With the Long Island Rail Road on the brink of its first strike in more than 30 years, Gov. Kathy Hochul warned Wednesday that the MTA and riders on the country’s largest commuter railroad “have to be ready for whatever happens.”

Leaders from the MTA and a coalition of five LIRR unions resumed labor negotiations Wednesday in advance of the 12:01 a.m. Saturday strike deadline that could leave close to 300,000 riders from Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan working from home or in search of alternative commutes.

Those could include driving, carpooling or taking shuttle buses between six LIRR stations and a pair of subway stops in eastern Queens: Jamaica-179 Street on the F line and Howard Beach JFK Airport on the A.

“It’s probably going to take me two and a half hours to get to work, so I’m dreading it,” Rossella Mitolo, a legal assistant who commutes between Midwood, Brooklyn and Mineola, said Wednesday morning while waiting for an eastbound LIRR train at Jamaica. “I’m praying that it does not occur — please, please, please, I’ve been so stressed all week.”

At the core of the labor standoff is the unions’ push for 5% worker pay raises to counter inflation and the increased cost of living, with Hochul saying she is committed to keeping the trains running and sparing riders from “unnecessary fare hikes or higher taxes.”

“Yes, workers deserve to be paid fairly for their work, but at the same time, we must be responsible with public funds and the fares paid by Long Island residents,” Hochul said Wednesday at an unrelated event at Jones Beach. “I believe that a deal can be reached here and I’ll continue to urge both sides to work together to avoid a strike.”

Union leaders described Hochul’s recent remarks on avoiding a strike as “encouraging,” but countered that there is still a gap in labor talks between the two sides. Meanwhile, Gary Dellaverson, labor counsel for the MTA, said the latest round of talks marked “the first time that [the unions] actually made a move.”

“To say that we’re close is far-fetched,” said Kevin Sexton, a spokesperson for the LIRR union coalition and a vice president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers & Trainmen.

LIRR workers last went on strike in June 1994, shutting down service for two days. More recently, New Jersey Transit workers struck for three days last May.

Rob Free, president of the LIRR, said at a Wednesday afternoon briefing that a strike is “the last thing we want.”

“We are trying to negotiate in good faith … we’re making offers, that’s what this is about — negotiations,” Free said. “You may not like the initial offer, but that’s why there’s give and take, alternate proposals.”

Caught in the middle are employers in the city and on Long Island, commuters and businesses that depend on them — especially on the eve of Memorial Day weekend.

“Having no railroad available — which would exacerbate our traffic congestion problem on Long Island — would just be a confluence of many factors that would really be damaging to our economy in the tone of like tens of millions of dollars per day,” said Stacey Sikes, acting president of the Long Island Association, which represents the island’s business community.

According to the MTA, Nassau County accounted for approximately 37% of LIRR ridership in the first four months of 2026, with another 15% from Suffolk County. In the city, Manhattan made up 26% of the ridership, compared with 20% from Queens and 3% from stations in Brooklyn.

If the strike goes through and lasts more than a few days, it could run up against another big to-do directly upstairs from Penn Station: the Knicks playing in the NBA Conference Finals at Madison Square Garden.

Maulin Mehta, New York director of the Regional Plan Association, said a short-term shutdown would be less likely to have “major repercussions” across the regional economy, but warned of the potential fallout of an extended walkout.

“The challenge is more so felt if this drags on for any long period of time,” Mehta said. “That could put jobs in jeopardy if people are starting to spend more time calling out of work because they don’t want to deal with the commute or are unable to get to work because the options that are in place are not sufficient.”

At the commuter railroad’s Locust Manor stop in southeast Queens, rail commuter Maurice Moore said that should a strike happen, he will likely drive his van to overnight shifts as a patient care technician at NYU Langone Health in Manhattan.

“I take the train to save on the cost of fuel,” he said. “If there’s a strike, I still have to go to work, so I will have to take my ride.”

Everyl McMorris, who commutes on the LIRR between her home in Suffolk County and her job in Manhattan, said she was taking some comfort in past labor battles that went down to the wire but didn’t result in a strike.

“We sort of plan for the worst and hope for the best,” said McMorris, who works as a physician’s assistant. “I’ve seen discussions in the past about potential strikes and it hasn’t happened, so I’m hoping that this is just one of those things.”

At the newsstand he operates inside Jamaica Station, Mandeep Talwar said he’s dreading the potential for a subdued Monday morning rush in the transit hub that also features connections to the subway and the JFK AirTrain.

