptions, corporations have done everything they can over the past 50 years to ensure that workers By Stuart Appelbaum, President, lose their union voice — the very “dignity and Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, RWDSU, UFCW respect” they now claim to support. Twitter: @sappelbaum When companies agree not to fight their workers by bringing in expensive union-busting usiness Roundtable — a lobbying of times that of the pay of their employees. “consultants” and don’t intimidate or threaten their organization made up of almost 200 chief So, it’s good to see some of the world’s richest employees, workers choose the dignity and respect executives from Apple, Walmart, JP Morgan CEOs say they are now dedicated to compensating afforded by union membership. Chase, and many more of the world’s largest employees fairly and providing them with important The statement by the Business Roundtable is a companies — released a statement in August that benefits while supporting communities and embracing step in the right direction; but so far, it counts only as proports to change the role of corporations in our environmentally friendly practices. It’s refreshing to good PR. American corporations need to lead the way society. The statement declares that American see corporate America declare its dedication to by ending their half-century war against unions and corporations should promote “an economy that diversity and inclusion and treating workers with their own workers. The signatories of the Business serves all Americans.” dignity and respect. This is language that American Roundtable statement can show it’s not just talk by On the surface, it’s a welcome about-face from workers, and the labor movement, agree with. agreeing to workplace neutrality and allowing their the “free-market” corporate identity established in We all know, however, that talk is different employees to join unions without interference or the late 1960s where profit and “shareholder than action. What the Business Roundtable didn’t intimidation. It would be a striking change, especially primacy” were the overpowering motivations for say was specifically how corporate America is considering that companies like Amazon and corporate America, often at the expense of workers, going to change. Income inequality was not Walmart, both of whom signed the statement, have communities, and the environment. addressed in the statement; neither was obscene historically been virulently antiThe results have had a staggering effect; Over CEO pay, nor changes in the way companies and union. That’s how true change the past five decades, the top 1 percent of American management approach labor relations and politics. will be achieved, and how earners have nearly doubled their share of national Since the late 1960s, when corporate America America’s corporations can income. The real value of American wages has embraced a draconian free-market, profit-first ethos, fulfill their new stated purpose. flatlined, failing to keep up with increased union membership has fallen at a steady rate. So productivity. And pay for top CEOs is now hundreds too has worker pay and benefits. This is no accident.
CEOs Sing a New Tune, But Action Must Follow
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www.rwdsu.org
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September 2, 2019
COMMENTARY
LABOR’S LEADER of the LEFT Most unions talk about progressive values. Héctor Figueroa fought for them. by R O S S B A R K A N
ries, though they were consequential. The future obituaries of the current crop of labor leaders in New York will note the sizable gains they made for their own workers in a labor-friendly city. He stood apart from them because he actually cared about engaging with broader left movements beyond his union’s immediate interests. This sounds obvious, almost anodyne. The heads of most unions will talk about progressive values. They overwhelmingly back Democratic politicians, and they advocate for capturing a greater share of corporate profits for rank-and-file workers. But most are narrowly invested in the gains of their own unions, even at the expense of other working-class people, cutting deals with those in power to maintain their advantage. On one hand, this is rational, and the rank-and-file workers of transactional unions may see their wages and benefits increase. On the other hand, deeper, longer-lasting gains for the working class and poor are sacrificed for short-
THE IDC WAS HERE TO STAY, SO WHY BOTHER? FIGUEROA BOTHERED.
BENJAMIN KANTER/MAYORAL PHOTOGRAPHY OFFICE; 32BJ SEIU
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HE TRAGEDY OF Héctor Figueroa’s untimely death will be felt in New York’s political firmament for years to come. Figueroa, who died of a heart attack on July 11, was not just the president of a major labor union, 32BJ SEIU, and a power broker, whom various players in the political ecosystem hunted out for advice and favors. Union leaders come and go, and many are forgotten. Figueroa, however, stood apart because he harkened back to a radical labor tradition that has been all but lost today. Figueroa is probably best known for helping to spearhead the Fight for $15 movement, which began quixotically in 2012 and eventually drew even centrist supporters like Gov. Andrew Cuomo. New York City today has a $15 per hour minimum wage and the movement has gone national, with House Democrats backing a bill that would make $15 per hour the federal minimum wage. Meanwhile, he successfully pressured the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to start paying airport workers $19 an hour. He would ultimately add 50,000 members to his union over the course of his tenure, turning the predominantly nonwhite building cleaners, doormen, security guards and airport workers into a potent political force. What set Figueroa apart from his labor brethren wasn’t necessarily these victo-
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term treats. (In one notorious example, some unions have opposed creating a single-payer national health insurance plan because they benefit from the generous health insurance coverage – and the patronage and profiteering opportunities in union-run health insurance plans – that they have negotiated with individual companies or industries.) Figueroa was a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, the most prominent anti-capitalist organization that New York has seen since the New Deal. For Figueroa, new left movements were never something to be feared. Any successful attempt to radically redistribute income will require the explosive expansion of labor unions and their merger with the millions of people who want to build a movement but know nothing of labor politics. A schism persists between the powerful labor unions of New York and leftist grassroots organizations like DSA, which are dominated by college-educated professionals. Of any union boss, Figueroa had by far the greatest interest in bridging that divide. Figueroa’s desire to build progressive political power manifested in his union’s campaign against the leader of the Independent Democratic Conference, a now-defunct group of Democrats in the state Senate who partnered with Republicans to keep the GOP in power. This alliance, which lasted for half a decade without meaningful opposition from Cuomo, was widely accepted as a permanent feature of New York’s warped political landscape. When I began writing critical coverage of the IDC in 2016, there were very few elected officials and labor unions who would dare utter a cross word about their collusion with conservative Republicans, for fear of alienating potential allies in Albany. Major labor unions with business before state government, like the United Federation of Teachers and the Transport Workers Union, were outright IDC supporters. Others, like 1199SEIU, routinely funneled cash to the Senate Republicans, ignoring entreaties to do the same for beleaguered Democrats. The logic was rather simple: the IDC and the Republicans were going to keep power, so why not cater to them to win favorable treatment? Activists on the left, alarmed by President Donald Trump’s election, turned their attention to this betrayal in their own backyard. In the early months, they were on their own, protesting at town halls, passing out leaflets and organizing however they could. Politicians were polite but distant. Most labor unions shrugged. Cuomo wanted the IDC, the IDC was here to stay, so why bother? Figueroa bothered. Though he was a
City & State New York
Cuomo ally who had rarely bucked him on political or policy matters in the past, he decided to bring his union’s full power to bear on crushing the IDC. His target was their leader, state Sen. Jeffrey Klein, who had faced a lonely primary challenger in 2014, Oliver Koppell, dispatching him with relative ease. Without 32BJ SEIU’s hundreds of thousands of dollars, army of volunteers and general guidance, Alessandra Biaggi, a first-time candidate, probably would not have toppled Klein, who spent nearly $3 million on the race. Figueroa took a tremendous risk, while other labor leaders sat on the sidelines. Klein was a notoriously cunning and vindictive legislative leader. Had Klein survived, he would have found a way to punish Figueroa. Instead, Klein was vanquished, and the 2019 legislative session saw a raft of historic legislation passed that never had a chance under the old regime. Figueroa’s record as a leftist was far from blemish-free. His union, after toppling Klein, quietly tried to weaken the proposed rent laws in Albany this year, partnering with real estate developers, with whom he has always enjoyed a close relationship, because they employ so many of his members. A wealthy developer was among those who eulogized him, praising him for not veering too far left. Figueroa clashed with the left over Amazon’s plan to build a second headquarters in Queens. While opponents pointed to gentrification fears and the tax subsidies offered by the city and state, and Amazon’s record as a virulently anti-union employer, Figueroa saw an opportunity to create well-paying jobs. When I wrote critically of the project, Figueroa, even when we disagreed, was always willing to engage and to argue his side passionately and earnestly. His stance, from his own perspective, was understandable: Amazon, while refusing to allow its warehouse workers to unionize, cut a deal to recognize 32BJ SEIU building workers at its planned second headquarters. Figueroa also argued to me that welcoming a company as hostile to labor as Amazon could soften the tech behemoth’s views in the long run, forcing it to do business in an aggressively pro-union city. I believed he was overly optimistic, even naïve, but he knew far more about organizing people than I ever will. There are few like Figueroa now, labor leaders who want to break out of silos and refuse to make unsavory concessions to power. He was, to use the trite term, a visionary. His absence looms large over all of us.
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Ross Barkan is a writer, journalist and former state Senate candidate.
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KYLE BRAGG THE NEW 32BJ SEIU PRESIDENT
PICKING UP WHERE HÉCTOR FIGUEROA LEFT OFF Héctor Figueroa had an enormous impact on 32BJ SEIU. How will you build upon his legacy? Héctor built an organization that is more than any one individual, and together we are all responsible for the great achievements under his administration. In that regard, we’ve worked together with all of our offices, our member leaders, to create a vision and goals for the future. What are some of your upcoming fights? Well, we have a commercial contract fight that will take place throughout all of our jurisdictions. And we have a major contract here in the city and other parts of the region that expire by the end of December for commercial cleaners. So, that’s primary right now. Organizing airport workers throughout our jurisdiction, here in the tri-state area. We won some great victories in fast food with the $15 minimum wage and the fair work week legislation and other things. And those workers are hungry for a union. So this is about giving them the right to choose and be unionized. Are there any longer-term initiatives? Well, we’ve got to retake this country too. 32BJ SEIU supported the Amazon HQ2 deal. What would you say to those who called the company anti-union? I’m actually the officer who did the deal with Amazon, so obviously I was in favor of it. I think it was a missed opportunity for many reasons, and I think the people who were anti-HQ2 are hard-pressed to really articulate what the victory was. Because we had the opportunity to take a company like Amazon, play with them on our home court, unionize a portion of their work and then to confront them on their labor policies. On top of that, we lost a countless number of jobs. People were agonizing over the tax breaks, but I think the benefits – the income that was going to be generated for this city, into this state – far outweighed any benefits that they were getting. – Ethan Stark-Miller
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THE ANSWER to UNION WOES ? IMMIGRANTS Long pitted against each other, organized labor and immigrant rights groups are joining forces – and dusting off a playbook from the past.
by B O B H E N N E L LY
JOSEPH SORRENTINO/SHUTTERSTOCK
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HIS LABOR DAY will be a historic one for a coalition of organized labor and immigrant rights advocates in New York. In January, both camps celebrated the passage of the state DREAM Act, which made undocumented immigrants eligible for in-state college tuition assistance. Several months later, the state Legislature overcame bipartisan resistance to authorize driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants, a critical measure for migrant workers in upstate New York. And in the closing days of the legislative session, the Legislature passed the landmark Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act, which, as one bill sponsor put it, will “end Jim Crow era working conditions and provide overtime pay, a day off, unemployment benefits, and the right to organize.” But on the national stage, unions and immigrants remain under threat. With President Donald Trump in the White House, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers are stepping up their raids, immigrant families are being separated at the U.S.-Mexico border and xenophobic rhetoric has reached a new low with the shocking manifesto issued by the suspect in the mass murder of shoppers in a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Meanwhile, labor unions are playing defense following a string of adverse decisions from the U.S.
Supreme Court and the National Labor Relations Board – both bolstered by Trump appointees – while right-to-work laws have decimated union membership in a number of states. An alliance between unions and immigrants offers a path forward, as Trump escalates his aggressive campaign to exacerbate racial tensions and target the undocumented immigrants that labor unions are hoping to organize. The relationship between immigrants and labor, in fact, is at the very center of the bitter battle over how the United States chooses to define itself in the 2020 presidential election. Historically, there have often been political fault lines between undocumented workers and rank-and-file union members. But after years of losing millions of members, labor activists say their movement depends on embracing and elevating immigrants. Today, labor is in a struggle that is not just an ideological fight for social justice, but one for their very survival. As organizations that are defined by a collective effort that purports to be empowered by and for workers, what really matters is where you work, not where you were born. “If there is a future for unions, it is to build (a) coalition with immigrants,” said Chaz Rynkiewicz, director of organizing with Construction & General Building Laborers Local 79. “Most unions, and ours
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was one of them, were formed by immigrants.” While there have been tensions between the two groups over the decades, they also have a long history of joining forces. A half century ago, the AFL-CIO was teaming up with the civil rights movement, while Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta were fighting to protect farmworkers. And their efforts built on others trailblazers who looked to extend worker protections – regardless of race or immigration status.
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XPLOITING RACIAL TENSIONS and nativist fervor has historically been a successful management tactic, according to Joseph Wilson, a former political science professor at the City University of New York and a leading expert on the African American civil rights movement. “In terms of the tensions between immigrants and African Americans, certainly management and the employer class always sought to pit ethnic groups against one another in establishing a certain color hierarchy and class pecking order,” Wilson said. “The bottom strata of employment that had previously been used as almost exclusive territory for former African American slaves would be where immigrants would cover over and work really as de facto slaves, for even less wages and risking more dangerous conditions and that would displace black workers.” Wilson says that for unions to be successful, they have to build multiracial and multiethnic coalitions in the tradition of A. Philip Randolph, who founded the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in the 1920s. “While it was a Chinese immigrant workforce that built the Transcontinental Railroad, it was the African American porters who were pretty much slave labor in terms of railway service because they didn’t get paid wages until the establishment of their national union,” Wilson said. “They lived on tips and the only way that porters, the red caps, those who handled the baggage, and the chefs got paid was by smiling through all their pain. That’s how those jobs came to be known as ‘miles of smiles’ because the radiance of your smile determined your salary.” Randolph left Crescent City, Florida, in 1911 for New York City, where he worked during the day and attended the City College of New York at night. In 1925, he became the general organizer of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, but it would not be until 1937 that the mostly African American union signed a labor contract with the railroad. In 1941, Randolph was a chief organizer in the March on Washington Movement, which had the
effect of forcing President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to integrate the nation’s booming defense industry. Wilson said that not all unions embraced the civil rights movement. “Historically, it’s been a mixed bag,” he said. “The skilled trades tended to fight it, and the industrial workers tended to support it.”
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WO DECADES LATER, Martin Luther King Jr. and AFL-CIO President George Meany committed to an alliance of the labor and civil rights movements with a common social and economic justice agenda. Meany, the top labor leader of the time, was not known as a visionary. In fact, he would boast that he had “never led a strike or walked a picket line,” Steven Greenhouse recounts in his new book on the labor movement, “Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor.” “I used to worry about the membership, about the size of membership,” Meany said in 1972, according to Greenhouse. “But quite a few years ago I just stopped worrying about it, because to me it doesn’t make any difference.” A Meany critic at the time argued that his union “lacks the social vision, the dynamic thrust, the crusading spirit that should characterize the progressive modern labor movement.” However, Meany’s coalition with King
was not just a rhetorical exercise. The union committed to investing its considerable pension assets in housing and reducing economic inequality. “We are confronted by powerful forces telling us to rely on the goodwill and un-
“IF THERE IS A FUTURE FOR UNIONS, IT IS TO BUILD A COALITION WITH IMMIGRANTS.” – Chaz Rynkiewicz, Construction & General Building Laborers Local 79 director of organizing
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with authoritarian governments where protesting and labor organizing risk serious repercussions. Tariq said part of driver engagement centers on civics. “We are always telling them, ‘You are in the USA. You are in America,’” he said. “You are a hardworking, law-abiding person, so you don’t have to be afraid to speak up. That’s the main thing – if you don’t speak up, people will crush you.”
U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION
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derstanding of those who profit by exploiting us,” King told the AFL-CIO’s executive council in 1961. “They resent our will to organize. They are shocked that active organizations, sit-ins, civil disobedience and protests are becoming everyday tools just as strikes, demonstrations and union organizations became yours to ensure that bargaining power genuinely existed on both sides of the table.” In February 1968, two African American sanitation workers from Memphis were crushed to death by a garbage truck that was part of a run-down truck fleet the city had refused to maintain. King’s final days in April of that year were spent in Memphis bringing national focus to a bitter strike by African American municipal sanitation workers who were organized by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
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WENTY YEARS INTO the 21st century, technology and automation has further tipped the balance of power to capital with the so-called gig economy, upending the long-standing social contract between employers and labor. This has played out dramatically on the streets of New York City amid fierce competition in the taxi industry with the advent of Uber and Lyft. In the late 1990s, long before ride-hailing
VER THE YEARS, the market share of work performed by union construction workers declined as developers and construction companies used the undocumented immigrant workforce as a way to undercut union competition. In 1980, Trump himself used 200 undocumented Polish laborers working in 12-hour shifts, without basic safety equipment like masks or hard hats, to demolish the Bonwit Teller building to make way for his gleaming 58-story Trump Tower. According to court papers released in 2017, Trump paid these workers as little as $4 per hour, less than half the union wage for some of the A. Philip Randolph, industry’s most taxing and dangerous bottom right, and his work. Sleeping Car Porters Today, New York City’s building often had to contend with boom has come with hundreds of injuthe same racism faced by ries and around a dozen deaths of mostly immigrant workers. undocumented construction workers. companies caused Union organizers and worker safety the value of city taxi medallions to collapse, labor organizers advocates point out that in many cases, as Bhairavi Desai and Javaid Tariq formed the in Trump’s 1980 Bonwit Teller takedown, New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Today, there are some union workers on the job it has 21,000 members from all over the site along with undocumented workers. “If they’re doing construction work that world, and it has been successful at getting some regulatory relief for drivers, several of the laborers cover, we are concerned about them,” Rynkiewicz said. “We do recognize whom have died by suicide in recent years. It’s an effort that builds on the rich tra- there are obstacles for a lot of different imdition of immigrant organizing that is part migrant groups, but we want to make it as of the American union movement’s DNA. easy as possible for any construction work“Going back to the Lawrence textile strike er – whatever their immigration status – to in 1912, you had two dozen different lan- navigate those obstacles, whether it be imguages and vastly diverse political experi- migration, housing or health. We are here ences at play,” said Joshua Freeman, a labor to serve the workers.” Charlene Obernauer, the executive dihistorian and professor at CUNY’s Graduate Center. “And considering that the rector of the nonprofit New York Com(New York Taxi Workers Alliance) mem- mittee for Occupational Safety and Health, bership is voluntary, it is impressive with said unions can’t afford to ignore the circumstances of their undocumented how much they have accomplished.” The union’s initial organizing drive co-workers who share the same construcstarted in 1996. “Since then, day and night, tion sites. “We know there can be dozens of union we struggled to organize the drivers,” Tariq said. “It is a scattered labor force. It workers and dozens of nonunion workers is not a factory, and there are people from on the same site, and if there is a nonunion over a hundred countries with different worker who doesn’t report a safety violation, guess who is walking through that languages.” He continued, “We are out there in the same site? Union workers,” Obernauer summer, in the winter, in the snow going said. “If nonunion workers don’t feel comto the airports where the drivers are hang- fortable (reporting) violations, then everying out, to the change of shifts at the garag- body is less safe.” She continued, “For the New York City es, to ethnic restaurants.” Many members come from countries labor movement, there definitely has been
CityAndStateNY.com
a recognition that they need to organize all workers in order to be successful, and that all workers have the right to a union, and all workers should be protected by a union.”
