Generation We!

To the editor:

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has made overtures to labor that dramatize a great divide. At the annual SOMOS conference in Puerto Rico, attended by elected officials and union leaders, Henry Garrido, District Council 37 executive director and Municipal Labor Committee co-chairperson, emceed an event and was joined on stage by Mamdani.

As reported in The Chief, ally Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers and MLC executive vice-chair, praised the election night victory speech, in which Mamdani pledged to hire “thousands” of teachers.

But here is the rub. Both union leaders have opposed City Council bill Intro 1096, which would prohibit diminishing my health benefits and those of fellow retirees. And Mamdani’s opposition to Medicare Advantage seems ambiguous, as there has been no commitment to support the Council bill and to end the ongoing litigation.

Gustavo Gordillo, the co-chair  of the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, told The Chief  that “organized labor has to have a central seat at the table” and that “Zohran is open minded and wants to reach out to all parts of the labor movement, even those that didn't back him in the primary or the general." 

But Mamdani has refused to speak or meet with Marianne Pizzitola, the president of the NewYork City Organization of Public Service Retirees, who has been advocating on behalf of city retirees on the healthcare benefits issue. “After a lifetime of service, that silence hurts,” she wrote in an open letter to Zohran. Marianne lamented:  “too many retirees felt invisible throughout this conversation. While others were afforded opportunity, our voices were never invited in … we were left without a seat at the table.” She made a reasonable ask, to “open a door to conversation: a meeting, a listening session.”

Generational change in city government presents many opportunities to improve the lives of New Yorkers. But our generation should not be left behind. 

Harry Weiner