“The strike must not happen, it would be like hell, no person in the station,” said Talwar, who estimated that 70% of his customers take the LIRR. “It will be maybe me alone in the station and no customers.”

“And if there are no customers, what will I do, sit in the station the whole day long? I’d have to close the store.”

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Councilmember Shahana Hanif formally dropped her support of a bill that would ban 24-hour shifts for home health aides, and other council sponsors say they’ve proposed modifications to ensure people don’t lose crucial care. 

The loss of a co-sponsor for the “No More 24” bill comes as Council Speaker Julie Menin deferred a possible vote next week.

Menin hasn’t committed to bringing Introduction 303 to a vote when the Council meets May 14, according to a spokesperson who said it is moving through the legislative with no date set for a vote.

Those in favor of the bill say home health aides often work 24-hour shifts for disabled or elderly clients, but only get paid for 13 hours. Opponents say a lack of state funding for the bill’s requirement for two 12-hour shifts would harm people who require around-the-clock care.

Hanif (D-Brooklyn), who heads up the Council’s disability committee, chaired an oversight hearing Tuesday where she heard from disabled New Yorkers who spoke against the bill and urged her to take her name off as a sponsor. There are currently 17 co-sponsors.

“I hope it signals the seriousness required to move legislation impacting both workers and patients,” Hanif told THE CITY on Thursday.

Joseph Rappaport, executive director of the Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled, praised Hanif’s decision and hoped others will follow.

“I think everybody realizes because this bill is flawed, and everybody also wants to make sure that these workers are protected,” he said. “I think people have figured out that if the bill went forward, some people will actually lose their jobs. Beyond that, people with disabilities will lose their coverage. Nobody wants that.”

A spokesperson for Councilmember Christopher Marte (D-Manhattan) said they were “hopeful that we can regain Councilmember Hanif’s support for this legislation and take seriously her point that this issue demands care and attention for both workers and patients.”

Other Council members told THE CITY they’ve pitched changes to make sure people who need the care get it, without workers being exploited. 

Councilmember Ty Hankerson (D-Queens) said he asked Marte to include an amendment that would let some workers get a waiver to work 24 hours. 

“I believe in the intent of the bill, 100% believe in the intent of the bill,” Hankerson said, adding that he would drop his support if the changes weren’t made. “I do think that there are some challenges that the bill presents that unfortunately on the council level we might not be able to solve.”

Councilmember Lincoln Restler (D-Brooklyn) said he’ll stay on as a sponsor but also wants changes.

Supporters of the bill, including elderly former home aides, camped outside of City Hall for weeks pushing Menin to bring it to a vote and for Mayor Zohran Mamdani to support it. 

Workers held a multi-day hunger strike before ending it after the speaker assured the bill would get a vote.

A spokesperson for Menin said she has “long fought for strong worker protections” and thinks more should be done to stop exploitation. 

“As part of the ongoing legislative process, the Council has updated the bill after many conversations with stakeholders,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Though details of the Menin’s changes are not publicly available, POLITICO reported that the new version exempts union workers, delays its implementation for a year and allows home health workers to opt into longer shifts through the fall of 2027.

Vincent Cao, an organizer at the Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association, slammed Menin’s changes.

“We have fought for too long,” to allow people to continue working 24-hour shifts, he said. “It needs to end.”

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Disabled New Yorkers and disability advocates spoke out against a City Council bill that would ban 24-hour home care shifts, saying their own care will suffer. 

The bill, which was stalled in the Council, would replace the 24-hour shifts with 12-hour shifts performed by two separate workers.

But those who rely on the support of home health aides say the  proposed change — which has strong support from advocates for home health aides — would uproot their lives.

The “No More 24” bill has turned allies into opponents, pitting workers’ rights activists against disability advocates and those who need round-the-clock care. Both Gov. Kathy Hochul and Council Speaker Julie Menin reportedly still have questions about funding. 

Under the current home care system, health aides are required to spend 24 hours with a client even when they are paid for only 13 hours. Current rules allow for rest and meal breaks, but members of the largely immigrant workforce say they are often exploited and forced to work around the clock. 

The home care system is funded through the state, which has not budgeted for the increase in spending that would come from two 12-hour shifts by two fully paid workers. 

Jose Hernandez, a wheelchair user who has had home care aides for 31 years, interrupted Tuesday’s Council oversight hearing to speak out against the bill, saying he and others were being ignored.