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S A PRESIDENTIAL candidate, Trump exploited nativist fears of migrant laborers in flipping counties in key Rust Belt states where, historically, labor had helped anchor the New Deal coalition. These voters with union roots voted for Ronald Reagan, but many of them also voted for Barack Obama twice. “There were certainly a fair number of white male (union members) in key states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin that voted for Trump for president,” Freeman said. “Some of them were drawn to Trump’s rhetorical commitment to the idea of rebuilding manufacturing. Many of them found the support in the Democratic Party under President Obama and his predecessor for free trade hurting their own industry and their own lives. … Some may have thought there should be more border controls.” The Trump administration has repeatedly found ways to target immigrants. When Trump unveiled his plan to penalize immigrants for using government assistance, state Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawConstruction workers rally outside City Hall for increased safety measures in 2017.
September 2, 2019
suit opposing the move – and a big part of the crowd cheering her on were members of 1199SEIU, the nation’s largest health care union. Many of its members are from immigrant families, some with U.S. citizens, green card holders and undocumented individuals all living under the same roof. 1199SEIU Vice President Keith Joseph said with the low wages paid in the home health care sector, it was not uncommon for caregivers to turn to some form of public assistance to fill the gap, which, under Trump’s proposal, could have long-term legal consequences for the entire household in terms of obtaining a green card. “They do not come here for a handout,” Joseph said at James’ Aug. 20 press conference in Manhattan’s Foley Square. “They come here to work – and work hard – and the jobs they do, the average person who is a U.S. citizen born here would not do. They do not complain, and they uplift themselves and their families while they build community all at the same time.” Joseph continued, “When you look around and ask, who are these people taking care of? They are taking care of the everyday New Yorker who is in the hospital, in the nursing home and in home care. … If you go on the subway in the early morning and see who is traveling from the Bronx to Brooklyn to take care of the patients in their homes who don’t have anybody else
but the worker who does that job rain, storm or shine.”
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HE BITTER DEBATE over whether Albany should permit undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses found immigrant rights groups partnering with unions like 1199SEIU. But even with Democrats in control of the state Senate, which had long been the last bastion of power for Republicans in state government, it hasn’t been easy. In Erie County, Clerk Michael Kearns, a registered Democrat who ran as a Republican, is taking the state to court over the passage of the Green Light bill. During the debate, Republican state Sen. Fred Akshar warned his Senate colleagues that granting undocumented immigrants driver’s licenses was “only continuing this state’s trend toward favoring criminals over law-abiding citizens.” Even some top Democrats worried they would be punished politically for siding with the undocumented immigrants. In March, Gothamist cited anonymous sources claiming that Gov. Andrew Cuomo, while publicly supportive, was secretly working against the bill. Prior to the narrow 33-29 vote in the state Senate to approve the measure, Jay Jacobs, the state Democratic Party chairman, warned fellow Democrats they could be “thrown out of office” at the next election for passing the bill. Yet Democratic supporters strenuously defended the law. “Many of these people are the very same people that cut your lawns, and take care of your parents, that are home care attendants, that do the jobs in this state and in this country that nobody else wants to do,” state Sen. Luis Sepúlveda, who sponsored the bill, argued on the floor. “They work your farms, they work your households, they do everything that if we didn’t have, who knows how people in our communities would be able to have this stuff done.” It is these immigrant workers that labor leaders increasingly see as an opportunity, not a competitive challenge. “We can do more,” Héctor Figueroa, the former president of 32BJ SEIU, wrote in a New York Times commentary that ran shortly after his death in July. “That’s why our union is running a breakthrough campaign in fast food. That’s why we are supporting the taxi workers’ union in New York City, which won the first ever minimum pay rate for Uber drivers and regulations on app companies to protect driver livelihoods. We are also backing New York State farmworkers in their fight for collective bargaining rights, and we helped them to win those rights in this legislative session.”
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M TA
is
Y L L A N FI
The Executive Board of the Transport Workers Union Local 100 has unanimously rejected MTA Chairman Patrick Foye’s insulting contract “offer” of August 14, 2019.
ON A RO LL
TWU also rejects the MTA’s recent negative media campaign that shamefully paints its workers as overtime thieves and pampered noshows. These are despicable and intentional attacks by the MTA on the character of thousands of honest, hardworking men and women of TWU. New York City cannot function without our bus and subway system. Transit workers will remain on the job 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as TWU fights for a fair and just contract for transit workers.
TWU Local 100 | Union Headquarters | 195 Montague Street | Brooklyn, NY 11201 | Tony Utano, President
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CityAndStateNY.com
September 2, 2019
DIGNITY in the GIG ECONOMY
by A N N I E M C D O N O U G H
You may have overtime, minimum wage and discrimination safeguards. Does your delivery guy?
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HE GIG ECONOMY is inevitable. Ride-hailing drivers, delivery cyclists and on-demand dog walkers are not just the future of work, they’re a growing share of today’s workforce. But with the understanding that this type of work isn’t going away anytime soon, union leaders and lawmakers are calling for the gig economy to catch up with the labor and employment protections that were standardized for traditional employees decades ago. One bill in New York, introduced at the end of the state legislative session in June, sought to create a new employment classification for gig economy workers and give them the right to organize and collectively bargain. The Dependent Worker Act, sponsored by state Sen. Diane Savino and Assemblyman Marcos Crespo, would also have given those “dependent workers” protections like the explicit prohibition of wage theft and record-keeping requirements. However, the Dependent Worker Act fell by the wayside in the hectic final days of the session, but it didn’t go unnoticed. Both the tech industry and some labor groups were quick to object to the bill, though for different reasons. At the time, the industry association Tech:NYC argued that the new dependent worker classification would upend the sector and that the bill sponsors didn’t give companies a seat at the table. Labor groups like 32BJ SEIU and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, meanwhile, thought the dependent worker classification didn’t go far enough to ensure gig workers receive the same labor protections as regular employees. The New York State AFL-CIO did, however, support the legislation as a step in the right direction for workers. “This issue cropped up late in the legislative session, and it’s not at all uncommon for issues to fall off the table, whether at the end of ses-
sion or end of the budget,” Mario Cilento, president of the state AFL-CIO, said recently in an emailed statement. “We are pleased however that protections for this class of workers received as much attention as it did last June and we look forward to building on that momentum going into the 2020 legislative session.” Despite strong objections on both sides, Savino is ready to take another crack at the legislation next year. “We certainly got everyone’s attention. Everyone went running around banging into walls,” Savino told City & State. “And so now we step back and say, ‘OK, fine. You didn’t like that bill. Let’s talk.’” The Staten Island Democrat said she is scheduling a hearing on the bill for Oct. 16 and encouraging all stakeholders to attend. “I think one of the most important things is that this is an economy that’s not going away,” she said. As it stands now, gig economy workers
are typically classified as independent contractors, or self-employed workers. New York state’s criteria for independent contractors include that the workers must be free from supervision, direction and control in performing their duties. While some gig workers and freelancers inevitably meet those criteria, labor groups argue that many gig workers are misclassified as independent contractors, and therefore miss out on the labor protections guaranteed to employees. “In general, independent contractors are self-employed, by law. That means they are their own employers,” said Erin Hatton, a sociology professor at the University at Buffalo and an expert on labor movements and the gig economy. “So they don’t have those employee protections that we give people who are deemed to have an employer. So that means everything from minimum wage and overtime protections,
BLURAZ/SHUTTERSTOCK
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to discrimination in hiring and firing, and so on.” Ride-hailing companies in particular have been accused of misclassifying their workers as independent contractors, but these classification questions arise with all sorts of gig workers, Savino said. These problems also didn’t arrive with the advent of smartphone apps. Hatton pointed to a FedEx settlement over misclassifying drivers as independent contractors as far back as 2000. Still, the rise of the appbased gig economy is bringing the issue to the forefront. “Increasingly, we’ve seen employers trying to get around that system of protections by misclassifying their workers as independent contractors by kind of ludicrously claiming, for example, that, ‘Oh, we’re just a tech company who provides tech,’ even though the only thing they actually provide are drivers through the technology
City & State New York
“WE CERTAINLY GOT EVERYONE’S ATTENTION. AND SO NOW WE STEP BACK AND SAY, ‘OK, FINE. YOU DIDN’T LIKE THAT BILL. LET’S TALK.’” – state Sen. Diane Savino, on her bill to create a new employment classification for gig economy workers
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“INCREASINGLY, WE’VE SEEN EMPLOYERS CLAIMING, ‘OH, WE’RE JUST A TECH COMPANY WHO PROVIDES TECH,’ EVEN THOUGH THE ONLY THING THEY ACTUALLY PROVIDE ARE DRIVERS.”
York Taxi Workers Alliance that they’ve developed,” Hatdisagreed. “I would say that ton said. that’s not the starting point,” Though the bill was introDesai said. “As workers, you duced hastily at the end of the have to know what you want for session, New York’s debate yourself, rather than have it be over how to classify gig workdictated by compromises that ers and what kind of labor prothe corporation wants to imtections they should have is pose on you.” coming at the right time. The A spokeswoman for 32BJ center of this debate is in CalSEIU said that the union is ifornia, which is attempting to working with a coalition on pass a bill codifying a 2018 Calan ABC test program for New ifornia Supreme Court decision York. “ABC tests are already a that would classify workers proven model that New York using what’s called an “ABC has instituted for misclassitest.” Under the test, workers fication in construction and would have to be free from the commercial transport induscontrol of an employer, doing tries,” Kyle Bragg, the union’s work outside the usual course newly elected president, said of business of an employer and in an emailed statement. engaged in an independently “Tech companies should play established business in order to by the same rules as any other be classified as an independent employer.” contractor. Many believe that With California’s legislative ride-hailing drivers would fail session concluding in Septemthis test, meaning they would ber, New York is unlikely to be classified as employees. act before seeing the outcome Some labor groups are eager of AB5. If it passes, the ABC to see New York adopt the ABC test would represent a monutest as well. In June, New York mental change for much of the Taxi Workers Alliance Execgig economy that could impact utive Director Bhairavi Desai the direction New York takes. and Héctor Figueroa, the late “Legislators are following president of 32BJ SEIU, pointclosely what is going on in Caled to the test as a preferable ifornia,” Maria Figueroa said. alternative to the Dependent “Whatever happens in CaliWorker Act. – Erin Hatton, University at Buffalo sociology professor fornia and in New York usu“It is a sensible approach beally sends a signal to all other cause it would provide these states, because these two states workers with protections that they badly need,” said Maria Figueroa, took that approach, the benefits should are the leaders in terms of setting labor director of labor and policy research at meet current labor standards for employ- and employment standards.” But as far as tech legislation goes, there’s the Worker Institute at Cornell Universi- ees. “People who are against portable benty’s School of Industrial and Labor Rela- efits are arguing that if we are going to some precedent for New York waiting on tions, and the ex-wife of Héctor Figueroa. have portable benefits, they should guar- the sidelines while California takes big Maria Figueroa noted that it wouldn’t just antee protections and they should be at swings. Hecht pointed to California’s diggive workers protections, but would benefit the level of the standards offered by cur- ital privacy legislation, which goes into states too. “Right now, due to the fact that rent negotiated pension and health care effect in 2020, as an example. “It’s not exactly clear how it will work in practice, or these workers are classified as independent benefits,” she said. Savino is open to the portable benefits what the implications will be,” Hecht said contractors, the states are also not receiving tax revenues that they could receive if approach as an option. Whether it comes in of the California Consumer Privacy Act. these workers were classified as employ- conjunction with a new dependent worker “So we can monitor, look at what the imclassification, or on its own, she’s not sure. plications of something will be and then ees,” she said. But if the tech industry’s objection to the Savino is, however, skeptical about the via- pass better regulations in New York or take Dependent Worker Act was strong, a test bility of the ABC test. “At first blush, I be- a better and more measured approach that that would likely change the status of many lieve what they’re doing in California is a has less negative implications.” New York could take that same approach if AB5 passgig workers from independent contractors little bit too rigid,” she said. At this point, Savino is waiting to hear es in California. to employees isn’t being well received. The “California does what they want. ride-hailing industry has been fighting the feedback from stakeholders this fall. But California bill, commonly referred to as with tech and labor on opposite ends of the Sometimes California and New York are AB5, advocating instead for giving work- spectrum, it remains to be seen whether a on the same page, and sometimes they’re in totally different places,” Savino said. er-determined benefits like health care and compromise could realistically happen. Zach Hecht, policy director at “My goal is for us to put forward the best pension plans. A “portable benefits package” could give gig workers those benefits Tech:NYC, echoed Savino in saying that piece of legislation that becomes a model conversations with all stakeholders is the for the nation, regardless of what hapwithout turning them into employees. Maria Figueroa said that if New York right place to start. But Desai of the New pens anywhere else.”
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September 2, 2019
WHY the PREVAILING WAGE by Z AC H W I L L I A M S
DIDN’T PREVAIL
Construction workers want to get paid more for projects that get tax breaks. But when Cuomo got involved, everything fell apart.
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EMOCRATIC CONTROL OF the state Legislature worked out pretty well for organized labor in 2019. Local public sector employees got collective bargaining rights enshrined in state law. Farmworkers won the right to unionize. Student test scores were decoupled from the evaluations of public school teachers. However, this political momentum did not deliver an expanded definition of public works – a top priority for the building trades in recent years. For the past 120 years, state law – and later the state constitution – has required that projects receiving public funding pay workers what is called a prevailing wage, a set rate of pay based on the location and nature of the project. The state Department of Labor uses three criteria to determine which projects must give workers a prevailing wage. The first is the involvement
of a public agency. The second requires that a contract include construction labor paid for by government funds. Third, the project must benefit the general public. But the current definition of public works leaves out many projects that receive public support, whether through tax breaks, subsidies or other means. There were high hopes that a prevailing wage bill would pass this year after falling short the previous two years. A majority of the Assembly and 31 state senators – one shy of a majority – had signed on as co-sponsors of an expansive bill that would make prevailing wage requirements apply to any project that receives financial support from the state. While lawmakers were opposed to compromising with Gov. Andrew Cuomo on a more limited expansion of the prevailing wage to industrial development agencies – public benefit corporations that promote local economic
growth – during budget negotiations, the issue remained a top priority going into the final weeks of the legislative session. But once the governor began pushing for limits on the expansion of the prevailing wage in the final days of the session, everything fell apart. This included a controversial provision that would have exempted New York City from the proposed changes, as well as another proposal to set a minimum size for projects to qualify as public works. Cuomo said at the time that this had to be done in order to mitigate potential cost increases for economic development projects and affordable housing – concerns shared by the business community and some liberal lawmakers. While political dynamics helped doom the bill, the issue of carve-outs would be the sticking point that kept lawmakers and Cuomo from making a deal. Opponents of the prevailing wage make what appears to be a simple argument:
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Higher labor costs mean higher construction costs – even as much as 25% higher in New York City, according to a 2017 study by the fiscally conservative Empire Center for Public Policy. These cost increases can be compounded because the prevailing wage not only raises basic pay rates, but benefits as well. The study argues that by requiring higher wages and benefits on projects, prevailing wage requirements effectively give unions a leg up against cheaper, nonunionized competitors, whose advantage is undermined by prevailing wage requirements. “The inflexible and arbitrary divisions created by union contracts also require more intensive, time-consuming managerial coordination on construction worksites, reducing productivity and hindering adoption of more efficient practices,” according to the study. One union-backed rule forbids the pre-cutting of pipes and requires
City & State New York
that steamfitters – who make upward of $55 per hour in the city – be hired to do that task. Elevator buttons must be pushed on many projects by a member of the operating engineers union who can cost even more than a steamfitter. The report also includes a claim that some public contracts include a requirement that three construction unions are used to install drywall even though one team of nonunionized laborers could get the job done. Higher wages, more benefits and other increased costs associated with the prevailing wage appear to add to a project’s bottom line. There are other factors to consider as well. For starters, labor costs are a much lower percentage of total costs in construction compared to other economic sectors, according to Kevin Duncan, a professor of economics at Colorado State University-Pueblo who has written numerous peer-reviewed articles on the prevailing
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wage over two decades. In other words, an increase in labor costs would only affect a relatively small part of a project’s overall cost. “What do you see when you drive by a highway construction site?” he said. “You see miles worth of material – if they’re resurfacing asphalt – and you see some very large pieces of equipment and you see a few workers.” All in all, labor makes up about a quarter of the costs on an average public works project compared to about twothirds of costs in other economic sectors, he added. In short, increasing wages in construction does not hurt a business’s bottom line as much as it would at a restaurant or a manufacturer. Paying workers more could increase a project’s cost, but “contractors tend to employ more productive workers if they’re going to pay workers more,” Duncan said. Increasing labor costs can also incentivize contractors to address their costs in a more holistic way. “Additional research indicates that as wages increase, contractors spend less on materials, supplies, fuels, etc., and earn lower profits,” according to a 2018 study by Duncan on the prevailing wage in New York. “All of these changes tend to mitigate the effect of prevailing wage rates on total construction costs.” An analysis of peer-reviewed research included in the 2018 study found that, by and large, the prevailing wage is “not associated with increased construction costs.” It gets a little trickier with affordable housing, an issue that prompted some Democratic state senators to withhold support for the prevailing wage bill. Housing construction generally requires lower skilled workers compared to other public projects. Thus, there is less room to boost efficiency when swinging hammers and installing windows compared to operating a multimillion-dollar boring machine or placing giant I-beams on a bridge traversing the Hudson River. Add to this idea the fact that the hiring of undocumented workers, wage theft and other unscrupulous behavior by developers cuts down on costs in ways that unionized projects cannot. Once the prevailing wage enters the picture along with increased reporting requirements, prices are likely to go up for affordable housing projects. This can be as low as 5% and as high as 37%, according to the 2018 study by Duncan. Either way, this was too much for lawmakers facing enormous pressure from business groups and housing advocates to do everything possible to encourage the construction of more affordable housing, particularly in New York City and on Long Island. In the final stretch of the session, a compromise appeared to be forming to exempt affordable housing projects from the prevailing wage requirement and limit how
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much public investment would be needed for a project to qualify as a public work. Media reports at the time stated that a proposal from Cuomo would have required that a project cost at least $750,000 and get at least 30% of its funding from a public source – including tax breaks, subsidies or grants – before the prevailing wage would apply. What doomed the compromise was the governor’s insistence that New York City be exempt. “That was a real sticking point to those of us who believe prevailing wage should be a statewide issue,” Assemblyman Harry Bronson, who sponsored the legislation with state Sen. Jessica Ramos, told The Buffalo News in July about the proposed carve-out for New York City. “The constitution doesn’t just apply to Long Island, the downstate suburbs and upstate. The constitution also applies to New York City.” Opponents of the bill were likewise upset with Cuomo’s proposal. “It seemed to succeed in turning pretty much everybody against it,” said Michael Elmendorf, president and CEO of the Associated General Contractors of New York State. “Our issue with the proposal was pretty simple. We believed it was going to stop economic and construction activity all across the state.”
