Councilmembers in Queens BP race each support staff union drive
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CITY HALL. AP PHOTO/KATHY WILLENS
By David Brand
Three current city councilmembers running for Queens borough president each say they support council staffers’ efforts to unionize, less than a week after stories by the Eagle and POLITICO outlined deep disparities in staff pay across districts, as well as subliving wages for dozens of aides.
Councilmembers Costa Constantinides, Donovan Richards and Jimmy Van Bramer have each gone on the record endorsing the union drive, which kicked off Monday.
Richards, a former chief of staff for then-Councilmember James Sanders, described failed efforts to unionize during his time as a staffer in an email to current aides on Nov. 18.
“While my experience came with ups and downs as a staffer, I wouldn’t have changed the roadmap on how I got here,” Richards wrote in the email shared with the Eagle. “However, I know that an equitable blueprint for staff salaries and protections is best for all of the council.”
Constantinides, the first to publicly back the union effort, also recalled his experience as a council aide in a statement. He cited serial harassment and intimidation by Bronx Councilmember Andy King — which he called “deplorable acts” — as additional impetus for staff members to unionize.
“The bright, ambitious people who put in long hours for us in the name of a better City deserve fair wages, good benefits and protections,” Constantinides said.
Van Bramer, who introduced a resolution to expel King from the council — which Richards and Constantinides both voted for — also said he supports the union drive.
“I stand with those who begin their public organizing today and show my solidarity,” Van Bramer tweeted Monday. “I strongly support voluntary recognition upon presentation of a majority of cards.”
Zara Nasir, director of the Council’s Progressive Caucus and one of the leaders of the union drive, said she welcomed the individual councilmembers’ support, but she and her colleagues would like Council Speaker Corey Johnson to issue a strong directive to all members not to block organizing efforts.
“Our demand is for the Speaker to send something out to all staff and have a member briefing on this topic,” Nasir said. “We want it to come from the speaker to both central staff and to all member staff that he is encouraging neutrality and stating that these are the legal parameters — they have the right to organize.”
Johnson plans to do just that today, according to a council spokesperson. He will discuss neutrality during a meeting with members and he will follow up with a letter outlining staffers’ legal right to organize without interference, the spokesperson said.
Johnson called himself “a proud son of a union household and a strong supporter of the labor movement” and said he “wholeheartedly” supports the unionization effort.
“This process is just beginning, but as it gets going my goal is to make it as easy as possible for them to move forward,” Johnson said in a statement to the Eagle Wednesday. “I will do everything I can to be supportive during this process.”
