In the early days of a new administration in the White House and a power shift in the Senate, we have already seen promising movement for workers and unions.
“Having New York’s senior Senator Chuck Schumer as our new majority leader is sure to bring more funding to New York,” said CSEA President Mary E. Sullivan. “I recently spoke with Senator Schumer, and he is committed to fighting to preserve the services that make our state great, and the workers who provide them. He has been a longtime advocate for our state, for workers, and a great friend to labor. We are looking forward to working with him.”
Schumer reached out to President Sullivan recently to confirm his support for additional federal aid for our state and localities during these difficult economic times.
In a move hailed by the AFL-CIO and other unions, President Joe Biden nominated Boston Mayor Marty Walsh for Secretary of Labor. Walsh is a longtime union supporter and member of the laborers’ union LIUNA. President Biden also fired the management-leaning National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Peter Robb, who had been criticized for moving the NLRB in an anti-union direction.
The president also signed numerous executive orders, including restoring federal employee protections rescinded by the previous administration, such as restrictions on collective bargaining and civil service protections.
And most importantly for our current economic situation, the new administration has proposed a COVID-19 relief package that includes aid for state and local governments. This aid will prevent massive cuts to workers and the services they provide, as well as allowing New York to meet their contractual obligations to workers.
“CSEA is optimistic we will soon see stimulus relief to prevent service cuts and allow our state workers to get their well-deserved wage increase,” Sullivan said. “CSEA will once again take the lead and lobby our federal officials for more aid to New York.”