Supporters of the bill wanted it to apply everywhere, opponents nowhere. In between was Cuomo, trying to compromise – although some stakeholders were skeptical. “The governor, quite frankly, is full of crap,” Paul Brown, president of the Buffalo Building & Construction Trades Council, told The Buffalo News in July. “He said if you put the bill on his desk, he would sign it. He then did everything to not get it on his desk.” Cuomo reportedly had another aim in mind as he pushed for exemptions: helping out the New York City real estate industry that has been an important source of campaign donations over the years. It is beyond dispute that failing to pass the bill spared the New York City real estate industry from a second political loss following the passage of a tenant-friendly package of rent regulations in mid-June. A few days after the session ended, Scott Rechler, chairman and CEO of RXR Realty, hosted a Cuomo fundraiser at his Manhattan home, with tickets going up to $25,000, increasing widespread suspicions that the proposed New York City carve-out was Cuomo’s way to win back support from the real estate industry that he had spurned by refusing to intervene when Democrats reached a rent regulation deal. The notable ab-
sence of Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York President Gary LaBarbera – a prominent Cuomo ally who has previously supported expanding the prevailing wage – added to perceptions that Cuomo was working behind the scenes to scuttle the prevailing wage bill. LaBarbera did not respond to a City & State request for comment. A spokesman for Cuomo declined to comment. In the end, the prevailing wage bill failed for numerous reasons. Lawmakers were unwilling to support the relatively modest expansion proposed by Cuomo in the budget. There was lukewarm support among Democratic state senators for a bill that they worried would dampen affordable housing development. While business groups united in opposition to the bill, the building trades unions were not joined at rallies in the state Capitol by other contingents of organized labor, who appeared to play little role in the prevailing wage debate. While the prevailing wage issue has fallen off the political agenda over the summer, it will likely come up again in January. Resolving outstanding differences on the issue of carve-outs might be the ideal place to start in redefining what the term “public work” truly means.
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T A TIME when organized labor is in retreat across the nation, New York is mounting an aggressive counterattack. The state, which boasts one of the highest unionization rates in the country, is leading the way in passing worker-friendly legislation. Last year, the state teachers union played a key role in helping Democrats flip the state Senate, paving the way for a flood of progressive policies. While some unions supported Amazon’s proposed HQ2, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union joined forces with elected officials to defeat the Queens project. And in allblue Albany, state lawmakers passed a series of labor-backed bills, including groundbreaking protections for farmworkers. Keeping the labor movement active and energetic are an array of impressive individuals who are fighting for their members while adapting to the changing political environment and adjusting their tactics to meet new threats. Bolstering their cause are elected officials, activists, academics and other allies advocating for workers. In City & State’s inaugural Labor Power 100, we recognize the most noteworthy figures on the front lines in New York. This list was compiled with input from insiders and experts, and it ranks each person based on their accomplishments, their political ties and policy influence, and their ability to deliver for workers. This Labor Day, we present the Labor Power 100.
City & State New York
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1 GEORGE GRESHAM
PRESIDENT 1199SEIU
A FORCE to be reckoned with
KEVIN COUGHLIN/OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
in New York politics, 1199SEIU President George Gresham is making himself heard on the national stage as well. The longtime head of the country’s largest health care union advocates for more than 400,000 members – including many women of color and immigrants – and was among the few men asked to speak on the main stage of the Women’s March on Washington in 2017. Gresham has widened his organization’s reach from contract negotiations to advocating for universal health care. He has also called on labor to work with activists from Black Lives Matter and the Fight for $15 movement, as well as those advocating for immigrant and transgender rights. Reelected in June to a fifth three-year term, Gresham twice endorsed Bill de Blasio for mayor and served on his transition team, and also backed Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s reelection. His union successfully lobbied for the restoration to the state budget of $550 million in proposed Medicaid cuts for the current fiscal year (or $1.1 billion with federal matching funds). Among other things, the money funds contracts with downstate hospitals and nursing homes whose workers are 1199SEIU members.
The Bolton-St. John’s team congratulates Ed Draves for being honored on City & State’s Labor Power 100 List. Ed Draves heads our labor practice at Bolton-St Johns. He represents SEIU Local 200 United, RWDSU Local 338, and the Pipe Trades Association and has been a leading advocate in labor for retail workers, the service industry, and the trades. His practice area includes George DeRosa, who represents the carpenters across New York State, Mike Keogh who he worked with to get the City to address pay equity issues for Community Based Organizations and pre-K education staff, as well as Jack O’Donnell, who represents labor on workforce and safety issues in Western NY. Prior to joining the firm, Ed was the Political and Legislative Director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) for more than two decades. In that capacity, he coordinated the political action and legislative programs of the union’s six New York affiliates and represented more than 400,000 members. As AFSCME’s Legislative Director he was named by the Buffalo News as “one of labor’s most savvy political operatives.” Not only was Ed recognized as one of New York’s top labor lobbyists - but he is also considered one of the best grassroots campaign organizers in the state! We congratulate you our friend and leader!
NYC
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2 MICHAEL MULGREW
PRESIDENT UNITED FEDERATION OF TEACHERS THE LEADER of the influential United Federation of
Teachers for the past decade, Michael Mulgrew coasted to a fourth term in April, netting just over 86% of the votes. Leading nearly 200,000 public school educators and other education workers who make up a powerful voting bloc in New York City, in May the UFT flexed its political muscle in backing Farah Louis’ successful special election bid to fill the New York City Council seat vacated when Jumaane Williams became public advocate. Mulgrew’s achievements include obtaining six weeks of paid parental leave for teachers and a contract that runs through September 2022. With strong encouragement from Mulgrew, Gov. Andrew Cuomo last year signed an executive order to protect union workers from harassment and intimidation, with the mandate codified into law in this year’s budget and extended to local governments. The UFT has also been lobbying Albany to halt an expansion of charter schools in the city, and is part of a coalition calling on Albany to pass legislation to protect patients from exorbitant surprise emergency medical bills.
3 PETER WARD
AS PRESIDENT of the 40,000-member New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council, Peter Ward runs one of New York City’s most politically potent labor groups. With would-be candidates for mayor in 2021 likely paying attention, Ward’s union is backing Mayor Bill de Blasio’s presidential bid, committing hundreds of thousands of dollars to ads in early primary states. The support comes after the mayor stood with the union on hot-button issues, including its fight against Airbnb, with the city continually cracking down on so-called illegal hotels across the five boroughs. Described as a “reed-thin man with a razor-sharp tongue,” Ward has secured an impressive share of the city’s tourist industry revenue for his members – and could benefit from a potential permitting change that would likely limit new hotels that don’t employ a unionized workforce. Ward’s Local 6 union negotiated a contract that has been extended through 2026 and gives its bar and restaurant workers wage increases each year, in addition to health care and other benefits.
UNITED FEDERATION OF TEACHERS; MTA
PRESIDENT NEW YORK HOTEL AND MOTEL TRADES COUNCIL
We honor and congratulate James Cahill, President of the NYS Building & Construction Trades Council on being selected as one of City & State NY’s 100 Most Powerful People in the Labor Community! Jim has been serving as President of the NYS Building Trades since 2012, but his commitment to the labor movement began decades ago. We’re proud to call him one of our own, and we know the fruits of his labor will endure for years to come.
James W. Cahill President
Executive Board
Al Catalano Secretary-Treasurer
James Mahoney, Iron Workers
Robert Reap, Asbestos Workers & Insulators
Dante Dano, Jr., Sheet Metal Workers
John Murphy, Plumbers & Steamfitters
Steven Ludwigson, Boilermakers
Dan McGraw, Operating Engineers
Jerry Sullivan, Bricklayers
Sam Fratto, Electrical Workers
Sam Fresina, Laborers
Michael Rossi, Roofers
Tom Gesualdi, Teamsters
Don Winkle, Elevator Workers
Bill Banfield, Carpenters
Gino Castignoli, Plasterers & Cement Masons
Joe Azzopardi, Painters
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4 STUART APPELBAUM
PRESIDENT RETAIL, WHOLESALE AND DEPARTMENT STORE UNION
FIRST ELECTED as president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in 1998, Stuart Appelbaum has since been reelected five times. While leading the group that has long negotiated on behalf of workers at major department stores and retailers like Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and Modell’s Sporting Goods, Appelbaum also advocates for workers at large. A case in point is the seven-year campaign that got state legislators to pass a law in June to require car wash workers to be paid the full minimum wage in New York City, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties, ending a loophole that had some employers deducting tips from workers’ pay. Appelbaum is also a persistent thorn in Amazon’s side, leading the successful charge against its HQ2 plan in Queens while arguing that warehouse workers are struggling to keep pace with mandates set by the company. And while union membership is down from decades past, RWDSU has been signing up new members, with sales clerks at H&M and Zara in New York joining the union.
THE 42,000 NURSES OF THE
New York State Nurses Association salute all those named to the
CONGRATULATIONS TO
JILL FURILLO
Executive Director of NYSNA /NYNurses www.nysna.org
@nynurses
RWDSU; NEW YORK STATE NURSES ASSOCIATION
CITY & STATE LABOR POWER 100 LIST
September 2, 2019
City & State New York
5 JILL FURILLO
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NEW YORK STATE NURSES ASSOCIATION ACTIVE IN the labor movement since the age of 19, former New York City emergency room nurse Jill Furillo had already helped steer the nation’s first law setting nurse-to-patient ratios through the California Legislature before joining the New York State Nurses Association as the 42,000-member union’s executive director in 2012. The issue of too many patients for each nurse remains front and center for Furillo and her association, which threatened a widespread nurses strike earlier this year. She ultimately secured a favorable deal for her union members in May, and they ratified a contract agreement with the Mount Sinai, Montefiore and New York-Presbyterian health systems, affecting more than 10,000 nurses. Beyond yearly wage increases and other benefits, the contract calls for hiring additional nurses based on the number of patients one nurse can care for during a shift. Earlier in the year, the union also reached its first contract for nurses at Putnam Hospital Center in Carmel, New York. Next year, the union will continue to advocate for passing nurse-to-patient ratios into state law.
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HENRY GARRIDO
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DISTRICT COUNCIL 37 SINCE BECOMING
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MARIO CILENTO
PRESIDENT NEW YORK STATE AFL-CIO THE PRESIDENT of the 2.5 million-member
state AFL-CIO has played an active role in getting a slew of pro-worker bills passed in recent years. Those credits lately include the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act, a new law that gives collective bargaining rights, overtime and other labor protections to the state’s 100,000 farmworkers, starting in January. Mario Cilento previously served as the organization’s public relations director and chief of staff.
executive director of District Council 37 in late 2014, Henry Garrido has tried to boost member participation at New York City’s largest municipal employees union that has 125,000 members and nearly 50,000 retirees. Garrido lately has contended with getting 10,000 college assistants and others working at the City University of New York the raises and retroactive pay negotiated last year but delayed until August, reports The Chief-Leader.
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CHRISTOPHER SHELTON & DENNIS TRAINOR PRESIDENT; VICE PRESIDENT COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS OF AMERICA; CWA DISTRICT 1
ELECTED IN 2015 to
their respective posts at the 700,000-member union representing telecommunications, media and other public and private sector workers, Christopher Shelton and Dennis Trainor had already worked together at CWA for years. Lately, they’ve been lobbying Washington to fight the outsourcing of U.S. jobs as well as backing state legislation designed to protect call center jobs.
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PRESIDENT UNIFORMED SANITATIONMEN’S ASSOCIATION, TEAMSTERS LOCAL 831
PRESIDENT BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION TRADES COUNCIL OF GREATER NEW YORK
THE INFLUENTIAL labor leader
GARY LABARBERA
HARRY NESPOLI
and president of the 14,000-member Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association showed his support for Mayor Bill de Blasio by being the first labor union to endorse his 2017 reelection bid. As chairman of the Municipal Labor Committee, a group of unions that negotiate health benefits with the city, Harry Nespoli has a voice in the leadership of more than 150 unions.
GARY LaBARBERA
led more than a year of protests over the use of nonunion labor at billionaire developer Stephen Ross’ Hudson Yards. LaBarbera reached a deal with Related Cos. in which the union stopped the protests in exchange for Related dropping its lawsuits. LaBarbera, who has long had an ally in Gov. Andrew Cuomo, previously held leadership positions with several labor groups.
We know the struggles of working New Yorkers. We know we have the expertise to get things done. We believe together, we can do better.
NEW YORK STATE AFL-CIO
Thank you to the fearless labor leaders committed to the greatest causes of our time.
AMALGAMATED IS
AMERICA’S SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE BANK
Founded by labor, our legacy is built on actively advocating for workers’ protections, increasing the minimum wage and supporting working families.
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PRESIDENT TRANSPORT WORKERS UNION
PRESIDENT TRANSPORT WORKERS UNION LOCAL 100
PRESIDENT NEW YORK STATE UNITED TEACHERS
PRESIDENT 32BJ SEIU
SWORN IN as pres-
ELECTED IN
2017 to lead the 600,000-member New York State United Teachers, an influential labor union in Albany, Andrew Pallotta is a key player in education policy across the state. The longtime union and grassroots activist and former Bronx elementary school teacher played a major role in the pivotal Democratic takeover of the state Senate. He is now recruiting members to run for public office through the NYSUT’s Pipeline Project.
became president of 32BJ SEIU in July after the sudden death of Héctor Figueroa. A member of the country’s largest building service workers union for more than 30 years, Bragg led the 2001 merger with Local 32E, bringing 9,000 Bronx and Westchester County members into the fold. The labor world will be watching to see how he builds on the legacy of Figueroa, a visionary who pushed for wage hikes and progressive policies.
JOHN SAMUELSEN
JOHN SAMUELSEN
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RANDI WEINGARTEN
PRESIDENT AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS THE PRESIDENT of the 1.7 million-member
American Federation of Teachers maintains connections to top politicians in the state. While not yet making an endorsement for the 2020 presidential election, Randi Weingarten has offered some kind words for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s bid, saying “there is room for people who are executives to run.” Weingarten served on an education reform commission convened by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2012 and 2013.
recently found himself at odds with an ally after Gov. Andrew Cuomo suggested Transport Workers Union members in the New York City subways were abusing overtime pay. Samuelsen, who left New York in 2017 to lead the national union – which represents over 150,000 workers – cautioned Cuomo of a transit slowdown due to low morale. The governor, in the end, backed off.
TONY UTANO
ANDREW PALLOTTA
ident of Transport Workers Union Local 100 in January, Tony Utano is solidifying support within the union. The longtime labor leader who has been a union member since the age of 19 has touted a threeyear contract for 650 school bus drivers in Yonkers among the union’s achievements. However, he is facing a tougher political environment, and is pushing back against criticism of overtime among subway workers.
KYLE BRAGG
KYLE BRAGG
CITY&STATE Labor Power 100 List including CSA’s President Mark Cannizzaro
Council of School Supervisors & Administrators LOCAL 1: AMERICAN FEDERATION OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS, AFL-CIO 40 RECTOR ST., 12th FL., NY, NY 10006 T: 212 823 2020 | www.csa-nyc.org MARK CANNIZZARO President HENRY RUBIO executive vice President ROSEMARIE SINCLAIR First vice President
AFT; OFFICE OF THE NEW YORK CITY COMPTROLLER
CSA salutes the honorees on the
September 2, 2019
City & State New York
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PRESIDENT NEW YORK CITY POLICE BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION
PRESIDENT NEW YORK CITY CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NEW YORK TAXI WORKERS ALLIANCE
STATE COMPTROLLER
PATRICK LYNCH
A HARSH CRITIC of
Mayor Bill de Blasio and the longest-serving leader of the union representing 24,000 active police officers, Patrick Lynch has been badmouthing the mayor’s presidential run and the stalled contract negotiations with officers whose contracts expired in 2017. He blamed videotaped incidents of cops being doused with water on “anti-police rhetoric” at City Hall and has decried the firing of Daniel Pantaleo.
VINCENT ALVAREZ
ELECTED AS the first full-time president of the New York City Central Labor Council in 2011, Vincent Alvarez was reelected in 2015 to serve as a voice for 1.3 million workers in 300 unions. The longtime organizer joined the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s board of directors in January. In April, he was tapped by Mayor Bill de Blasio to help review options to replace a portion of the aging BrooklynQueens Expressway in Brooklyn.
BHAIRAVI DESAI
A VOICE for cab drivers in one of the world’s biggest taxi markets, Bhairavi Desai has led a group of 21,000 independent contractors to major victories in battles with the city, garage owners and medallion leasing agents. Since helping start the organization in 1998, Desai successfully fought for a fare increase in 2004 – the first in eight years – and extended the cap on new licenses for ride-hailing vehicles.
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THOMAS DiNAPOLI
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SCOTT STRINGER
NEW YORK CITY COMPTROLLER A MASTER of old-school politics, Scott String-
er oversees five public pension funds, about 800 employees and various additional fiscal and municipal responsibilities. The career politician has sought to align himself with the progressive movement as he lays the groundwork for an expected mayoral bid in 2021 – with bona fides including pension divestment from private prisons and his support of insurgent candidates like state Sens. Alessandra Biaggi and Jessica Ramos.