“It scares me, as someone that was threatened to be placed in a nursing home when I was 16,” he said after he left the hearing. He receives around-the-clock care with home health aides like Bakary Sawo, who came with him to Tuesday’s hearing.

“I don’t want the people that look like me, that need home care like me, to be placed in institutions because [the city doesn’t] want to find a solution and do the hard work and work together with the disability community and the home care workers to ensure that a bill that supports both worker and patient is found.”

Hernandez and others urged Councilmember Shahana Hanif, the chair of the disability committee, to take her name off the bill, where she’s currently a co-sponsor. 

“There are some really bad conditions for home care workers, but the rules around living shouldn’t come at the cost of the safety and the well-being of people with disabilities,” he said.

Of the approximately 300,000 home care workers in New York City, about 8 to 10% work 24-hour shifts, according to the city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.

At a Feb. 18 City Council hearing, DCWP external affairs director Carlos Ortiz said that the city supports the bill’s intent but that it has concerns that “prohibiting 24-hour shifts” without more Medicaid funding.

Supporters of the bill have rallied outside City Hall; several home care workers went on a week-long hunger strike last month to protest it being stalled.

They ended their hunger strike after an apparent deal to bring the bill to a vote — although its future is still uncertain. 

Evan Yankey, advocacy director at the Brooklyn Center for the Independence of the Disabled, testified that many people who receive 24-hour care are given it “through no choice of their own” in their managed care plan, and had no say in how their aides are compensated.

“Only an individual can appeal it, but it is a long process with hundreds of steps,” he said.

Under the proposed bill, agencies that still provide 24-hour care would be fined.

“Rather than face a fine, people will go without care, the home care industry will collapse, workers will lose jobs,” Yankey said. 

Looming Medicaid Work Requirements

Tuesday’s hearing focused on economic opportunities for the more than 1 million New Yorkers living with a disability. 

Nisha Agarwal, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, testified about her agency’s work in helping people find – and keep – jobs. 

“The core focus of our work is about jobs for people with disabilities – the dignity of their work, the independence that it could provide, and the ability to build a life in the city that we all love,” she said.

Recent data shows that just 40% of New Yorkers with disabilities of working age are employed, compared to 73% of the overall working age population, she said.

Upcoming federal Medicaid cuts also loomed over the agency, with uncertainty over who would ultimately be exempt from work requirements.

“It’s not clear because there’s no finite rule until June,” Agarwal said, saying she was unclear on how many people could be affected. 

“The people are nervous,” she said. “I’m nervous, everybody’s nervous.”

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Hundreds of case workers, career coaches and housing specialists at two prominent nonprofits serving recently incarcerated people announced they plan to unionize on Friday morning, May Day, looking to join the ranks of scores of workers in the education and social services sector who’ve organized in recent years.

Approximately 600 employees at the Fortune Society and the Osborne Association are seeking to join Local 153 of the Office and Professional Employees International Union. 

If the campaign at either organization is successful, it would mark a historic shift for nonprofit mainstays that receive hundreds of millions in funding from the city to help people re-enter society after stints in jail or prison. 

Fortune and Osborne staff began their organizing push a little more than a year ago, seeking better pay and health benefits, noting that many of their colleagues earn only slightly above the city’s $17 hourly minimum wage.

“There were literally people who worked for, like, the finance department who were homeless, like living in shelters,” union organizer Nicole Matthews told THE CITY. “We just want [management] to do what’s fair and what’s right.”

Some workers are, like the clients they serve, formerly incarcerated or otherwise impacted by the criminal justice system, with many supplementing their income with public assistance — a reality that Matthews, an Osbourne Association care coordinator who works at Rikers Island, described as an open secret.

In addition to better pay and health benefits, workers at both nonprofits told THE CITY they are eager for training and mentorship opportunities.

Jeff Simmons, a spokesperson for the Fortune Society, told THE CITY in a statement that the organization is “working on responding to this request. As always, we will act with the best interests of our staff in mind, and in compliance with all legal obligations.”

A spokesperson for the Osborne Association said the organization would “participate in good-faith discussions.”

“We will listen to their demands and do all we can to support our staff as they continue providing critical services and advocacy on behalf of people impacted by incarceration,” said the spokesperson, Reynaldo Muniz.

More than a dozen City Council members signed a letter to the heads of both organizations pushing them to allow workers to organize. 

