Governor Appears at Labor Rallies

April 20th, 2018

Gov. Cuomo’s re-election effort appears to have begun as the Governor appears at two labor rallies last week.

Last Wednesday, he spoke at a rally held by workers from the Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ. The union, which is made up of 31,000 workers at 3,500 co-ops, condos and rentals in New York City, are seeking a new contract. Their current contract expires next week.

Then on Thursday, the Governor appeared at a labor rally in New York City where he announced the signing of legislation, which was approved enacted as part of the state budget, that is intended to make it easier for public workers’ unions to recruit members and to allow them to deny extra services to people who refuse to join. The new law was adopted in anticipation of an adverse ruling in the pending Supreme Court case Janus v. AFSCME.

It wasn’t long ago that Gov. Cuomo’s priorities included taxpayer-focused items such as the real property tax cap, controlling state cut spending, eliminating unfunded mandates on local governments and reducing red tape on businesses.

The Governor is clearly pursuing a different set of priorities as he looks ahead to his re-election campaign this fall.