ELECTED AS the state’s chief fiscal officer in 2007, the lifelong Long Islander and former assemblyman has proven to be a leading voice for shareholders. As Thomas DiNapoli demands changes at Facebook after the social network’s misuse of personal data and its role in spreading fake news, his stewardship of the state pension fund – and more than $1 billion in Facebook shares – should give him a shot at getting CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s attention.
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CHAIRMAN ASSEMBLY LABOR COMMITTEE
CHAIRMAN ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENTAL EMPLOYEES COMMITTEE
CHAIRMAN STATE SENATE CIVIL SERVICE AND PENSIONS COMMITTEE
A MEMBER of the
WITH BACKING from Gov. Andrew Cuomo and other Democratic heavyweights, Andrew Gounardes beat state Sen. Martin Golden in 2018 – Brooklyn’s last Republican senator. Gounardes, who took over Golden’s old committee, spearheaded a bill authorizing unlimited sick leave for New York City workers who were 9/11 first responders. He’ll be looking to deepen relationships with public sector unions – which could be critical if Golden seeks a rematch.
PRESIDENT UNIFORMED FIREFIGHTERS ASSOCIATION OF GREATER NEW YORK
PETER ABBATE JR.
MARCOS CRESPO
BORN IN Puerto Rico, Marcos Crespo grew up in New York City and Lima, Peru, before completing high school in Puerto Rico and returning to New York. Crespo chairs two influential posts – the Labor Committee and the Bronx Democratic Party. He was a champion of the state’s groundbreaking farmworker rights bill, and has pushed to expand prevailing wages, raise wages for car wash workers, and institute construction safety measures.
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JESSICA RAMOS
CHAIRWOMAN STATE SENATE LABOR COMMITTEE JESSICA RAMOS beat state Sen. Jose Peralta in 2018 on a platform of fixing public transit, advocating for single-payer health care in the state and reforming rent laws. She won a coveted post chairing the labor committee, sponsored laws granting rights to farmworkers and preventing wage theft, and will lead the charge to expand prevailing wages in 2020.
ANDREW GOUNARDES
Assembly since 1987, Peter Abbate Jr. is the chairman of the Governmental Employees Committee and so far has helped pass bills in support of New York City firefighters and police officers in the aftermath of 9/11. A strong supporter of public sector unions, Abbate recently partnered with state Sen. Andrew Gounardes in proposing a pension bump for recently hired government workers and some 200,000 retirees.
GERARD FITZGERALD
GERARD FITZGERALD recently traveled
to Washington, D.C., with other FDNY members to push lawmakers to extend aid for ground zero first responders – joining former “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart in advocating for funding the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. They were successful. But at least 200 firefighters have already died from illnesses related to 9/11, while thousands more suffer.
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Michael Apuzzo Joseph Azzopardi Mark Cannizzaro Carmen Charles Edwin Christian Patrick Dolan, Jr. Chris Erikson Gregory Floyd Joseph Geiger Elias Husamudeen Karen Ignagni Harry Nespoli Michael Palladino John Samuelsen Wayne Spence D. Taylor Tony Utano Peter Ward Anthony Wells Michelle Zettergren Our Founder & Partner Vincent F. Pitta & All the Labor 100 Honorees
September 2, 2019
City & State New York
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PRESIDENT UNIFORMED FIRE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR DISTRICT COUNCIL 1707
JAKE LEMONDA,
AFTER BEING
JAKE LEMONDA
who represents the Uniformed Fire Officers Association’s 2,600 active members and 5,000 retirees, joined the FDNY in 1986 and was promoted to battalion chief in 2005. He was in Washington, D.C., in July as President Donald Trump signed the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund extension into law. “It’s been a long journey,” Lemonda told Fox News regarding the law ensuring first responders are treated for illnesses related to 9/11.
KIM MEDINA
elected to lead child care union District Council 1707, Kim Medina slashed her own salary in half to $90,000, saying that earning $180,000 while members make $21,000 to $30,000 a year is “not a good thing.” New York City recently announced an agreement for pay parity between pre-K teachers at public schools and those at community centers represented by Medina’s union.
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IN APRIL, Charter Communications and New York reached an agreement to allow the cable company to remain in the state, ending a yearslong conflict. Yet the strike by 1,800 IBEW Local Union 3 members continues more than two years after it began. But Christopher Erikson may hold some sway, with his union pushing New York City not to renew its franchise agreement with Charter, which expires in 2020.
MASON TENDERS’ DISTRICT COUNCIL
CHRISTOPHER ROBERT ERIKSON BONANZA, BUSINESS MANAGER MICHAEL INTERNATIONAL HELLSTROM BROTHERHOOD OF ELECTRICAL & MICHAEL WORKERS LOCAL UNION 3 MCGUIRE
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GREGORY FLOYD
PRESIDENT TEAMSTERS LOCAL 237
GREGORY FLOYD, who speaks for 24,000 New York City workers, has called out Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration on multiple fronts, including the mayor’s move to rid some schools of metal detectors and not doing more to curb bullying in schools. In December, the union reached a contract agreement with the city covering more than 5,000 NYCHA workers. He is among the more outspoken trustees on the New York City Employees’ Retirement System board.
ROBERT BONANZA
has served as the Mason Tenders’ business manager since 2004. He’s relied on his invaluable aide Michael McGuire in building the union’s PAC into a powerhouse. And last year, Michael Hellstrom took on an expanded role as the union’s assistant business manager.
CWA Local 1180 Officers Gloria Middleton President Gina strickland 1st Vice President Gerald Brown 2nd Vice President robin Blair-Batte Secretary-Treasurer Lourdes Acevedo Recording Secretary Members at Large Hilary Bloomfield Denise Gilliam Helen S. Jarrett Lisa Lloyd Debra Paylor Gregory Smith Lenora Smith Venus Williams Hazel O. Worley
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Congratulations to Our President Gloria Middleton On being chosen as one of 2019’s Labor Power 100 Your Leadership, Dedication & Commitment to not only Local 1180 members but the entire NYC labor movement are what make you stand out in a crowd. New York Administrative Employees Local 1180, Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO 6 Harrison Street, 4th Floor l New York, NY 10013
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COMMISSIONER NEW YORK CITY OFFICE OF LABOR RELATIONS
COMMISSIONER STATE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
PRESIDENT SERVICE EMPLOYEES INTERNATIONAL UNION
PRESIDENT LONG ISLAND FEDERATION OF LABOR
NEW YORK CITY’S
dent of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, Roberta Reardon was the founding co-president of SAG-AFTRA, a 165,000-member union for the entertainment industry. Since Gov. Andrew Cuomo tapped her for the post in 2015, Reardon has been a public voice for the governor on labor issues. In May, she spoke at a rally in support of the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act.
THE FIRST woman
A LONGTIME LEADER
RENEE CAMPION
first female labor relations commissioner, Renee Campion is in charge of negotiating labor agreements with 150 bargaining units representing more than 360,000 workers. Appointed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in January, Campion had spent the previous 17 years working in the Office of Labor Relations. She is credited with helping her predecessor, Robert Linn, reach agreements on expired contracts.
ROBERTA REARDON
THE FORMER presi-
MARY KAY HENRY
elected president of the influential Service Employees International Union, Mary Kay Henry began leading the union’s 2 million members in 2010. Just a few years later, Henry and the union were at the forefront of the Fight for $15 campaign to raise the minimum wage that gathered momentum when 200 New York City fast-food workers walked off the job to demand raises.
JOHN DURSO
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GEORGE MIRANDA
PRESIDENT TEAMSTERS JOINT COUNCIL 16 THE PRESIDENT of the umbrella group
for 27 local unions with 120,000 workers in New York and Puerto Rico, George Miranda supported passing the Green Light bill to make it possible for undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses. Miranda, who grew up in the South Bronx and Puerto Rico, helped organize aid and volunteers for Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and has spoken out against Trump’s immigration policies.
of Local 338 RWDSU/ UFCW, a union representing food and retail workers in New York City, Long Island and upstate New York, John Durso is also president of the Long Island Federation of Labor, the fourth-largest central labor council in the U.S. with 250,000 members in Nassau and Suffolk counties. His recent work with Local 338 has consisted of campaigns to obtain a union contract for CVS workers at a Brooklyn store.
The New York Hotel Trades Council
Congratulates City & State’s 2019 Labor Power 100 Honorees and…our own
Proudly Representing 32,000+ Hotel Workers in the New York City Metropolitan Area, the Capital Region of New York State, and New Jersey www.HotelWorkers.org
TEAMSTERS; TIM RAAB
Peter Ward
September 2, 2019
City & State New York
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MARK DANNY CANNIZZARO DONOHUE
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WAYNE SPENCE
PRESIDENT NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC EMPLOYEES FEDERATION REELECTED TO a second three-year term as president of the 54,000-member New York State Public Employees Federation in 2018, Wayne Spence immigrated to the U.S. from Jamaica at the age of 10 and has since lived in the New York City area. Earlier this year, the union filed suit against the State University of New York over staffing and pay inequity issues that it says are hurting nurses at SUNY.
PRESIDENT COUNCIL OF SCHOOL SUPERVISORS AND ADMINISTRATORS
PRESIDENT CIVIL SERVICE EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION
AS PRESIDENT of
who has been with CSEA since 1975 and has led the union since 1994, is now its longest-serving president. Earlier this summer, Donohue announced he would not seek reelection in 2020 for another term leading the largest state employees union. After clashing with Gov. Andrew Cuomo over pay, health care premiums and a tiered pension for newly hired workers, Donohue and Cuomo eventually became allies.
the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, longtime educator Mark Cannizzaro has taken a more low-key approach in public than his firebrand predecessor, Ernest Logan. Since taking the helm two years ago of the union that represents principals and other public school administrators in New York City, he has continued advocating for better pay for pre-K teachers who work in community centers.
DANNY DONOHUE,
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I. DANEEK MILLER
CHAIRMAN NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL CIVIL SERVICE AND LABOR COMMITTEE FIRST ELECTED to
the New York City Council in 2013, I. Daneek Miller was reelected in 2017. As chairman of its Civil Service and Labor Committee, he oversees hearings on various issues, including a bill that would require most businesses to provide employees with two weeks of paid personal time each year. Previously president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1056, Miller co-chairs the MTA Labor Coalition.
We congratulate our Co-Managing Partner Alan M. Klinger and all of this year’s Labor Power 100 honorees
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP New York | Miami | Los Angeles | Washington, D.C. www.stroock.com
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D. TAYLOR
PRESIDENT UNITE HERE
A LEADER with almost 40 years of experience in the labor movement, D. Taylor represents Unite Here’s 250,000 members in the U.S. and Canada, including tens of thousands of immigrant and first-generation hotel and hospitality workers – including many who work in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County. The union is currently seeking approval from the federal government to authorize a strike by airport catering workers at major airline hubs.
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DIRECTOR NATIONAL DOMESTIC WORKERS ALLIANCE
PRESIDENT UNITED FOOD AND COMMERCIAL WORKERS LOCAL 1500
PRESIDENT NEW YORK STATE COURT OFFICERS ASSOCIATION
PRESIDENT NEW YORK STATE BUILDING & CONSTRUCTION TRADES COUNCIL
AI-JEN POO began
ELECTED PRESIDENT of the more
president of the New York State Court Officers Association (he’s held the position for more than 30 years) represents uniformed officers in courts throughout New York City and in five other New York counties. Last year, he incurred the wrath of New York’s top judge for a message and graphics printed on T-shirts to be worn at rallies pushing for better pay and working conditions.
AI-JEN POO
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ELIAS HUSAMUDEEN
PRESIDENT CORRECTION OFFICERS’ BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION WITH NEW YORK CITY’S inmate population at
its lowest level in decades, Elias Husamudeen, president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, is demanding better protection for correction officers after several were injured in attacks by inmates. Husamudeen is calling for an inmate-to-officer ratio of 20-to-1, compared to the current ratio of 50-to-1.
than 20,000-member United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1500 in 2016, Anthony Speelman represents grocery store workers in the Hudson Valley, Long Island and New York City. An ally of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Speelman’s union backed the governor’s 2018 reelection, citing his help in raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour.
DENNIS QUIRK
THE LONGTIME
JAMES CAHILL
AS PRESIDENT of the New York State Building & Construction Trades Council, James Cahill speaks for more than 200,000 construction workers in the state. The union supported an unsuccessful campaign for a prevailing wage mandate that would have paid union-level wages on most projects that receive public funds. He also supported expanding a controversial pipeline to supply natural gas to New York City and Long Island.
100
LABOR
POWER
Congratulations to the Labor Power 100 from the members of 32BJ SEIU.
32BJ SEIU
32BJSEIU
32BJ SEIU is the largest property service workers union in the country. 25 West 18th Street, New York, NY 10011 • www.seiu32bj.org
ALI GARBER
organizing domestic workers in New York City in 1996. In 2010, she helped get legislation passed extending basic labor protections to more than 200,000 domestic workers across the state. She is an advocate for affordable care for the nation’s aging population, and this year, she helped launch Supermajority, a nationwide effort to fight for gender equity.
ANTHONY SPEELMAN
TEAMSTERS JOINT COUNCIL 16 SALUTES
TEAMSTER LEADERS HONORED BY CITY & STATE MAGAZINE
GEORGE MIRANDA
GREGORY FLOYD
International Vice President At-Large President, Teamsters Joint Council 16 Secretary-Treasurer, Teamsters Local 210
International Vice President At-Large President, Teamsters Local 237 Recording Secretary, Teamsters Joint Council 16
HARRY NESPOLI
SEAN CAMPBELL
President, Teamsters Local 831 Vice President, Teamsters Joint Council 16
President Teamsters Local 813
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September 2, 2019
City & State New York
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PRESIDENT AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS LOCAL 802
DIRECTOR UNITED AUTO WORKERS REGION 9A
PRESIDENT PROFESSIONAL STAFF CONGRESS
PRESIDENT UNITED UNIVERSITY PROFESSIONS
THE HEAD of the
ELECTED DIRECTOR of United Auto
union for City University of New York professors is looking to repeal part of a law that makes it illegal for public sector workers to strike. For years, Barbara Bowen has advocated for state funding increases for the CUNY system, connecting the working conditions of educators to the learning environment of students. Bowen taught college English for 15 years before being elected union president in 2000.
FREDERICK KOWAL represents 35,000
BEVERLEY ADAM KRAUTHAMER BRAKEMAN
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PATRICK PURCELL JR.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR GREATER NEW YORK LABORERSEMPLOYERS COOPERATION AND EDUCATION TRUST THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the Greater
GREATER NY LECET
New York Laborers-Employers Cooperation and Education Trust speaks for the roughly 15,000 members of affiliated unions of the Mason Tenders District Council as well as 1,500 signatory contractors. An advocate for building affordable housing and paying the prevailing wage on construction projects, Patrick Purcell in August lashed out at New York City Council members for disregarding construction workers’ concerns and voting to rezone Manhattan’s Inwood neighborhood.
ADAM KRAUTHAMER’S election in late
2018 as president of the New York local of the musicians’ union – its biggest local in the U.S. – marked a stunning upset. The first contested election in nine years at American Federation of Musicians Local 802 came amid pension concerns from its 7,500 members who perform on Broadway and elsewhere across the city. Krauthamer’s credits include a contract for the biggest wage increase in two decades.
Workers Region 9A in June 2018, Beverley Brakeman started working with the UAW when she was hired to run Citizens for Economic Opportunity, a coalition started by the union to challenge corporate power. Region 9A encompasses workers in New York City, the Hudson Valley and the Capital Region, along with New England and Puerto Rico. It added 2,000 postdoctoral researchers at Columbia University last year.
BARBARA BOWEN
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FREDERICK KOWAL
academic and professional faculty at SUNY campuses and teaching hospitals across the state. The professor of political science and Native American studies has led the union since 2013. Kowal decried the 2019-2020 state budget for not restoring funding to SUNY’s three public teaching hospitals in Brooklyn, Stony Brook and Syracuse. In May 2018, the union reached a six-year contract agreement with the Cuomo administration with 2% wage hikes each year though 2021-2022.
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NOW IS THE TIME
By Gregory Floyd, President, Teamsters Local 237 and Vice President-at-Large on the General Board of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Here’s a sad but true fact: Labor unions in America are weaker than in other industrialized nations. Today, in America, just 10.5% of all workers are in a union, and in the private-sector, only one in 16 workers are in a union. This is largely because corporations have become very skilled and aggressive at fighting unionization. The negative consequences are enormous. They are evident in countless ways, from diminished workers’ rights to the diminished political power of labor unions. For example, of the three dozen industrialized countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States has the lowest minimum wage as a percentage of the median wage at just 34% of the typical wage compared with 62% in France and 54% in Britain. We also have the second highest percentage of low wage workers, behind Latvia, which is number one. As far as policy power, all of the country’s labor unions combined spend about $48 million a year lobbying in Washington, while America’s corporations spend approximately $3 billion annually. There is no question that America’s workers are losing out in their political influence and, most important, their pocketbooks. It’s no wonder that a recent M.I.T. study found that 46% of nonunion workers say they would like to be in a union. Clearly, opportunity does exist to expand union membership—an opening that many nonunion groups are keenly aware of. However, the action of some are counter-productive. For example, the New York City branch of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has expressed dissatisfaction with unions as not being aggressive enough on worker issues and presented its members with a plan to gain entry into six of our most powerful unions to organize members to become their own. Vincent Alvarez, President of NYC Central Labor Council said it best: “It makes no sense that at a time when solidarity is needed to fight for real gains in economic opportunity and social justice for working families that the DSA would sow the seeds of disunity by targeting some of the most progressive unions in our city with plans for infiltration and disruption.” Now is the time for unions to get back to basics. Even though Ralph Chaplin wrote the song “Solidarity Forever” in 1915 for the Industrial Workers of World War I, its refrain is as relevant and important today as it was more than 100 years ago: “When the union’s inspiration thru the worker’s blood shall run, there can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun, yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one, but the union makes us strong. Solidarity forever, solidarity forever, solidarity forever, for the union makes us strong.” We must also keep in mind the words of other great advocates of labor unions, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., President John F. Kennedy and even the Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower. Dr. King told us that “The labor movement did not diminish the strength of the nation but enlarged it. By raising the living standard of millions, labor miraculously created a market for industry and lifted the whole nation to undreamed of levels of production. Those who attack labor forget these simple truths, but history remembers them.” President Kennedy said: “Our labor unions are not narrow, self-seeking groups. They have raised wages, shortened hours and provided supplemental benefits. Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, they have brought justice and democracy to the shop floor.” President Eisenhower said that America was better off because of unions and that “Only a fool would try to deprive working men and women of the right to join the union of their choice.” Now is the time for unions to fight back. The Labor Day parade along Fifth Avenue is great, but in this political climate, parades are not enough. We can’t let union membership become an endangered species. Unlike pandas or dolphins, union members still have opportunity and resources to fight back. Labor leaders in New York have made it crystal clear to our elected officials and candidates that unions built the middle class in America. We just want to make sure that there will be a place in it for our own children. You can’t fault us for that! And, we need to use every opportunity to remind them that labor still has a powerful voice and millions of votes. That always seems to get their attention. And one more thing: In New York, there is a sense that whether you’re in a public or private union it doesn’t matter, we’re all in the same family. An assault on one is an assault on all of us. That same spirit was seen during the push to convene a Constitutional Convention. It would have had a devastating effect on public sector pensions and other benefits the Constitution guaranteed. But the proposal was overwhelmingly defeated because all unions got together to defeat it. We also sought and received the help of non-union groups who saw the push to lessen the role of labor unions for what it really is: An attack on democracy perpetrated by the special interests of the well-funded corporate 1%. The labor movement needs to approach future challenges, like the upcoming Census, with the same unity and fervor. We also need to fight our fights for our own on our own. That does not mean we shouldn’t seek allies. But simply: There is no substitute for labor unions. Sometimes we forget that. Some never knew that or ignored the fact. But history reaffirms: The 40-hour work week, health benefits, $15 an hour minimum pay, paid vacation and family leave are just some of our hard-fought--and won--battles. Now is the time to understand that unions ARE aggressive. Unions ARE progressive. Our history proves it. Our history didn’t begin today. And, for tomorrow, now is the time to act.