The former head of the Fortune Society, Stanley Richards, was recently appointed commissioner of the city’s Department of Corrections, the first formerly incarcerated person to lead the city’s jails.

Both organizations rely heavily on city funding to serve thousands of clients across the five boroughs: Fortune Society has 22 active contracts totaling nearly $370 million, and Osborne Association has a dozen contracts totaling $223 million, according to records from the comptroller’s office.

The Fortune and Osborne workers join the ranks of scores of private-sector workers who’ve unionized in New York in recent years, a wave driven by young, college-educated workers in sectors like health, education, non-profits and the arts. 

Instead of going through a secret ballot election to form the union, workers are requesting recognition through card check neutrality, in which both management and the union agree to a neutral third party, likely an arbitrator, to count union card signatures to ensure a majority of workers want to unionize. Local 153 says that it is gathering signatures from workers on an ongoing basis until the card count takes place.

The union said it is invoking the city’s 2021 labor peace agreement law for city contractors, by which the union agrees to forfeit the right to strike in exchange for recognition by management; the union can still choose to strike down the line for another reason, for example if the parties fail to reach an agreement on a contract.

Workers who spoke with THE CITY are hopeful that their employers will recognize their union and work quickly to settle a contract.

Caleb Knight, who spent several years in and out of jail as a young person in Michigan, said it was programs like the ones offered by the Fortune Society that helped him recover from addiction, go to school and start a career. He eventually earned an MFA in poetry from Columbia University and is now an arts counselor at the Fortune Society, where he has worked for the past two years.

“I’ve been on the receiving end of programs like this,” said Knight, 33. “And though I wasn’t a participant in the Fortune Society, it was creative arts programs like what I teach now that changed my life.”

“Our message to management is positive,” he added. “I believe that the people who are part of our leadership also came to Fortune with the right idea and with the right values, and my sincere hope is that we can treat this as a collaborative opportunity.”

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Two contractors robbed workers of hundreds of thousands of dollars in wages through kickbacks, forgery and wage theft as they renovated a playground in The Bronx, officials say.

It took years for the city comptroller’s office and the Parks Department to claw back the money after an audit found that 24 workers on the Hunts Point Playground redevelopment hadn’t been paid the prevailing wage.

The two companies and the prime contractor of the project agreed to jointly pay $618,495.40 in back pay and civil penalties as part of a settlement announced Thursday.

“At a time when the federal government is rolling back labor protections, the work of our Bureau of Labor Law is that much more important,” Comptroller Mark Levine said. 

A joint investigation by the comptroller’s office and the Parks Department found that the two companies, Green Builders Group of NY Corp. and Amin Electrical Corp., failed to pay workers the prevailing wage, forged their signatures on affidavits, and ordered workers to pay kickbacks. 

The two companies and the prime contractor of the project, D & S Restoration, agreed to pay a combined $427,468.24 in restitution to the workers, plus $89,263.93 in interest, in addition to more than $100,000 in penalties and legal fees to the city. The comptroller’s office also debarred Green Builders and Amin Electrical, meaning no city agency can hire them or subcontract them.

Parks and the comptroller’s office began investigating in late 2017 after they received worker complaints. The investigation was complicated by the sheer volume of falsified records and because both firms refused to cooperate, said Claudia Henríquez, the comptroller’s labor bureau chief.

Two Green Builders operators pleaded guilty in 2024 to federal conspiracy to commit wire fraud charges and were sentenced to probation. Those charges were not related to the city’s wage theft investigation, said Henríquez.

The firm has a long history with the city. In 2020, NYCHA awarded Green Builders a $10.4 million no-bid contract for emergency COVID ventilation efforts at a number of public housing complexes — but the work was held up after the Department of Investigation found the firm had a history of alleged safety and financial problems, THE CITY reported at the time.

Attempts to reach Green Builders and Amin Electrical through their publicly listed phone numbers were not successful. A person who answered the phone number for D & S Restoration hung up after a reporter for THE CITY identified herself.

Prevailing wages and benefits are rates employers must pay workers on publicly funded construction and building service projects, set and enforced by the city comptroller. Workers on public projects often don’t know that they may be entitled to higher pay under prevailing wage standards, which makes it easy for employers to exploit them.

