The office, the first of its kind in the nation, will be led by Tony Perlstein, a former longshoreman who most recently led the United Auto Workers\u2019 organizing department<\/a>. Perlstein will report to Julie Su, the deputy mayor for economic justice.<\/p>\n MORE: Does New York\u2019s Labor Momentum Measure Up?<\/a><\/p>\n On a call with reporters ahead of Monday\u2019s announcement, Su outlined why the Mamdani administration believes the new office is necessary and invoked recent headlines showing the vast chasm between the city\u2019s wealthiest and its struggling middle class<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen workers organize, when they can build lasting, durable power, power that lets them transform their work experience and, by extension, their lives, everything changes,\u201d she said. \u201cWith the disappearance of good middle-class careers and the replacement with precarious part-time jobs in the gig economy, now is the time for the city government to take a stand on the side of workers.\u201d<\/p>\n Su, a former acting labor secretary under President Joe Biden, said the new office will serve the most \u201cvulnerable,\u201d from construction and domestic workers to delivery drivers<\/a> and others on the fringes of the city\u2019s economy. The office will only support workers in the private sector, so as to avoid any potential legal conflict.<\/p>\n Monday\u2019s announcement builds on Mamdani\u2019s efforts<\/a> to support private-sector workers and strengthen enforcement of labor law across the five boroughs.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the first six months of his tenure, Mamdani\u2019s administration reached settlements worth millions of dollars in back pay for workers in the gig and fast food sector. Last month, the city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection announced a new partnership with the Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office<\/a> that will make it easier for both offices to investigate wage theft<\/a> and other crimes.<\/p>\n Modeled on a DSA Effort<\/p>\n The new office is inspired by the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, a joint effort of the Democratic Socialists of America<\/a> and United Electrical Workers that has since its 2020 inception helped thousands across the country organize unions in the workplace.<\/p>\n Created as an offshoot of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders\u2019 second presidential campaign<\/a>, EWOC fields inquiries from workers and connects them with volunteers \u2014 many of them labor organizers themselves \u2014 to help them create unions. Those volunteers share legal resources, organizing tools and host virtual workshops to teach workers how to organize a union step by step. The group also cultivates undercover organizers known as \u201csalts<\/a>,\u201d or people who take a job with the specific goal of unionizing a workplace.<\/p>\n Su stressed the new City Hall office will not be going into workplaces and directly organizing workers but will rather work as a middleman between workers and unions or workers centers in their industries.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not taking the place of unions of worker centers and others who do that work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But workers in the public sector who need help organizing or strengthening their unions will not be able to use the new office for support. Public-sector workers are left out of the agency\u2019s reach so as to avoid any legal conflicts arising from potential management interference, a City Hall spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Su was unable to provide details on the new office\u2019s estimated budget and headcount. The executive order also instructs existing city agencies, including DCWP, the Taxi & Limousine Commission and the Commission on Human Rights, to develop \u201cproactive\u201d procedures for labor-related investigations.\u00a0<\/p>\n From the Docks to City Hall<\/p>\n Perlstein is a legend within the region\u2019s labor movement. As a young longshoreman on the Bayonne, New Jersey, docks at the turn of this century, he successfully led a reform effort to kick out mob-connected union leadership<\/a> within Local 1588 of the International Longshoremen\u2019s Association. He rose through the ranks<\/a> to become the local\u2019s secretary-treasurer in 2007, after it was placed under federal trusteeship to root out corruption.<\/p>\n MORE: Inside NYC\u2019s K-Shaped Economy: A Few Do Well, Most Do Not<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Mayor-elect](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/120125_starbucks_picket-5.jpg\")
Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani speaks alongside Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) at a Starbucks worker picket line in Brooklyn, Dec. 1, 2025. Credit: Ben Fractenberg\/THE CITY<\/p>\n![\"Deputy](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/072226_mamdani_shorris_edc_presser-9.jpg\")
Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su said the new office would not service city workers. Credit: Ben Fractenberg\/The City Reporter<\/p>\n![\"Brooklyn](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/071726_public_defenders_strike-2.jpg\")
Brooklyn Defender Services workers unionized with the UAW walk a picket line on Livingston Street in front of their offices, July 17, 2026. Credit: Alex Krales\/The City Reporter<\/p>\n