September 2, 2019
City & State New York
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PRESIDENT SOCIAL SERVICE EMPLOYEES UNION LOCAL 371
EXECUTIVE SECRETARYTREASURER NEW YORK CITY AND VICINITY DISTRICT COUNCIL OF CARPENTERS
PRESIDENT SERGEANTS BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT SAG-AFTRA
ANTHONY WELLS
ELECTED PRESIDENT
of the Social Service Employees Union Local 371 in 2011, Anthony Wells represents 17,000 members working in social services, including New York City Administration for Children’s Services’ youth specialists trained to work with incarcerated 16- and 17-year-olds, who are no longer housed with adult inmates. Wells is fighting against renewed efforts to implement singlepayer health care in New York.
JOSEPH GEIGER
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AS EXECUTIVE
CARMEN CHARLES
PRESIDENT MUNICIPAL HOSPITAL EMPLOYEES UNION LOCAL 420 REELECTED TO the District Council 37 exec-
utive board in January, Carmen Charles also heads the 10,000-member Municipal Hospital Employees Union Local 420 – representing employees at New York City’s hospitals, clinics and morgues. A founder of District Council 37’s Caribbean Heritage Committee, Charles regularly speaks out on immigration: “I urge you to stand with your union against anti-immigrant policies. We – and all immigrants – have value and bring so much to New York City and to America.”
secretary-treasurer of the New York City and Vicinity District Council of Carpenters, Joseph Geiger is in charge of a 25,000-member organization comprised of nine local unions. First elected to his current position in late 2013, Geiger is helping the union shake a history of corruption that had it placed under court supervision – five of its top leaders were either removed or resigned between 1982 and 2013.
ED MULLINS
FIRST ELECTED
president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association in 2002, Ed Mullins is known for making waves at the NYPD. He’s ranted against Commissioner James O’Neill for waging what Mullins calls a “political witch hunt” against a sergeant who fatally shot a mentally ill woman in the Bronx in 2016. In 2018, his union drew heat for offering $500 to civilians who assist NYPD officers instead of videotaping them.
REBECCA DAMON
AN ACTOR and voice-over performer, Rebecca Damon leads a union representing 160,000 actors, writers, recording artists and other media and entertainment professionals. She’s also president of the SAG-AFTRA New York local, a role she filled following the death of Mike Hodge a month after his reelection in 2017. An advocate for performers nationwide, Damon has worked to strengthen New York’s Right of Publicity law to benefit members.
Congratulations to DC 37 Executive Director
Henry Garrido
and the Labor Power 100 Representing 150,000 employees
District Council
AFSCME AFL- CIO
LOCAL 420
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THE UNION THAT MAKES NEW YORK CITY RUN. www.dc37.net
Congratulations to all the honorees and especially to our
Business Manager
William M. Lynn Recognized as one of City & State’s Labor Power 100
We thank you for your dedication and hard work to Local 30 and the Labor Movement
On behalf of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 30 Officers, Members & Staff Robert Moccio President
Business Representatives Anthony Calandrino Brendan McPartland Kevin Cruse Robert Wilson Dana Sanders Steven Broderick Brendan Benn James Carroll 16-16 Whitestone Expressway, Whitestone, NY 11357 | www.iuoelocal30.org
September 2, 2019
City & State New York
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PRESIDENT DISTRICT COUNCIL 37
PRESIDENT DETECTIVES’ ENDOWMENT ASSOCIATION
BUSINESS MANAGER INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 14-14B
BUSINESS MANAGER/ SECRETARY TREASURER INTERNATIONAL UNION OF PAINTERS AND ALLIED TRADES DISTRICT COUNCIL 9
A MEMBER of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 14-14B for more than 30 years, Edwin Christian has been its business manager for the past decade, representing roughly 1,600 heavy equipment operators and other trade workers in New York City. With developers more frequently bypassing union labor, Christian still holds sway in the licensing and regulation of crane operators.
ELECTED TO lead the
SHAUN D. FRANCOIS I
SHAUN D. FRANCOIS I , who took
over as president of District Council 37 in January after defeating longtime President Eddie Rodriguez, serves as a liaison between the presidents of the more than 50 locals and DC 37’s executive director. Francois is also president of the New York City Board of Education Employees Local 372, which represents nearly 24,000 school crossing guards, lunch workers, health aides and others.
MICHAEL PALLADINO
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GLORIA MIDDLETON
PRESIDENT COMMUNICATIONS WORKERS OF AMERICA LOCAL 1180 THE FIRST female president of the Com-
munications Workers of America Local 1180, Gloria Middleton oversees more than 9,000 active members and 6,200 retirees. The union’s membership overwhelmingly consists of women, women of color and other minorities in New York City administrative and supervisory roles. Middleton is currently overseeing negotiations on a contract that expired in May 2018, and advocated for a new law that bans employers from asking job applicants about their salary history.
THE LONGTIME law enforcement official (he joined the NYPD in 1979 and made detective in 1987) opposes decriminalizing marijuana and not prosecuting subway turnstile jumpers. In a statement to the organization’s members in July, Michael Palladino lashed out at city and state politicians for what he called their “deafening silence” in response to videos of people dousing police officers with water. Palladino is a trustee of the $33 billion New York City Police Pension Fund.
THE ADVANCE GROUP
Congratulations to all the Honorees especially to our Business Manager Mike Apuzzo. Your hard work and dedication is appreciated by Plumbers Local Union No. 1 and all of the Labor Movement.
EDWIN CHRISTIAN
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JOSEPH AZZOPARDI
more than 11,000-member International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 9 in 2015, Joseph Azzopardi represents workers who paint signs, polish metal and cut glass. In April, Azzopardi announced painters and wall-coverers had ratified a five-year contract covering more than 4,000 workers in New York City, Long Island, Westchester and Putnam counties. He’s known for being a strong advocate of worker safety.
MagnaCare congratulates the
2019 Labor Power 100 honorees Local expertise, flexibility, and high-touch service are our trademarks, and labor is our focus. We go the extra mile to support your members and the communities you serve — which is why labor unions have trusted MagnaCare with their health plans for more than 25 years.
Close to home. Far from ordinary.
877.624.6220 info@magnacare.com magnacare.com We take health care personally © 2019 Brighton Health Plan Solutions, LLC.
September 2, 2019
City & State New York
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PRESIDENT WESTCHESTERPUTNAM CENTRAL LABOR BODY
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HUDSON VALLEY AREA LABOR FEDERATION
PRESIDENT STEAMFITTERS LOCAL 638
AS PRESIDENT of the
SANDRA OXFORD is
BUSINESS MANAGER METALLIC LATHERS AND REINFORCING IRONWORKERS LOCAL 46
THOMAS CAREY
SANDRA OXFORD
Westchester-Putnam Central Labor Body, Thomas Carey represents 150,000 members in Westchester and Putnam counties. He’s also a longtime business agent of United Association Local 21, where he began his career. Carey also worked on the transition team for Westchester County Executive George Latimer, served on Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Mid-Hudson Regional Economic Development Council and the Indian Point Closure Task Force. He is a volunteer firefighter with the Verplanck Fire Department.
the new executive director of the organization representing more than 113,000 members in seven Hudson Valley counties. A longtime labor activist, Oxford decided to work on behalf of farmworkers and the state Justice For Farmworkers Campaign after living on a farm upstate in 1988. Billy Riccaldo recently retired as the organization’s president, Oxford said. Sparrow Tobin, who is running for the position unopposed, is expected to take over as president in September.
PATRICK DOLAN JR.
PATRICK DOLAN JR., who joined
Steamfitters Local 638 as an apprentice in 1987 and was elected president in 2011, presides over an 8,000-member organization that maintains jurisdiction over all general pipe fitting in New York City and all of Long Island. For years, he has called for installing sprinklers in the city’s public housing buildings as well as addressing health issues posed by black mold and leaking pipes.
JAMES MAHONEY
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MICHAEL APUZZO
BUSINESS MANAGER UNITED ASSOCIATION PLUMBERS LOCAL 1 AS THE business manager of United
Association Plumbers Local 1 since 2017, Michael Apuzzo represents nearly 6,000 plumbers and apprentices. The union runs apprentice and journeyman training programs, including one called Helmets to Hardhats, where honorably discharged service members are given priority. In January, Apuzzo spoke in favor of a measure that would require fully trained construction workers working on city-subsidized projects to be paid the prevailing wage.
AN IRONWORKER since 1982, James Mahoney recently replaced Terry Moore at Metallic Lathers and Reinforcing Ironworkers Local 46, a representative of the union told City & State. A graduate of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Mahoney has also served in various leadership roles at Ironworkers Local 580 – including as chairman of the Local 580 joint funds and general organizer of the New York State Ironworkers District Council.
New York State
Public Employees Federation
CONGRATULATES PRESIDENT
Congratulations to New York’s Outstanding Labor Leaders The contributions of you and your members strengthen New York’s economy and communities.
WAYNE SPENCE and
MILLER PHOTO NYC
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ALL CITY & STATE LABOR POWER 100 HONOREES We Are Union Strong www.PEF.org
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September 2, 2019
City & State New York
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PRESIDENT SUFFOLK COUNTY ASSOCIATION OF MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WRITERS GUILD OF AMERICA EAST
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR FREELANCERS UNION
AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of the
AS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR of Free-
PRESIDENT UNIFORMED EMTs, PARAMEDICS & FIRE INSPECTORS FDNY LOCAL 2507
DANIEL LEVLER
DANIEL LEVLER –
who ran last year in the union’s first uncontested election for its top post in its 35-year history – oversees Suffolk County’s biggest municipal union, with 6,000 workers and 4,000 retirees. Earlier this year, the union negotiated an eight-year contract with a 12% salary hike. Last year, Levler criticized the Suffolk County Legislature for not changing the budget to include more money for public health and safety.
LOWELL PETERSON
Writers Guild of America East, Lowell Peterson oversees a labor union representing writers in film, TV and the news media. In July, the 49 writers and producers at Vox Entertainment joined the Writers Guild, one month after Vox Media’s 350-member editorial unit ratified a collective bargaining agreement with the union. The union’s ranks have swelled by 40% in the past five years to more than 5,000 members.
CAITLIN PEARCE
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GRANT GLICKSON
PRESIDENT THE NEWSGUILD OF NEW YORK AS PRESIDENT of The NewsGuild of New York since 2017, Grant Glickson oversees a union representing nearly 3,000 journalists and other media employees at The New York Times, Consumer Reports, Reuters and other outlets. In July, 80 reporters, editors and designers at BuzzFeed News joined the NewsGuild after five months of bargaining over who would be eligible. Glickson joined the Times in 1987 and became involved in the union leadership several years later.
lancers Union, Caitlin Pearce advocates for nearly 57 million independent workers. A driving force behind Freelancers Hub, a space for freelancers in Brooklyn with programs designed to support workplace development, Pearce was also active in a successful campaign behind the Freelance Isn’t Free Act, a firstof-its-kind law that gives millions of New York City freelancers wage theft protections.
OREN BARZILAY
EARLIER THIS YEAR ,
Oren Barzilay – who speaks for more than 3,000 members of the Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics & Fire Inspectors FDNY Local 2507 – warned that 900 paramedics and EMTs had left to become firefighters, hampering the city’s ability to respond to emergencies. Barzilay says that these workers’ lower salaries (compared to other first responders) and demanding schedules are to blame for the departures. He has appealed to the city for more funding.
ENTERPRISE ASSOCIATION OF STEAMFITTERS LOCAL UNION 638 UA
GENERAL PIPE FITTERS OF NEW YORK AND VICINITY A.F.L. - C.I.O.
CONGRATULATIONS
SEAN CAMPBELL THE NEWSGUILD OF NEW YORK
SUBURBAN CARTING CO. WESTCHESTER AND PUTNAM COUNTY
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ORGANIZED 1884 Patrick Dolan - President Robert Egan - Financial Secretary Treasurer Scott Roche - Business Agent-at-Large Clifford J. Ryder, Jr. - Vice President James R. Sheeran, Jr. - Organizer Dave Johnson - Recording Secretary BUSINESS AGENTS Patrick Daly, Vincent Gaynor, Patrick Hill, Christopher Kraft, Kevin McCarron, Andrew McKeon, James Moriarty, Daniel Mulligan, Matthew Norton, Charlie Pellegrino, Janet Powers, Jeremy Sheeran, William Wangerman
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September 2, 2019
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PRESIDENT UNIFORMED EMS OFFICERS LOCAL 3621
PRESIDENT BUFFALO TEACHERS FEDERATION
VINCENT VARIALE
reelected in 2015, the president of the 3,400-member Buffalo Teachers Federation successfully negotiated a new contract for teachers who’d gone without one for 12 years. Earlier this year, Philip Rumore denounced a decision not to charge a Buffalo Common Council member for bringing a loaded gun into a school, and squabbled over the suspension of a McKinley High School teacher injured in a January altercation with a student.
PRESIDENT/ BUSINESS AGENT AMALGAMATED TRANSIT UNION LOCAL 1056
PRESIDENT AND BUSINESS MANAGER INTERNATIONAL ALLIANCE OF THEATRICAL STAGE EMPLOYEES LOCAL 52
and his local union scored a major win last year as Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a bill creating civil service tests for top positions in the New York City Fire Department Bureau of Emergency Medical Services. Previously, the promotion of EMS supervisors did not require a competitive exam, leading to criticisms and complaints of nepotism.
PHILIP RUMORE
MARK HENRY
SINCE HE was
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SEAN CAMPBELL
PRESIDENT TEAMSTERS LOCAL 813
SEAN CAMPBELL represents private sanita-
tion workers as well as those in the funeral, demolition, rental car, paper, and factory and warehouse industries. A Teamster for about 30 years, he has kept an eye on environmental justice in the private waste industry, promoting putting waste transfer stations in neighborhoods other than the low-income, largely minority areas where they’re usually located. He has also been a leading voice in curbing the underpayment of workers.
AS PRESIDENT of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1056, Mark Henry represents 1,700 active maintenance and transportation workers in New York City Transit’s Queens bus division and several hundred retired members. In June, Henry urged New York City Council members to prioritize buses in Queens, restore service cuts from 2010 and start planning for a bus terminal in downtown Flushing.
JOHN FORD
JOHN FORD, who rep-
resents about 3,700 members in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Connecticut, was among those praising Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his role in Netflix’s expansion in New York earlier this year. The union runs a program with New York state and Bronx Community College to train future production workers.
SAG-AFTRA Executive Vice President and New York Local President Rebecca Damon and all the phenomenal honorees of City & State’s Labor Power 100 sagaftra.org
TEAMSTERS
VINCENT VARIALE
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Congratulations Sean Campbell! From your Imperial Dade Family
September 2, 2019
City & State New York
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DIRECTOR UNITED STEELWORKERS DISTRICT 4
BUSINESS MANAGER INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 30
PRESIDENT NEW YORK CITY CLERICAL ADMINISTRATIVE EMPLOYEES LOCAL 1549
PRESIDENT NEW YORK STRUCTURAL STEEL PAINTING CONTRACTORS ASSOCIATION
AS PRESIDENT of New York City Clerical Administrative Employees Local 1549, Eddie Rodriguez represents about 16,000 clerical and administrative workers in nearly every New York City agency. After Rodriguez was elected president of District Council 37 in 2011, he lashed out at then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg for cutting union benefits. He held the position until January, when he lost his reelection bid.
KIERAN AHERN, as
DEL VITALE
A LIFELONG union member, the new head of United Steelworkers District 4 joined the United Paperworkers International Union soon after he turned 18, when he was hired as a slitter operator at Oneida Packaging in Clifton, New Jersey. Instrumental in organizing 500 nurses at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset in New Jersey in 2014, Del Vitale was named assistant to then-District 4 Director John Shinn in 2015.
WILLIAM LYNN
A MEMBER of the
International Union of Operating Engineers Local 30 since 1990, William Lynn started out as an apprentice at an energy plant and later worked as a mechanic and engineer at a regional medical center, rising through the ranks of the union that represents workers in New York and Connecticut. In June, 140 employees at the Guggenheim Museum joined Lynn’s local.