“Creating and improving park spaces is essential to the well being of New Yorkers, and it’s also imperative that contractors follow the law when working on these projects,” Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura said in a statement. “We were proud to collaborate with the comptroller’s office on this investigation and grateful that hardworking New Yorkers will be getting the proper wages they deserve.”

Amin Electrical and Green Builders submitted affidavits purportedly signed by employees stating that they had been paid the prevailing wage. But in sworn testimony as part of the comptroller’s investigation, workers said they did not sign those affidavits, and were actually paid daily rates far below the required minimum, according to documents reviewed by THE CITY.

One Green Builders worker, whose name and other identifying details were redacted, said he was paid $225 per day on the playground renovation; the comptroller’s office told THE CITY he was supposed to be earning $84.63 an hour before overtime, which would have equaled easily hundreds more per day than he was given. 

“I participated in (labor) work concrete work as well as carpenter and demolition as asked at my job I was paid at the rate of $225/day,” one worker wrote in a hand-written sworn testimony from 2019, which noted he was not paid for overtime and did not receive pay stubs. “I have never signed any affidavit.” 

Green Builders received $365,000 for the Hunts Point Playground project from taxpayer coffers and Amin Electrical received $350,000, comptroller records show.

The comptroller’s office announced settlements against four other employers on Thursday, including a Bronx shelter operator that failed to pay its cleaning, maintenance and security staff the prevailing wage from 2015 to 2017. That company was ordered to pay $250,000 in back pay to more than 60 workers.

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Mayor Zohran Mamdani vetoed a controversial bill approved by the City Council last month instructing the police department to establish anti-protest “buffer zones” around schools and educational institutions.

A related bill calling for security perimeters around houses of worship passed by a veto-proof majority.

In a statement Friday, the mayor said he had reviewed both bills but found the one for education institutions “meaningfully different.” 

“The problem is how widely this bill defines an educational institution and the constitutional concerns it raises regarding New Yorkers’ fundamental right to protest,” he said in the statement. “As the bill is written, everywhere from universities to museums to teaching hospitals could face restrictions.”

Mamdani’s statement echoed the concerns of labor groups and other allies who said many buildings could technically be considered an educational facility, further limiting protests.

Speaker Julie Menin, a moderate Democrat, pushed for both bills, saying they were needed to combat rising antisemitism. She and her allies have said the so-called “buffer zone” proposals are meant to provide greater accountability in the NYPD’s protest protocols, and won’t infringe on free speech rights.

In a statement Friday, Menin said the purpose of the bill was safety.

“Ensuring students can enter and exit their schools without fear of harassment or intimidation should not be controversial,” she said. “This bill simply requires the NYPD to clearly outline how it will ensure safe access when there are threats of obstruction or physical injury, while fully protecting First Amendment rights.”

The veto is the latest confrontation between Mamdani and the Council, with the most recent being over the city’s contentious budget negotiations. 

The Council can attempt to override Mamdani’s veto in a new vote, or let it stand.

United Auto Workers Region 9A, which fiercely opposed the bill, sent a message to its members Friday morning taking credit for the veto and said it would begin whipping Council members to make sure any re-vote fails. The union represents thousands of educators and researchers at Columbia University and New York University.

Menin, the memo read, “is potentially going to attempt to override the veto by flipping multiple council votes.”

“We will begin a whipping strategy with Council members in the next week but for now, the most important thing is an overwhelming display of public support for this veto.”

The religious sites bill passed 44 to 5, a veto-proof majority, but the schools buffer-zone bill passed by a 30 to 19 margin.

Despite the overwhelming Council majority that supported the bill affecting places of worship, Mamdani, speaking in a social media video, portrayed his decision not to veto it as a matter of principle, adding that he nevertheless disagreed with “its framing of all protests as a security concern.”

In recent weeks, labor and community groups closely aligned with Mamdani have urged him to veto the bill, known as Intro 175, saying that it threatens free speech and worker rights. Legal groups including the New York Civil Liberties Union also strongly opposed the measure. 

Menin’s bills came as an answer to the widely-criticized police response to protesters who picketed the Park East Synagogue, which had rented space to an organization that helps Jews move to Israel and to settlements on the occupied West Bank, as well as the 2024 pro-Palestine encampments on college campuses.

A consortium of prominent Jewish organizations including the UJA-Federation of New York rebuked Mamdani on Friday, calling the planned veto “a profound failure of City Hall to demonstrate to all New Yorkers that our safety is a priority.”

On April 17, a representative of Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su met with leaders of more than a dozen unions and the New York City Central Labor Council who pushed for a veto.

