New York City has established a new taxpayer-funded office aimed at assisting private sector workers in their efforts to unionize. The Mayor’s Office of Worker Power, created through an executive order by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, will provide resources and information to employees looking to form unions at their workplaces.
City Hall stated the office will help workers "get informed, connected and organized." Mamdani said in a statement that the office "will make sure workers have a seat at the table before exploitation becomes a crisis and violations become routine." The initiative aims to connect workers with their rights, with each other, and with organizations that can support their unionization efforts.
The office is slated to hold hearings on worker issues and develop policy proposals based on employee testimony. It will also disseminate information about workers' rights and connect interested employees with relevant organizations. Tony Perlstein, a former dockworker, union organizer, and deputy director of communications for the Center for Popular Democracy, will lead the new office. Perlstein will report to Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su.
Su indicated the office's proactive approach, stating, "This office allows us to get ahead of exploitation instead of simply responding to it. By building relationships with workers, unions and worker centers, we can understand what is happening on the ground and act before problems become crises."
The Office of Worker Power draws inspiration from the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, a collaboration between the Democratic Socialists of America and United Electrical Workers. The announcement follows Mayor Mamdani's broader push to increase "union density" in New York City, despite a recent report indicating the city's union density is already more than double the national average.
The executive order also directs agencies including the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, the Taxi and Limousine Commission, and the Commission on Human Rights to develop "directed investigation procedures" for potential workplace violations and predatory practices, even without a formal complaint. These investigations are intended to focus on businesses with high concentrations of low-wage workers, a history of labor violations, or other indicators of non-compliance with labor standards. Previously, these agencies largely operated on a complaint-based model for investigating potential violations.