EDDIE RODRIGUEZ
KIERAN AHERN
president of the New York Structural Steel Painting Contractors Association, oversees a trade group representing seven structural steel painting companies, whose projects include painting bridges – such as giving the Brooklyn Bridge a much-needed facelift – overpasses, electrical towers, the exposed steel of buildings and smokestacks. In addition, the union worked on the historic New York State Pavilion in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
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KEITH MESTRICH
PRESIDENT AND CEO AMALGAMATED BANK
AS THE head of a bank established by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America in 1923, Keith Mestrich is committed to workers’ rights. At the forefront of the Fight for $15 movement, Amalgamated Bank was the first establishment in the financial sector to pay its workers a minimum of $20 per hour. Appointed CEO in 2014, Mestrich has focused on expanding into underserved communities, while accepting New York City-issued ID cards to open a bank account.
Congratulations to Gary LaBarbera and all the Honorees for being Recognized on City & State’s Labor Power 100 List
AMALGAMATED BANK
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The Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York Proudly Representing 100,000 Working Men and Women in NYC’s Unionized Construction Industry
www.NYCBuildingTrades.org
Communications Workers of America, District 1 salutes our own DENNIS TRAINOR VICE PRESIDENT, CWA DISTRICT 1
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FI R
Local 2507, District Coun 150-39 14th A D EP W T NE Whitestone, N Michael Greco,• Vice-President Carl Gandolfo, Recording Secretary (718) 371-0310 E
E
OR
IN SPEC
FI R
FI R
uncil 37, AFSCME, AFL-CIO Avenue, 2nd Floor , New York 11357D E P T • N EW Oren Barzilay, President Fax: (718)Lance 371-0318 Winfield, Treasurer
E
R TO
CS
EM
DI
EMT’s, ParamedicsThe Uniformed E PARAM E & ctors – F.D.N.Y. and Inspecto T
on decades of strong leadership, courage, and fighting for New York’s working families!
Congratulates all the Labor Leaders and our own Oren Barzilay
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Oren Barzilay, President Oren Barzilay, President Oren Oren Oren Barzilay, Oren Barzilay, Barzilay, Barzilay, President President President President Oren Barzilay, President Oren Barzilay, President Oren Barzilay, President Jennifer Aguiluz Lance Winfield, Treasurer Lance Winfield, Treasurer Lance Lance Lance Lance Winfield, Winfield, Winfield, Winfield, Treasurer Treasurer Treasurer Treasurer Lance Winfield, Treasurer Lance Winfield, Treasurer Lance Winfield, Treasurer Darryl Chalmers PRESIDENT Oren Barzilay
Dennis G. Trainor, CWA District 1 Vice President Gladys Finnigan, Assistant to the VP Bob Master, Assistant to the VP
EXECUTIVE BOARD EXECUTIVE BOARD EXECUTIVE EXECUTIVE EXECUTIVE EXECUTIVE BOARD BOARD BOARD BOARD EXECUTIVE BOARD EXECUTIVE BOARD EXECUTIVE BOARD
Jennifer Aguiluz Joshua Bucklan John John Chiarovano Jennifer Aguiluz Joshua Bucklan John Chiarovano Jennifer Jennifer Jennifer Jennifer Aguiluz Aguiluz Aguiluz Aguiluz Joshua Joshua Joshua Joshua Bucklan Bucklan Bucklan Bucklan John John Chiarovano John Chiarovano Chiarovano Chiarovano Jennifer Aguiluz Joshua Bucklan John Chiarovano Jennifer Aguiluz Joshua Bucklan John Chiarovano Jennifer Aguiluz Joshua Bucklan John Chiarovano VICE PRESIDENT Darryl Chalmers Lauren Hartnett Sammy Sammy Gounden Darryl Chalmers Lauren Hartnett Sammy Gounden Darryl Darryl Darryl Darryl Chalmers Chalmers Chalmers Chalmers Lauren Lauren Lauren Lauren Hartnett Hartnett Hartnett Hartnett Sammy Sammy Sammy Gounden Gounden Gounden Gounden Darryl Chalmers Lauren Hartnett Sammy Gounden Darryl Chalmers Lauren Hartnett Sammy Gounden Darryl Chalmers Lauren Hartnett Sammy Gounden Michael Greco Michael Michael Reardon Michael Reardon Michael Michael Michael Reardon Reardon Reardon Reardon Michael Reardon Michael Reardon Michael Reardon
SECRETARY-TREASURER Lance Winfield Oren Barzilay, President
An advocacy campaign including City & State First Read provides a targeted way to reach decision makers in New York government and politics. Campaigns Include:
ADVOCACY MESSAGING OPEN-HOUSE PROMOTIONS NEW HIRE ANNOUNCEMENTS Contact us at advertising@cityandstateny.com for advertising and sponsorship opportunities.
Michael Greco, Vice-President Michael Greco, Vice-President Michael Michael Michael Michael Greco, Greco, Greco, Greco, Vice-President Vice-President Vice-President Vice-President Michael Greco, Vice-President Michael Greco, Vice-President Michael Greco, Vice-President
Joshua Bucklan John Chiarovano Carl Gandolfo, Recording Secretary Carl Gandolfo, Recording Secretary Carl Carl Carl Gandolfo, Carl Gandolfo, Gandolfo, Gandolfo, Recording Recording Recording Recording Secretary Secretary Secretary Secretary Carl Gandolfo, Recording Secretary Carl Gandolfo, Recording Secretary Carl Gandolfo, Recording Secretary Lauren Hartnett Sammy Gounden Michael Reardon
Michael Greco, Vice-President
September 2, 2019
City & State New York
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JOHN WIRENIUS
CHAIRMAN NEW YORK STATE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS BOARD JOHN WIRENIUS
oversees the state agency that administers the Taylor Law, which extends collective bargaining rights to public employees in the state. In 2016, he was nominated by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and confirmed by the state Senate to lead the agency after working as its deputy chairman and general counsel for two years. An expert in labor, civil rights and constitutional law, Wirenius is also a deacon, novelist and fencer.
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR; SENIOR COUNSEL NATIONAL EMPLOYMENT LAW PROJECT
RESTAURANT OPPORTUNITIES CENTERS UNITED
DEAN CORNELL UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS
CHRISTINE SARU OWENS & JAYARAMAN PATRICIA SMITH PRESIDENT
CHRISTINE OWENS and
Patricia Smith pushed for the passage of the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act to protect farmworkers in the state – providing overtime wages and the right to organize, among other legal protections. Smith formerly worked for the U.S. Department of Labor under the Obama administration and served as New York state’s labor commissioner. Owens was a frequently cited voice in the Fight for $15 movement that led to minimum wage hikes across the state.
co-founded Restaurant Opportunities Centers United to help former employees of the Windows on the World restaurant in the World Trade Center pick up the pieces after 9/11. The nonprofit has since fought labor law violations in the restaurant industry and advocates for workers, with Jayaraman taking on prominent restaurateurs to get back pay for employees. She now organizes restaurant workers nationwide.
Uniformed Firefighters Association
of Greater New York
Local 94, IAFF AFL -CIO
Gerard Fitzgerald President Engine 318 LeRoy C. McGinnis Vice President Engine 266
Robert C. Eustace Recording Secretary Ladder 27
Edward Brown Treasurer Ladder 48
Michael Schreiber Health & Safety Officer Sergeant-at-Arms Lad 116
NEIL VAN NIEKERK
John G. Kelly, Jr. Brooklyn Trustee Chairman, Board of Trustees Engine 201
Eric Bischoff Staten Island Trustee Engine 161
Matthew M. DesJardin Queens Trustee Engine 325
William Greco Bronx Trustee Engine 68
Vincent Speciale Manhattan Trustee Engine 55
James Egan Fire Marshal Rep
204 East 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010 212-683-4832 • www.ufanyc.org Twitter @ufanyc •
Facebook @ufanyc •
ALEXANDER COLVIN
SARU JAYARAMAN
Congratulations To All The Honorees
Follow us on
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Instagram @ufa94nyc
APPOINTED IN JULY
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ALAN KLINGER
CO-MANAGING PARTNER STROOCK ONE OF New York’s leading labor and
employment attorneys, Alan Klinger is known as a “litigation star” in legal circles. As a co-managing partner at Stroock and co-chairman of the firm’s litigation group, he handles civil litigation and leads the law firm’s representation of public sector unions and employee benefit funds. He has served as outside counsel to the United Federation of Teachers and Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association.
as the dean of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations after serving as the school’s interim dean since October, Alexander Colvin plans to focus on strengthening the school’s outreach operation and building on the work the school’s faculty is doing throughout the state. Colvin’s work on mandatory arbitration has been cited twice in the past two years in the opinions of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Congratulations UUP President Frederick E. Kowal
LABOR
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POWER
United University Professions The Union That Makes SUNY Work
9 . 12 . 19
On THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 12TH, New York Nonprofit Media will host Nonprofit Checkup bringing together top-level Board Members and Executive Leadership from nonprofits across New York to discuss everything from good management, to efficient operations, to fundraising while carrying out your mission, to effective programs, systems and technology. PANELS INCLUDE:
MEASURING YOUR NONPROFIT COMMUNICATIONS FOR IMPACT IMPORTANCE OF FINANCIAL HEALTH TO SUCCESSFULLY FULFILL MISSIONS HOW TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP NONPROFITS RUN MORE EFFICIENTLY MEASURING FUNDRAISING EFFECTIVENESS EFFECTIVE NONPROFIT LEADERSHIP AND SUCCESSION PLANNING INNOVATION IN PROGRAM DELIVERY
FEATURED SPEAKERS:
SANDRA D. WRIGHT, Director, The Tamer Center for Social Enterprise, Columbia Business School JOE NAUGHTON, Information Systems Business Analyst, Anderson Center for Autism THOMAS DEWAR, Executive Director of Information Technology, Lutheran Social Services of New York CARA BRADSHAW, Chief Impact Officer, Family Promise TRACI LESTER, Executive Director, National Dance Institute JEAN PAUL LAURENT, Founder and CEO, Unspoken Smiles Foundation RONALD TOMPKINS, Executive Director, 82nd Street Academics RSVP at NYNMedia.com/Events
For more information on programming and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Lissa Blake at lblake@cityandstateny.com
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS YOUR PART TIME CONTROLLER TATE & TRYON PRB WEALTH MANAGEMENT GELMAN ROSENBERG & FREEDMAN GROUP GORDON IDB BANK JMT CONSULTING
NCHENG LLP RKD FUNDRAISING BDO MARKS PANETH FIRST NONPROFIT – FNP LOCKTON COMPANIES, LLC NETWORKDOCTOR
MAZARS USA LLP SIGNATURE BANK CARRIAGE TRADE INSURANCE HARBOR COMPLIANCE IDLEWILD PARTNERS INC.
September 2, 2019
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ROSA RIVERA & FLAVIA CABRAL
FIGHT FOR $15 LEADERS THESE TWO McDon-
ald’s workers fought for years to get a $15 minimum wage in New York, an effort that paid off as their hourly pay more than doubled in six years. The pair helped spark a movement that improved the livelihoods of some 60,000 workers in New York City, more than half of whom are women and 88% of whom are people of color. An estimated 22 million workers have won raises under the Fight for $15 movement.
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DEBORAH AXT & JAVIER VALDÉS
CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS MAKE THE ROAD NEW YORK DEBORAH AXT and
Javier Valdés lead the state’s largest immigrant organizing force. Their credits include advocating for granting New York driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, an effort that came to fruition in June. Axt, who oversees worker organizing, is the architect of a campaign to unionize car wash workers in New York City. Valdés works to limit federal immigration enforcement, improve affordable housing and reduce biased policing.
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PRESIDENT AND CEO EMBLEMHEALTH
LEAD ORGANIZER THE WORKERS’ CENTER OF CENTRAL NEW YORK
KAREN IGNAGNI
KAREN IGNAGNI
oversees a nonprofit health insurance company that provides coverage for 3.1 million people in New York. Before joining EmblemHealth in 2015, she was president and CEO of America’s Health Insurance Plans, a national association where she helped develop the Affordable Care Act. Earlier this summer, she blamed the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle Obamacare for increasing health care costs in the U.S.
REBECCA FUENTES
REBECCA FUENTES
heads a grassroots group focusing on workplace and economic justice, workers’ rights and occupational health and safety. The organization operates in and around Syracuse – a city with one of the highest poverty rates in the country – and was among groups pushing to give farmworkers the right to form collective bargaining units. Fuentes has said her group will continue to push for the right to strike, which was excluded from the new law.
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VINCENT PITTA
MANAGING PARTNER PITTA & BAIONE LLP
A LABOR ATTORNEY for nearly 40 years,
Vincent Pitta is the managing partner of Pitta & Baione LLP, a firm he co-created to focus on getting compensation for those exposed to toxins from 9/11. In addition, he serves as managing partner of an affiliated firm, Pitta LLP – where he focuses on labor relations serving the hotel, restaurant and entertainment industries, among others – and holds the same role at lobbying firm Pitta Bishop & Del Giorno LLC.
Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association LOCAL 831 affiliated with
INTERNATIONAL BROTHERHOOD OF TEAMSTERS
ALI GARBER
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New York City’s Sanitation Workers: The Best Snow Fighters in the World
60 CityAndStateNY.com
September 2, 2019
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FOUNDING ATTORNEY ARENSON, DITTMAR & KARBAN
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR WORKER JUSTICE CENTER OF NEW YORK
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT BERLINROSEN
A SEASONED New York City employment lawyer who’s been litigating hostile work environment cases for more than 20 years, Steven Arenson represents workers who believe they’ve been discriminated against, underpaid or harassed. The former Yale College constitutional law professor recently won the largest recovery ever in the low-wage car wash industry for a group of workers denied overtime and paid below minimum wage. “I thought it was outrageous,” he told The New York Times.
LIFELONG SOCIAL
DANNY MASSEY
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RURAL & MIGRANT MINISTRY
LAUREN DEUTSCH
justice advocate Lauren Deutsch joined the Worker Justice Center of New York last year. An attorney with a background in handling domestic violence cases, Deutsch leads the nonprofit’s work providing legal assistance to immigrants and other disadvantaged workers in the Hudson Valley and upstate. The nonprofit, which serves more than 5,000 workers each year, was among the organizations fighting for the farmworkers bill signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in July.
DANNY MASSEY
helps lead BerlinRosen’s work on labor campaigns and related issues, working with a number of unions and the National Employment Law Project. He was also active in the Fight for $15 campaign that helped usher in increases to the minimum wage in New York and elsewhere across the country. Before joining BerlinRosen, Massey reported on social, economic, political and sports issues for Crain’s New York Business.
RICHARD WITT
RICHARD WITT, who
has led the Rural & Migrant Ministry in Poughkeepsie since 1991 and describes the group as “gritty,” is an ordained Episcopal priest who has served at a number of nonprofit groups in New York and Massachusetts. He is also a Trinity Transformational Fellow with Trinity Church Wall Street. The organization was among those advocating for the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act, signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
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MICHELLE ZETTERGREN
PRESIDENT, LABOR AND PUBLIC SECTOR BRIGHTON HEALTH PLAN SOLUTIONS A LEADER dedicated to supporting working people and preserving their health care benefits, Michelle Zettergren joined MagnaCare – a division of Brighton Health Plan Solutions – in 2017 after two decades in the industry. Zettergren previously held various leadership roles at Anthem. In addition, she has served as an expert witness in several arbitration and mediation labor disputes and is a former board member of the Third Party Administrators Association of America.
EXECUTIVE BOARD ELIAS HUSAMUDEEN President
THE CORRECTION OFFICERS’ BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, INC.
JOSEPH BRACCO 1st Vice President
PROUDLY SALUTES
ELIZABETH CASTRO 2nd Vice President KAREN TYSON 3rd Vice President
Our President Elias Husamudeen ON BEING NAMED TO THE
2019 CITY & STATE LABOR POWER 100 LIST CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE HONOREES!
MICHAEL MAIELLO Treasurer AMELIA WARNER Financial Secretary FREDERIC FUSCO Legislative Chairman KENYATTA JOHNSON Corresponding Secretary DANIEL PALMIERI Recording Secretary BENNY BOSCIO Sergeant-At-Arms ALBERT CRAIG First City-Wide Trustee
BEST WISHES FROM YOUR FRIENDS AND THE EXECUTIVE BOARD AT THE NEW YORK CITY CORRECTION OFFICERS’ BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, INC.
ANGEL CASTRO Manhattan Borough Trustee PAULETTE BERNARD Brooklyn Borough Trustee TYSON JONES Bronx Borough Trustee MARK MACK Queens Borough Trustee
THE CORRECTION OFFICERS’ BENEVOLENT ASSOCIATION, INC. “PATROLLING THE TOUGHEST PRECINCTS IN NEW YORK”
FOLLOW US ON
W W W . C O B A N Y C . O R G
MAGNACARE; KONSTANTIN ONISHCHENKO
STEVEN ARENSON
September 2, 2019
City & State New York
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PARTNER BOLTON-ST. JOHNS
FOUNDING DEAN CUNY SCHOOL OF LABOR AND URBAN STUDIES
SENIOR COUNSEL MEENAN & ASSOCIATES
EDITOR THE CHIEF-LEADER
THE FOUNDING DEAN of the CUNY
workplace fairness in the public and private sectors, Jonathan Bernstein is credited with obtaining a $1.15 million settlement for 31 workers deprived of overtime pay and tips by celebrity chef Mario Batali’s acclaimed New York eatery Del Posto. The 2012 agreement – which also reportedly resolves discrimination and retaliation claims from some employees – included paid vacation and sick days for the workers and their colleagues, a rarity in the restaurant business.
ED DRAVES
A KEY player in the state’s legalization of medical marijuana, Albany lobbyist Ed Draves is also viewed as one of New York’s best grassroots campaign organizers. He served for more than 20 years as political and legislative director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. In 2000, Draves was recruited by Bill de Blasio to coordinate efforts upstate in Hillary Clinton’s successful U.S. Senate bid. He joined Bolton-St. Johns the following year.
GREGORY MANTSIOS
School of Labor and Urban Studies had spent 34 years as the founder and director of the Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies. For decades, Gregory Mantsios has devoted himself to building programs in labor studies for nontraditional students, especially those from poor and working-class backgrounds. He was previously director of labor studies at SUNY Empire State College.
JONATHAN BERNSTEIN
A FIERCE advocate for
RICHARD STEIER
SINCE 1998, Richard Steier has been the editor and a featured columnist of The Chief-Leader, a New York City weekly that focuses on municipal government and civil servants, as well as issues affecting New York state and federal workers. The veteran journalist and former reporter and labor columnist for the New York Post is the author of the 2014 book “Enough Blame to Go Around: The Labor Pains of New York City’s Public Employee Unions.”