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City Hall officials met last week with union and labor leaders who are pushing Mayor Zohran Mamdani to veto a controversial City Council bill that would establish anti-protest “buffer zones” around schools and educational facilities.

A representative of Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su met via video call with leaders of more than a half a dozen unions and the New York City Central Labor Council, according to multiple sources who were at the meeting or briefed on the talks. 

Su’s representative gave no indication whether Mamdani would issue a veto, according to multiple sources. Last month the Council approved two bills creating protest “buffer zones,” one affecting houses of worship and the other targeting schools and “educational facilities.” 

“Mayor Mamdani is aware of the concerns raised regarding the potential for 175-B to limit the constitutional and labor rights of New Yorkers,” City Hall press secretary Joe Calvello said in a statement on Thursday, referring to the bill’s formal designation. “The Mayor will weigh these concerns seriously as he makes a final decision on this legislation.” 

The meeting came amid a growing pressure campaign from labor and other allies of Mamdani to veto the bill. Last week, several labor and community groups sent a letter urging him to veto the bill, describing it as a “radical overreach” that limits free speech and endangers New Yorkers.

Mamdani Faces Saturday Deadline

The two so-called “buffer zone” bills passed March 26 with the goal of targeting hate crimes across the city, with one bill related to religious sites and the other for schools and education facilities. The bills require the police department to create security perimeters during protests – instructing the NYPD to establish how far away the buffer zones would place demonstrators. 

Two unions that represent large numbers of college and university teaching staff — United Auto Workers Region 9A and Professional Staff Congress/CUNY — are leading the opposition to the bills, claiming that they would restrict their rights to strike or protest in their workplace.

The religious sites bill passed 44 to 5, a veto-proof majority, but the schools buffer-zone bill passed by a 30 to 19 margin — which the mayor could more likely successfully veto. 

Under the city charter, Mamdani has until Saturday to veto the bill or officially sign it into law. If he does neither, it automatically becomes law. 

A spokesperson, Dora Pekec, said Wednesday there was no update to what the mayor would do. 

Council Speaker Julie Menin, a moderate Democrat, pushed for the legislation as part of her efforts to combat antisemitism. She and her allies have maintained that the so-called “buffer zone” proposals are meant to provide greater accountability to the police department’s protest protocols, not to infringe on free speech rights.

Her proposals came as a response to the police’s widely-criticized response to protesters who picketed the Park East Synagogue, which had rented space to an organization that helps Jews move to Israel and to settlements on the occupied West Bank, as well as the 2024 pro-Palestine encampments on college campuses.

The New York Civil Liberties Union and other legal organizations say the bills are Constitutionally dubious.

Menin, speaking at the 92Y in Manhattan on Wednesday evening at an event on “the future of being Jewish in New York,” defended the bills and warned of a potential mayoral veto, City & State reported.

“I really hope that there is not a veto of that legislation, because I think that will lead to more divisiveness when we need less divisiveness,” Menin said.

Labor and community group leaders told THE CITY they were lobbying Council members who voted for the schools bill to change sides in a future vote to override a veto, sending nearly 11,000 emails to the mayor and Council members.

Representatives from multiple unions who met with Su’s team on April 17 expressed a variety of concerns about the bill, including the vagueness around what could be considered an “educational facility,” sources told THE CITY.

THE CITY reached out to several unions who attended the virtual meeting with the deputy mayor’s team. None agreed to comment on the meeting, citing the confidential nature of the conversations. The New York City Central Labor Council also declined to comment.

But some, in addition to the UAW and PSC-CUNY, have gone public with their opposition.

Representatives from healthcare unions, including the Committee of Interns and Residents-SEIU and 1199 SEIU, are among those calling on the mayor to veto the schools bill. They say many teaching hospitals where their members work could technically fall under the bill’s scope — meaning members would be barred from rallying outside in the case of a strike or other union action.

Teamsters Local 804, which represents UPS and Amazon truck drivers, has also called on a veto.

However there is no consensus among labor. 

Kevin Elkins, political director of the carpenters’ union, told THE CITY that his union does not oppose the buffer-zone bills. He said the bills allow the Mamdani administration the ability to implement the buffer zones as it sees fit, and that the union trusts the mayor’s commitment to protect worker and free speech rights.

“I think the mayor has demonstrated his commitment to labor several times over at this point, so I have full confidence in his administration’s ability to do that justly,” Elkins said.