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BILL HEINZEN
ACTING COMMISSIONER NEW YORK CITY TAXI AND LIMOUSINE COMMISSION AS ACTING head of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, Bill Heinzen oversees an industry currently under siege. At odds with the New York City Council over how to help drivers shouldering massive debt due to inflated taxi medallion prices, Heinzen remains in charge for now, as the mayor recently withdrew his first nominee, Jeffrey Roth, amid political fighting.
City & State Labor Power 100
The Amalgamated Transit Union LOCAL 1056, AFL-CIO
Mark Henry, President B/A Luis Alzate, Vice President Felix Avila, Financial Secretary Gladys McDaniel, Recording Secretary Executive Board
Frank Myers, Joseph Branch, Thomas Erdmann, Robert France
Congratulations to all Honorees!
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PRESIDENT DANIEL C. LEVLER on being named to the
2019 LABOR
POWER 100 LIST
Congratulations to All The 2019 Honorees! SUFFOLK WORKS BECAUSE WE DO! www.suffolkame.com
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CityAndStateNY.com / PUBLIC and LEGAL NOTICES
September 2, 2019 For more info. 212-268-0442 Ext.2039
legalnotices@cityandstateny.com Notice of Formation of Grandstar Original LLC filed with SSNY on June 12, 2019. Office: NY County. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to LLC: 115 4th Avenue, Apt 4A, NY, NY 10003. Purpose: any lawful act or activity. Notice of Qualification of THE DOVEL GROUP, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/25/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 04/06/16. Princ. office of LLC: 7901 Jones Branch Dr., Ste. 600, McLean, VA 22102. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. SAPPHIRE VISION, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 2/12/2019. Office loc: Kings County. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: LLC, 805 Saint Marks Avenue, Apt. B3D Brooklyn, NY, 11213. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.
NOTICE OF FORMATION of TRAVEL PLANZ, LLC. Arts. Of Organization filed with Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 1/28/2019. Office location: BX County. SSNY designated agent upon whom process may be served and shall mail copy of process against LLC to 1565 Fulton Ave. Bronx, NY 10457. Purpose any lawful act Notice of Formation of Tick Tock VII LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 2/16/18. Office location: NY County. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: c/o Pat Rubino, Lazard, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, NY, NY 10112. Purpose: any lawful activity.
LEGALNOTICES@ CITYANDSTATENY.COM
TCB 667 STANLEY AVE LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 07/26/2019. Office loc: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: Zaheer A Bukhari, 667 Stanley Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11207. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.
September 2, 2019
NOTICE OF SALE
NOTICE OF SALE
SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS, WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB, D/B/A CHRISTIANA TRUST, NOT INDIVIDUALLY BUT AS TRUSTEE FOR PRETIUM MORTGAGE ACQUISITION TRUST, Plaintiff, vs. YOELLY RODRIGUEZ, ET AL., Defendant(s).
SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS Wells Fargo Bank, National Association as Trustee for Option One Mortgage Loan Trust 2007-5, Asset-Backed Certificates, Series 20075, Plaintiff AGAINST June P. Isaac a/k/a June P. Isaac-Goodridge; et al., Defendant(s)
Pursuant to an Order Confirming Referee’s Report, and Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly filed on June 14, 2019, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, Room 224, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY on August 8, 2019 at 2:30 p.m., premises known as 282 Hemlock Street, Brooklyn, NY. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, Block 4147 and Lot 53. Approximate amount of judgment is $485,489.15 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 501581/2016.
Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly dated November 30, 2018 I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Room 224, Brooklyn, NY 11201 on September 12, 2019 at 2:30PM, premises known as 326 92nd Street, Brooklyn, NY 11212. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of NY, Block:4646 Lot:25. Approximate amount of judgment $372,701.31 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index# 515931/2016.
Jeffrey Miller, Esq., Referee Knuckles, Komosinski & Manfro, LLP, 565 Taxter Road, Suite 590, Elmsford, NY 10523, Attorneys for Plaintiff Cash will not be accepted. Notice of Qualification of C-Bridge Capital LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/22/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 07/12/19. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 450 Lexington Ave Ste. 39B, NY, NY 10017, Attn: Fu, Wei. Address to be maintained in DE: Corp2000, 838 Walker Rd., Ste. 21-2, Dover, DE 19904. Arts of Org. filed with the Secy. of State of the State of DE, Division of Corporations, PO Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: any lawful activities.
Jeffrey Dinowitz, Esq., Referee Shapiro, DiCaro & Barak, LLC Attorney(s) for the Plaintiff 175 Mile Crossing Boulevard Rochester, New York 14624 (877) 430-4792 Dated: July 30, 2019 Notice of Qualification of BLANCHE INDUSTRIES, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/25/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 01/05/17. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 16133 Ventura Blvd., Ste. 545, Encino, CA 91436, Attn: Daniel Frattali. Address to be maintained in DE: 2140 S Dupont Hwy, Camden, DE 19934. Arts of Org. filed with the DE Secy. of State, 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities.
Notice of Qualification of SO - Hubbards Commons LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 7/29/19. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: c/o ShopOne Centers REIT, Inc., 10100 Waterville St., Whitehouse, OH 43571. LLC formed in DE on 9/25/18. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Cogency Global Inc. (CGI), 10 E. 40th St., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10016. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CGI, 850 New Burton Rd., Ste. 201, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, PO Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: all lawful purposes. Notice of Qual. of Paintbox Madison LLC, filed with the SSNY on 7/24/19. Office loc: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 7/22/19. SSNY is designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served and shall mail process to: Attn: Paintbox, 154 Grand St, 3rd Fl, NY, NY 10013. Address required to be maintained in DE: c/o Corporation Service Company, 251 Little Falls Dr, Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert of Formation filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St, Ste 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful act. Tiger Digital LLC Art. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 4/18/2019. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to United Corporation Agent, Inc., 7014 13th Ave, Suite 202, Brooklyn, NY 11228. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. GRAND STUDIO MANAGEMENT LLC filed Arts. of Org. with the Sect’y of State of NY (SSNY) on 7/16/19. Office: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: T. Rufus Cappadocia, 295 Grand St, Brooklyn, NY 11211. Purpose: any lawful act.
Notice of Formation of Leeza Garber Esq Consulting LLC filed with SSNY on June 21, 2019. Office: NY County. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to LLC: 252 W 76th Street, NY, NY 10023. Purpose: any lawful act or activity. Notice of Formation of Fora Financial Advance LLC (f/k/a Empire Merchant Advance, LLC). Articles of Organization filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 05/29/09. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to 519 8th Ave., 11th Fl., New York, NY 10018. Purpose: Any lawful activity. MARV HOLIDAY, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 07/03/19. Office: New York County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 434 E. 57th Street, New York, NY 10022. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Notice of Formation of ASHES TO ASHES LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/22/19. Office location: Kings County. Princ. office of LLC: 99A Stuyvesant Ave., Apt. 2, Brooklyn, NY 11221. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to the LLC at the addr. of its princ. office. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of MADE F&B LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/25/19. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Mark Devli, 460 Main Ave., Ste. A, Wallington, NJ 07057. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
PUBLIC and LEGAL NOTICES / CityAndStateNY.com
September 2, 2019
NOTICE OF SALE Supreme Court County Of Kings U.S. Bank National Association, not in its individual capacity but solely as trustee for the RMAC Trust, Series 2016-CTT, Plaintiff AGAINST Alma Sawney, Laurel Williams a/k/a Laurel P. Williams, Nordia C. Morgan, et al, Defendant Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly dated 5/28/2019 and entered on 7/5/2019, I, the undersigned Referee, will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY on September 26, 2019 at 02:30 PM premises known as 2907 Cortelyou Road, Brooklyn, NY 11226. All that certain plot piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements erected, situate, lying and being in the County of Kings, City and State of New York, BLOCK: 5173, LOT: 66. Approximate amount of judgment is $644,730.95 plus interests and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 511051/2014. Shmuel Taub, Referee FRENKEL LAMBERT WEISS WEISMAN & GORDON LLP 53 Gibson Street Bay Shore, NY 11706 Notice of Formation of DPR OPPORTUNITIES 1 LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 06/17/2019. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Attn: Robert D. Lindsay, Goldberg Lindsay & Co. LLC, 630 Fifth Avenue, 30 FL, New York, NY 10111. Purpose: To be a qualified opportunity fund. Notice of Formation of 514 Herkimer LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 8/1/19. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 514 Herkimer St., Brooklyn, NY 11213. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: 525 7th Ave., Ste. 1406, NY, NY 10018. Purpose: all lawful purposes.
LEGALNOTICES@ CITYANDSTATENY.COM
Notice of Qualification of 24 WEST 25TH STREET HOLDINGS IV, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/19/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 03/04/19. Princ. office of LLC: 430 Park Ave., Fl. 12, NY, NY 100223505. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of the State of DE, 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of 136 West 92nd Street Associates LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/11/19. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: the Company, c/o Trinity Episcopal School Corporation, 139 West 91st St., NY, NY 10024, Attn: Joan Dannenberg. Purpose: any lawful activities.
NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS, DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY, AS CERTIFICATE TRUSTEE ON BEHALF OF BOSCO CREDIT II TRUST SERIES 20101, Plaintiff, vs. JASON PALMER, ET AL., Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly filed on June 14, 2019, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, Room 224, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY on August 22, 2019 at 2:30 p.m., premises known as 1962 Bergen Street, Brooklyn, NY. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, Block 1453 and Lot 18. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 515601/2016. Leo Salzman, Esq., Referee Berkman, Henoch, Peterson, Peddy & Fenchel, P.C., 100 Garden City Plaza, Garden City, NY 11530, Attorneys for Plaintiff
Notice of Qualification of 24 WEST 25TH STREET INVESTORS IV, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/19/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 03/04/19. Princ. office of LLC: 430 Park Ave., Fl. 12, NY, NY 100223505. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of the State of DE, 401 Federal St. - Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
Notice of Formation of DPR OPPORTUNITIES 2 LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 06/17/2019. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Attn: Robert D. Lindsay, Goldberg Lindsay & Co. LLC, 630 Fifth Avenue, 30 FL, New York, NY 10111. Purpose: To be a qualified opportunity fund. Notice of Formation of DPR OPPORTUNITIES 3 LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 06/17/2019. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Attn: Robert D. Lindsay, Goldberg Lindsay & Co. LLC, 630 Fifth Avenue, 30 FL, New York, NY 10111. Purpose: To be a qualified opportunity fund. Notice of Formation of THE LFS LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/03/19. Office location: NY County. Princ. office of LLC: 1540 Broadway, NY, NY 10036. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Duane Morris LLP, Attn: Jon H.I. Grouf, 1540 Broadway, NY, NY 10036. Purpose: Investments. Notice of Qualification of LHL SHORE PARKWAY, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/17/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 07/11/19. Princ. office of LLC: 183 Madison Ave., Ste. 1602, NY, NY 10016. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Bennet L. Schonfeld at the princ. office of the LLC. DE addr. of LLC: c/o Corporation Service Co., 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, 401 Federal St., Ste. #4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
Notice of Formation of MINH HOLDINGS, LLC Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/15/19. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Qualification of DOVEL TECHNOLOGIES, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/25/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 04/06/16. Princ. office of LLC: 7901 Jones Branch Dr., Ste. 600, McLean, VA 22102. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, Div. of Corps., John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
VR IMMERSION LLC Art. Of Org. Filed Sec. of State of NY 7/12/2019. Off. Loc.: Richmond Co. SSNY designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY to mail copy of process to The LLC, 55 Richmond Ter, Ste 306 Staten Island, NY 10301. Purpose: Any lawful act or activity NOTICE OF FORMATION OF Inbox Collective LLC Arts of Org filed with the SSNY (SSNY) on July 11, 2019. Office loc: NY Co. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to The LLC, Attn: 400 East 55th Street apt. 12d, New York, NY 10022. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.
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605 BARBEY ST, LLC Arts of Org. filed with SSNY 7/22/2019. OFFICE: NY COUNTY. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to The LLC, Attn: Madeline Perry, 978 Sterling PL, Brooklyn , NY 11213. Purpose: Any lawful Purpose. BREGS REALTY, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 02/13/19. Office: Kings County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to the LLC, 26 Delavan Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231. Purpose: Any lawful purpose. Notice of Qualification of Launch Servicing, LLC. Authority filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/09/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 06/27/18. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 402 West Broadway, 20th Fl., San Diego, CA 92101. Address to be maintained in DE: 160 Greentree Dr., Ste. 101, Dover, DE 19904. Arts of Org. filed with the Secy. of State of DE, 401 Federal St #4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activities. Notice of Qualification of QMB 2 Energy Storage, LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 8/8/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 1/25/19. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Cogency Global Inc. (CGI), 10 E. 40th St., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10016. DE address of LLC: CGI, 850 New Burton Rd., Ste. 201, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.
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CityAndStateNY.com / PUBLIC and LEGAL NOTICES
STORAGE NOTICE Midtown Moving & Storage Inc. will sell at Public Auction at 810 East 170th Street, Bronx, NY 10459 At 6:00 P.M. on September 10th, 2019 for due and unpaid charges by virtue of lien in accordance with the provisions of the law and with due notice given all parties claiming an interest therein, the time specified In each notice for payment of said charges having expired household furniture & effects, pianos, trunks, cases, TV’s, radios, hifi’s, refrigerators, sewing machines, washers, air conditioners, household furniture Of all descriptions and the contents thereof, stored under the following names:
-ALI, AMADU -AKINS, APRILLE -ALEXANDER, JASON -BOYEV, LYUDMILA -BABATIVA, JENNY -CASTRO, TANIA/NOLASCO, LUIS -DELECOLLE, ARNAUD -ENTO, PHILEMOND -GLASGOW, SHEVRON -GAINES, RAYSHANA -HAYNES, LIONEL -KHMEL, NYSKA LIUDMYLA -LIU LI/ ZHONG SHI LI -MOBLEY, DEBRA -MEJIA, ELIONORA -MCQUEEN, RUTH -MORALES, EMIRA -OVEIDO, NELLIE
-OSTEWIK, CRAIG -PUJOLS, MARIA -PEGU,JINA/CASTELLANO, RANDY -RICE, SHADAE -REGAN, YARROW -RITTER, BRAD/JAVIER, MARIA -SMITH, SYLVESTER -TEJADA-SUAREZ LUIS/ PERALTA CORCINO YANEIRA -WATKINS, LEONARD -WILLIAMS, KYAMEESHA -WILSON, BENJAMIN -LORI, STOUT -MOTLEY, SHAIDA -DELORBE, DAMARY/ MONEGRO, LYNELDA
Notice of Qualification of SIERRA HEALTH GROUP LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/12/19. Office location: Kings County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 07/25/18. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co., 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
otice of formation of limited liability company (LLC). Name: AREP UTICA AVENUE LLC. Articles of Organization filed with Secretary of State of New York (SSNY) on 07/16/2019. NY office location: Kings County. SSNY has been designated as agent of the LLC upon whom process against it may be served. The post office address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy of any process against the LLC served upon him/her is The LLC 315 Flatbush Avenue, Box 433 Brooklyn, NY, 11217. Purpose/character of LLC: Any Lawful Purpose.
Berger812 LLC. Art. of Org. filed with SSNY 8-1319. Office Location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of the LLC for service of process. SSNY shall mail a copy of any process to c/o Dentons US LLP, Attn: Brian E. Rafferty, 1221 6th Ave., NY, NY 10020. Purpose: Any lawful act or activity.
Notice of Qualification of QMB 3 Energy Storage, LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 8/8/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in DE on 1/25/19. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Cogency Global Inc. (CGI), 10 E. 40th St., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10016. DE address of LLC: CGI, 850 New Burton Rd., Ste. 201, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: all lawful purposes.
September 2, 2019
NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT - COUNTY OF KINGS SRP 2012-4, LLC, Plaintiff, Against
Index No.: 520351/2016
EZEKIEL AKANDE, ET AL., Defendant(s). Pursuant to a Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale, duly entered 12/11/2018, I, the undersigned Referee, will sell at public auction, in Room 224 of Kings County Supreme Court, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 on 9/26/2019 at 2:30 pm, premises known as 34 Jackson Place, Brooklyn, NY 11215, and described as follows: ALL that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, Block 1055 and Lot 42. The approximate amount of the current Judgment lien is $376,471.69 plus interest and costs. The Premises will be sold subject to provisions of the aforesaid Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale; Index # 520351/2016. Leonard Spector, Esq., Referee. Richland & Falkowski, PLLC, 35-37 36th Street, 2nd Floor, ASTORIA, NY 11106 Dated: 8/8/2019 PB
Notice of Qualification of GAMBLIT GAMING, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/25/2019. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 09/06/11. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o CT Corporation, 28 Liberty St., NY, NY 10005. DE addr. of LLC: c/o The Corporation Trust Company, 1209 Orange St, Corp Trust Center, Wilmington, DE 19801. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, Div. of Corps., P.O. Box 898, Dover, DE 19903. Purpose: Any lawful activity. LEGALNOTICES@ CITYANDSTATENY.COM DRIFTWOOD PECONIC BAY LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with the SSNY on 08/07/2019. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against the LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: The LLC, Unit First Floor, The Gramercy, 25 East 21st Street, NY, NY 10010. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.
Notice of Auction Notice of Auction Sale is herein given that Citiwide Self Storage located at 45-55 Pearson Street, Long Island City, N.Y. 11101 will take place on WWW.STORAGETREASURES.COM Sale by competitive bidding starting on September 5, 2019 and end on September 19, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. to satisfy unpaid rent and charges on the following accounts: Contents of rooms generally contain miscellaneous items: #9P01A – Nicklaus Jones: Tri Pods, 1- computer chair, 3 – sewing machines, paintings, 10-boxes, suitcase, stool, chest of drawers, ironing board, bags; #3L24 – Andres L. Helm : 10-bags, boxes, luggage, shopping cart, miscellaneous furniture. The contents of each unit will be sold as a lot and all items must be removed from the premises within 72 hours. Owners may redeem their goods by paying all rent and charges due at any time before the sale. All sales are held “with reserve”. Owner reserves the right to cancel sale at any time.