Jewish and Catholic Leaders Voice Support

Religious organizations who favor buffer zones around schools also send their own letters to Mamdani.

“Schools are not just buildings, they are spaces where children should feel safe, supported, and ready to learn,” the letter said. “When access to those spaces is compromised, the impact is immediate and serious.”

The letter was signed by Jewish school leaders as well as the superintendents of schools within the Catholic Archdiocese of New York and the Diocese of Brooklyn, which covers nearly 150 schools across the five boroughs. 

Disclosure: Irizarry Aponte is a PSC-CUNY member in her role as an adjunct instructor at the Craig Newmark School of Journalism at CUNY.

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Only 42% of likely Democratic primary voters in the House district spanning Upper Manhattan and parts of The Bronx would vote for longtime incumbent U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the primary election according to an internal poll from challenger Darializa Avila Chevalier.

Based on name recognition alone, voters picked Espaillat over Avila Chevalier 42% to 28%, according to results shared with THE CITY. 

However, once respondents heard positive messaging about Avila Chevalier’s platform, the challenger’s campaign said, she leapfrogged the five-term incumbent 46% to 35%. Another Democratic candidate in the 13th Congressional District primary, Oscar Romero, comes in a distant third at 4%.

Pollster Upswing Research & Strategy quizzed 598 likely Democratic voters in the district from March 25 to March 30 via phone and text message. The poll has a 4% margin of error. Most polling experts caution against taking campaign-backed polls at face value, but as the first poll of NY-13 this cycle, it offers a useful snapshot of where voters stand two months ahead of the June 23 primary.

“These poll results show what we have long been feeling on the ground uptown and in the Bronx: that New Yorkers are hungry for change, and they know Darializa Avila Chevalier will deliver that change on June 23rd,” campaign manager Ilona Duverge said in a statement. 

Espaillat campaign spokesperson Tyrone Stevens dismissed the poll as little more than bluster.

“On the ground, Congressman Espaillat has built deep, durable support across Upper Manhattan and the Bronx, backed by a record of delivering and a coalition that turns out,” he said in a statement. “While others are trying to create momentum on paper, we’re organizing in neighborhoods, talking to voters, and building the operation that actually wins elections.”

The poll results come on the heels of a strong week for Avila Chevalier. Her campaign outraised Espaillat in the first quarter of the year, bringing in $270,000 to his $230,000, according to campaign finance reports submitted to the Federal Elections Commission on April 15.

Espaillat is the only incumbent House member in the city to be out-raised by his opponent, Politico reported, though he has substantially more cash on hand than Avila Chevalier: $1 million to her $220,000.

Capitalizing on Mamdani’s Win

On Friday, the New York chapter of the United Auto Workers announced its endorsement of Avila Chevalier. She is a member of the union’s legal services local through her job at Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem. She is on leave from that job, and from studying for a PhD at the CUNY Graduate Center, to focus on the campaign.

The 32-year-old launched her run against Espaillat in November, seeking to capitalize on Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s victory and the left’s growing clout in the district. 

Her campaign is backed by the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America and Justice Democrats, the group that propelled U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Queens/The Bronx) to victory in 2018, as well as several members of her left-leaning “squad” including former Rep. Jamaal Bowman, who endorsed Avila Chevalier.

Espaillat is considered the dean of Dominican elected officials in New York, widening the community’s power among Democrats in Manhattan and The Bronx, with NY-13 as its epicenter. Dominicans make up nearly half of all immigrants residing in the district. (Avila Chevalier was born in the U.S. to parents from the Dominican Republic.)

A Washington Heights Veteran

The 71-year-old incumbent has represented Washington Heights and Inwood for decades, first as a state senator and in Washington since 2016, as the chamber’s first Dominican-American — and first formerly undocumented immigrant — member.

Espaillat appears to have taken the threat from his left seriously: Earlier this year, Espaillat for the first time appeared at an endorsement forum hosted by Uptown Community Democrats, a political club aligned with his longtime rival, state Sen. Robert Jackson. Last week, he announced his campaign had collected a hefty 20,000 petition signatures.

Progressives have long sensed an opening in Upper Manhattan. The last time Espaillat faced a spirited primary, in 2020, he was re-elected with less than 60% of the vote, and growing pockets of the district have been trending towards the left. Mamdani won the district in the 2025 Democratic primary by double digit margins, even though Espaillat had backed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

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Labor and other allies of Mayor Zohran Mamdani are urging him to veto one of two City Council bills aimed at restricting protests around educational facilities, saying the “radical overreach” of the bill limits free speech and endangers New Yorkers.

The two “buffer zone” bills passed March 26 with the goal of targeting hate crimes across the city, with one bill related to religious sites and the other for schools and education facilities.

The religious site bill passed 44-to-5, a veto-proof majority, but the other passed by a 30-to-19 margin — which the mayor could veto. 

The buffer zone laws rose from demonstrations last year outside a pair of synagogues in Manhattan and Queens where some protesters chanted in support of Hamas. The synagogues were hosting an organization that helps American Jews emigrate to Israel and the Israel-occupied West Bank. Critics said Mamdani’s initial comments failed to condemn the pro-Hamas slogans.

The bill focused on “educational facilities” comes after college campuses across the city were rocked by protests against the Gaza war.

Nearly a dozen organizations sent Mamdani a letter on Friday imploring him to veto the bill creating security perimeters around schools and other “educational facilities,” with opponents saying the language is so broad that any location could be deemed one. 

“By defining ‘educational facility’ as any place where ‘educational programming takes place’ and not solely traditional educational institutions, 175-B functionally subjects any building in this city to the proposed law, including the more than 200 public libraries,” the letter said. 

It was signed by the steering committee of the People’s Majority, along with the union representing CUNY professors, United Auto Workers Region 9A, Desis Rising Up and Moving and other organizations.

“The broad reach of the legislation again means that the NYPD must create a plan for just about every building in this city,” the letter said.

Speaker Julie Menin said last month the bills will stop hate crimes. “The increase in hateful acts across the city is absolutely abhorrent, and we have to do something about it,” she said.

Mamdani can veto the bills within 30 days of their passage in the Council, giving him until April 25. He said Thursday he’s still weighing his options.

“I’ve heard from a number of New Yorkers about their concerns about aspects of this legislation,” Mamdani said. “And I will be making a decision on that shortly.”

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The union representing more than 34,000 luxury residential building doormen and porters said it reached a tentative agreement with a prominent landlord group, averting a strike ahead of a Monday deadline. 

The union, 32BJ SEIU, and the Realty Advisory Board, the consortium representing landlords at some of the city’s toniest condos and co-ops, had been locked all week in marathon negotiations in a hotel ballroom at the Midtown Hilton Hotel.

The four-year agreement preserves workers’ health benefits without premium-sharing — a main sticking point in the negotiations. Workers also won wage increases totaling an additional $4.50 per hour by the end of the contract in 2030, plus a 15% pension boost. The agreement is pending a mail ballot vote by union members.

“Today we found a common path forward with the RAB that rewards workers appropriately,” 32BJ SEIU president Manny Pastreich said in a statement Friday. “This agreement honors the indispensable contributions 32BJ members make to our city.”

The average annual salary will rise to $71,000 by the end of the contract, the RAB said in a statement.

The union and the RAB announced the deal at the Midtown Hilton.

“This agreement is a win, win, win, win,” for the employers, the union, the employees and building residents, said Howard Rothschild, president of the RAB.

Workers said management was seeking to force workers to begin paying towards their healthcare coverage, which is currently paid for entirely by employers. But the Realty Advisory Board said that it was obligated to cut back on expenses given rising costs and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pledge to freeze rent increases on stabilized apartments.

Earlier Friday, as negotiations were ongoing, workers gathered in a practice picket outside The Caldwell, an apartment building on York Avenue on the Upper East Side. 

Leon Sonson, a porter at The Caldwell, told reporters he was most preoccupied about preserving his premium-free healthcare. 

“I don’t want to mess up my healthcare,” said the father of four and grandfather. “I just want what’s fair, I believe in being fair and equal.”

The union nearly went on strike over the same issue in 2022, but reached a deal the day before the scheduled walk out. Residential building workers last went on strike in 1991, in a stoppage that lasted 12 days.

More than 10,000 workers rallied on Park Avenue on Wednesday ahead of the strike authorization vote, joined by Mamdani and others. 

Building managers began strike preparations earlier this month, requesting volunteers to take out the trash and warning residents of potential disruptions to delivery services and more. More than 550,000 people live in the buildings that were poised to strike, spanning from rentals to luxury Billionaire’s Row megatowers and iconic co-cops like The Dakota.

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