Notice of Qualification of CGS REDMOND TECHNOLOGIES, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/25/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/16/06. Princ. office of LLC: 200 Vesey St., NY, NY 10281-1017. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of 268 East 7th Street Owner LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 08/13/19. Office location: NY County. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: 64 2nd Ave., 2nd Fl., NY, NY 10003. Purpose: any lawful activities. Notice of Formation of Hip Hop Ventures, LLC. Arts. of Org. filed with NY Dept. of State on 8/26/19. Office location: NY County. Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: 131 W. 35th St., 8th Fl., NY, NY 10001, principal business address. Purpose: all lawful purposes. PUBLIC NOTICE AT&T proposes to modify an existing facility (new tip heights 88’) on the building at 30 Locust Hill Ave, Yonkers, NY (20191421). Interested parties may contact Scott Horn (856809-1202) (1012 Industrial Dr., West Berlin, NJ 08091) with comments regarding potential effects on historic properties.
LEGALNOTICES@ CITYANDSTATENY.COM
Diane Nelson CPA LLC Articles of Organization filed with the Secretary of State of New York on 8/19/19. Office location: Kings County, NY. Secretary of State of NY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. Secretary of State shall mail process to : The LLC Attn: Diane Nelson 225 4th Avenue 8a Brooklyn NY 11215 Purpose: Any lawful purpose Notice of Qualification of Horizon Big, LLC. Authority filed with NY Dept. of State on 3/20/19. Office location: NY County. Princ. bus. addr.: 75 Varick St., NY, NY 10013. LLC formed in DE on 3/13/19. NY Sec. of State designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served and shall mail process to: Cogency Global Inc., 10 E. 40th St., 10th Fl., NY, NY 10016. DE addr. of LLC: 850 New Burton Rd., Ste. 201, Dover, DE 19904. Cert. of Form. filed with DE Sec. of State, 401 Federal St., Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: any lawful activity.
LEGALNOTICES@ CITYANDSTATENY.COM
PUBLIC NOTICE Cellco Partnership and its controlled affiliates doing business as Verizon Wireless (Verizon Wireless) proposes to collocate wireless communications antennas at a top height of 98 feet on a 107-foot building at the approx. vicinity of 808 Driggs Avenue, Brooklyn, Kings County, NY 11211. Public comments regarding potential effects from this site on historic properties may be submitted within 30 days from the date of this publication to: Trileaf Corp, Lauren Schramm, l.schramm@ trileaf.com, 1395 South Marietta Parkway, Building 400, Suite 209, Marietta, GA 30067, 678-6538673 ext. 655.”
PUBLIC and LEGAL NOTICES / CityAndStateNY.com
September 2, 2019
Notice of Formation of Security Resources NY, LLC n/k/a Security Resources, LLC (through merger). Arts. of Org. filed w/ Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 8/13/19. Office in NY County. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o CSC, 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207, registered agent upon whom process may be served. Purpose: Any lawful act/activity. Notice of Formation of FON CONSULTING, LLC filed with SSNY on June 21 2019. Office: Westchester County. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to LLC: 2804 Gateway Oaks Dr # 100 Sacramento, CA 95833. Purpose: any lawful act or activity. PUBLIC NOTICE AT&T Mobility Services, LLC. (AT&T) proposes to install/upgrade equipment and antennas at the following structures in New York: Kings County – 450 95th Street in Brooklyn (Job #45040); New York County – 80 Broad Street in New York (Job #45171); Queens County – 69-01 35th Avenue in Queens (Job #44965); 40-05 Hampton Street in Elmhurst (Job #45019) In accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and the 2005 Nationwide Programmatic Agreement, AT&T is hereby notifying the public of the proposed undertaking and soliciting comments on Historic Properties which may be affected by the proposed undertaking. If you would like to provide specific information regarding potential effects that the proposed undertaking might have to properties that are listed on or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and located within ½ mile of the site, please submit the comments (with project number) to: RAMAKER, Contractor for AT&T, 855 Community Dr. Sauk City, WI 53583 or via e-mail to history@ramaker.com within 30 days of this notice.
Notice of Auction Notice of Auction Sale is herein given that Access Self Storage of Long Island City located at 2900 Review Avenue, Long Island City, N.Y. 11101 will take place on WWW. STORAGETREASURES. COM Sale by competitive bidding starting on September 6, 2019 and end on September 19, 2019 at 12:00 p.m. to satisfy unpaid rent and charges on the following accounts: Contents of rooms generally contain misc. #133-Micah Phillips; 4 plastic bags, 2 suitcases, 1 brief case, 1 guitar and table lamp, #3335-4-Robert T. Kennedy; 20 + assorted boxes, 1 briefcase, 2 chairs, 1 lamp shade,#4319-7Luis D Moreno; 2 adult bikes, large luggage, 1 box, 1 duffle bag., #4429Mathias Martinez; box of vinyl records, 6 + boxes, Step ladder, 4 bags, 7 + picture frames, art box, stool, 2 chairs, 2 small plastic containers, floor mirror, stadium cushion. The contents of each unit will be sold as a lot and all items must be removed from the premises within 72 hours. Owners may redeem their goods by paying all rent and charges due at any time before the sale. All sales are held “with reserve”. Owner reserves the right to cancel sale at any time.
NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT FOR THE STATE OF NEW YORK, COUNTY OF BROOKLYN CROSBY CAPITAL USA, LLC; Plaintiff v. WAHEED EGBO, et al; Defendants Attorney for Plaintiff: Hasbani & Light, P.C., 450 7th Ave, Suite 1408, NY, NY 10123; (212) 643-6677Pursuant to judgment of foreclosure and sale granted herein on 05/29/19, I will sell at Public Auction to the highest bidder in the Supreme Court of the State Of New York, County of Kings - 360 Adams Street, Room 224, Brooklyn, NY 11201. On September 26, 2019 at 2:30 pm. Premises known as 107 Harman Street, Brooklyn, NY 11221, Block: 3275 Lot: 62 All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York. As more particularly described in the judgment of foreclosure and sale. Sold subject to all of the terms and conditions contained in said judgment and terms of sale. Approximate amount of judgment: $963,987.79 plus interest and costs. Index Number: 502722/2014 Aaron Maslow, Esq., Referee
NOTICE OF SALE SUPREME COURT COUNTY OF KINGS, WILMINGTON SAVINGS FUND SOCIETY, FSB, D/B/A CHRISTIANA TRUST, NOT INDIVIDUALLY BUT AS TRUSTEE FOR PRETIUM MORTGAGE ACQUISITION TRUST, Plaintiff, vs. COLLETTE BARHAM, ET AL., Defendant(s). Pursuant to an Order Amending the Caption, Confirming Referee’s Report and Judgment of Foreclosure and Sale duly filed on July 29, 2019, I, the undersigned Referee will sell at public auction at the Kings County Supreme Court, Room 224, 360 Adams Street, Brooklyn, NY on October 3, 2019 at 2:30 p.m., premises known as 1055 East 40th Street, Brooklyn, NY. All that certain plot, piece or parcel of land, with the buildings and improvements thereon erected, situate, lying and being in the Borough of Brooklyn, County of Kings, City and State of New York, Block 7766 and Lot 38. Approximate amount of judgment is $733,899.10 plus interest and costs. Premises will be sold subject to provisions of filed Judgment Index # 15121/2011.
PUBLIC NOTICE Elite Telecom Partners (Elite Towers, LP) proposes to install/upgrade equipment and antennas at the following structures in New York: Suffolk County – 19 Jayne Boulevard in Port Jefferson Station (Job #44967); 260 New Suffolk Road in Cutchogue (Job #44968) In accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and the 2005 Nationwide Programmatic Agreement, Elite Towers, LP is hereby notifying the public of the proposed undertaking and soliciting comments on Historic Properties which may be affected by the proposed undertaking. If you would like to provide specific information regarding potential effects that the proposed undertaking might have to properties that are listed on or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places and located within ½ mile of the site, please submit the comments (with project number) to: RAMAKER, Contractor for Elite Towers, LP, 855 Community Dr, Sauk City, WI 53583 or via e-mail to history@ramaker.com within 30 days of this notice. NOTICE OF FORMATION of 959 PARK STERLING LLC. Art. of Org. filed with the Secy of State of NY (SSNY) on 6/19/19. Off. Loc.: NY County. SSNY has been desig. as agent upon whom process against it may be served. The address to which the SSNY shall mail a copy to is: NRAI, 28 Liberty St, New York, NY 10005. Purpose: Any lawful act Notice of Formation of Salon Nyki Elle, LLC filed with SSNY on 2/28/19. Office: NY County. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail copy of process to LLC: 229 West 115th St., 1D, New York, NY 10026. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.
Cheryl J. Kinch, Esq., Referee Knuckles, Komosinski & Manfro, LLP, 565 Taxter Road, Suite 590, Elmsford, NY 10523, Attorneys for Plaintiff Cash will not be accepted.
LEGALNOTICES@ CITYANDSTATENY.COM
Notice of Qualification of CONSTANTIA VENTURES LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/23/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 06/21/19. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to 95 Worth Street, Apartment 8E, New York, NY 10013. DE addr. of LLC: Harvard Business Services, Inc., 16192 Coastal Highway, Lewes, DE 19958. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State of the State of DE, Div. of Corps., 401 Federal Street - Suite 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity.
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PROMOTE THE LUV, LLC, Arts. of Org. filed with SSNY 7/24/2019. Office loc: NY County. SSNY has been designated as agent upon whom process against LLC may be served. SSNY shall mail process to: PROMOTE THE LUV, LLC, 337 W. 138th Street, Apt 3G New York, NY 10030. Purpose: Any Lawful Purpose.
NOTICE Auth for Scharff PLLC (formed in AZ 2/9/18) filed w/NYDOS on7/24/19. Loc:NYCty. SSNY=ProcessAgt & shall mail to 43W.43rdSt #24 NY,NY10036. AZ Addr: 502W.RooseveltSt PhoenixAZ85003. OrgCertFiled w/AZCC @ 1300W.WashingtonSt Pho e ni x A Z 8 5 0 0 7. L aw firm. Notice of Qualification of CGS REDMOND TECHNOLOGIES, LLC Appl. for Auth. filed with Secy. of State of NY (SSNY) on 07/25/19. Office location: NY County. LLC formed in Delaware (DE) on 10/16/06. Princ. office of LLC: 200 Vesey St., NY, NY 10281-1017. SSNY designated as agent of LLC upon whom process against it may be served. SSNY shall mail process to c/o Corporation Service Co. (CSC), 80 State St., Albany, NY 12207-2543. DE addr. of LLC: c/o CSC, 251 Little Falls Dr., Wilmington, DE 19808. Cert. of Form. filed with Secy. of State, John G. Townsend Bldg., 401 Federal St., Ste. 4, Dover, DE 19901. Purpose: Any lawful activity. Notice of Formation of The Love Of Flowers NYC LLC, filed with SSNY on August 20th, 2019. Office: NY County. SSNY designated agent of LLC upon whim process against it may be serve. SSNY shall mail copy of processs to LLC. 27 Maple Street, Sleepy Hollow, NY 10591. Purpose: any lawful act or activity.
LEGALNOTICES@ CITYANDSTATENY.COM
66 CityAndStateNY.com
September 2, 2019
CITY & STATE NEW YORK MANAGEMENT & PUBLISHING CEO Steve Farbman, President & Publisher Tom Allon tallon@cityandstateny.com, Comptroller David Pirozzi, Business & Operations Manager Patrea Patterson, Administrative Assistant Lauren Mauro
Who was up and who was down last week
LOSERS
DIGITAL Digital Marketing Director Maria Cruz Lee, Digital Content Coordinator Michael Filippi, Social Media Editor/ Content Producer Amanda Luz Henning Santiago
GARY ACKERMAN The downfall of Eric Schneiderman wasn’t the first sex abuse scandal to shake up New York’s political world – and it won’t be the last. The latest #MeToo allegation to emerge targets Gary Ackerman, a former congressman accused in a new lawsuit of being a “sexual predator” at a Boy Scout camp decades ago. While Ackerman’s lawyer denied the allegation – and legally, he’s innocent until proven guilty – Ackerman himself promptly resigned from a Suffolk County consulting job.
THE BEST OF THE REST
THE REST OF THE WORST
WILLIAM BARCLAY & THOMAS O’MARA
LAWRENCE GARVEY
What ethics reform? A judge said they can keep the outside income and the raise.
MARYELLEN ELIA
An itsy-bitsy boost in math scores is a solid going-away for the ed commish.
BRIAN KAVANAGH & JO ANNE SIMON
Now the gub’ment will take your guns away ... if there’s evidence you’re a danger.
E.J. MCMAHON
The Empire Center founder’s FOIL means we’ll all see the pensions cops are getting.
CREATIVE Art Director Andrew Horton, Senior Graphic Designer Alex Law, Graphic Designer Aaron Aniton
ADVERTISING Vice President of Advertising Jim Katocin jkatocin@ cityandstateny.com, Account/Business Development Executive Scott Augustine saugustine@cityandstateny.com, Event Sponsorship Strategist Danielle Koza dkoza@ cityandstateny.com, Sales Associate Cydney McQuillanGrace cydney@cityandstateny.com, Junior Sales Executive Caitlin Dorman, Legal Advertising Executive Shakirah Gittens legalnotices@cityandstateny.com, Junior Sales Associate Chris Hogan EVENTS events@cityandstateny.com Sales Director Lissa Blake, Events Manager Alexis Arsenault, Event Coordinator Amanda Cortez, Editorial Research Associate Evan Solomon
Vol. 8 Issue 33 September 2, 2019 Can
DID CUOMO KILL THE PREVAILING WAGE? 100 LEADERS FIGHTING FOR WORKERS CAN IMMIGRANTS SAVE UNIONS?
Look, Rockland GOP, you can’t run an ad saying, “If they win, we lose,” about Jews.
KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND
If only other NY electeds realized the country isn’t pumped for their 2020 run.
CIT YANDSTATENY.COM
@CIT YANDSTATENY
September 2, 2019
Cover art grafvision/Shutterstock
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.
Sorry, anti-vaxxers, you don’t have to innoculate your kids, but they’re not bringing that crap into school.
VITO MUSTACIUOLO
NYCHA’s general manager is accused of creating a “toxic work environment,” and we said, really?! At NYCHA?!?!
WINNERS & LOSERS is published every Friday morning in City & State’s First Read email. Sign up for the email, cast your vote and see who won at cityandstateny.com.
CITY & STATE NEW YORK (ISSN 2474-4107) is published weekly, 48 times a year except for the four weeks containing New Year’s Day, July 4th, Thanksgiving and Christmas by City & State NY, LLC, 61 Broadway, Suite 1315, New York, NY 10006-2763. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to City & State New York, 61 Broadway, Suite 1315, New York, NY 10006-2763. General: (212) 268-0442, subscribe@cityandstateny.com Copyright ©2019, City & State NY, LLC
SEAN PRESSLEY; U.S. HOUSE
MICHAEL GIANARIS Amazon HQ2 nemesis Michael Gianaris is already known as the Amazon Slayer, but The Wall Street Journal reported that the Queens Democrat is also the protagonist of the tech giant’s “burn book,” which documented criticisms of Amazon’s once-ballyhooed and now-boo-hooed Long Island City headquarters. Gianaris racked up an impressive 25 entries in the burn book, and while “Amazon’s biggest enemy” may not be seen as a win by everyone, for Gianaris, it’s a badge of honor.
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OUR PICK
WINNERS
Everybody who’s anybody has someone compiling a dossier on them. Since the Cuomo administration’s infamous catalogue of Liz Benjamin’s “generally snarky” blog posts was exposed in 2012, dossiers have become all the rage. There’s one on Donald Trump you might have heard of. New York Times reporters? Amazon HQ2 opponents? Check and check. And while it’s not exactly a dossier with top-secret details, there’s some juicy intel in this week’s Winners & Losers list.
EDITORIAL editor@cityandstateny.com Editor-in-Chief Jon Lentz jlentz@cityandstateny.com, Managing Editor Ryan Somers, Senior Editor Ben Adler badler@cityandstateny.com, Special Projects Editor Alice Popovici, Copy Editor Eric Holmberg, Staff Reporter Jeff Coltin jcoltin@cityandstateny.com, Staff Reporter Zach Williams zwilliams@cityandstateny.com, Staff Reporter Rebecca C. Lewis rlewis@cityandstateny.com, Tech & Policy Reporter Annie McDonough amcdonough@ cityandstateny.com, Staff Reporter Kay Dervishi
SEPTEMBER 24, 2019 While the New York City subways have received many headlines for their state of disrepair, much of the city and state’s infrastructure is inadequate. Funding has been a big issue, and the problems have been exacerbated by letting infrastructure wear out before replacing it, rather than incorporating improvements to keepour roads, railways, bridges, utilities and other critical lifelines up-to-date. City & State’s Rebuilding New York Summit will feature discussions that dissect the biggest infrastructure issues, including funding for repairs, policy recommendations, and where the city and state has seen its biggest successes and shortcomings. PANEL TOPICS WILL INCLUDE: IMPACT OF REBUILDING NEW YORK’S TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS GETTING AHEAD OF ISSUES IN AGING INSTITUTIONS AND INFRASTRUCTURE TRANSFORMING HOW WE THINK ABOUT CONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT REBUILDING NEW YORK THROUGH CAPITAL PLANNING & PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
FEATURED SPEAKERS RICK COTTON, Executive Director, Port Authority of New York & New Jersey STATE SEN.TODD KAMINSKY, Chair of the Committee on Environmental Conservation Councilman YDANIS RODRÍGUEZ, Chairman, Transportation Committee JAMES WONG, Executive Director NYC Ferry Division, New York City Economic Development Corp. DEBORAH GODDARD, Executive VicePresident for Capital Projects, NYCHA Councilwoman ALICKA AMPRY-SAMUEL, Chairwoman, Committee on Public Housing LORRAINE GRILLO, Chief Information Officer, New York City Department of Buildings LEENA PANCHWAGH, Chief Information Officer, New York City Department of Buildings YOUSSEF KALAD, Program Director, NYCx, Mayor’s Office of the CTO GALE A. BREWER, Manhattan Borough President DUNCAN KISIA, Assistant Director of Planning & Regional Development Port Authority of NY & NJ RSVP at CityAndStateNY.com/Events For more information on programming and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Lissa Blake at lblake@cityandstateny.com
THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS
The New York State Trial Lawyers Association
New York Committee on Occupational Safety and Health
CONGRATULATES City & State’s
LABOR POWER 100
Lawrence J. Park NYSTLA Executive Director
Charlene Obernauer NYCOSH Executive Director
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