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<\/a>At a party during SOMOS, the annual Puerto Rico getaway for New York\u2019s political class, District Council 37 executive director Henry Garrido proudly introduced Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to a packed outdoor crowd at the Caribe Hilton of jubilant union officials, political insiders and government lobbyists.\u00a0<\/p>\nJust days after Mamdani\u2019s election, the public display<\/a> of support from the union leader \u2014 highlighted with a hug \u2014 underscored the emerging alliance between the incoming mayor and the leader of New York City\u2019s largest public-sector union.<\/p>\n That bond is about to be tested, or at least leaned on more than ever before, as Mamdani and his still-forming team prepare to craft a new collective-bargaining agreement whose wages and benefits will ripple across every municipal union in New York City.<\/p>\n As Mamdani prepares to deliver on his mandate to uplift New York\u2019s working class and his affordability agenda, while engendering a renewed faith in what he has referred to \u201cpublic excellence,\u201d the democratic socialist must also contend with the work of being a boss to the city\u2019s 300,000 civil servants, complete with tough decisions and compromises as the city faces a tough fiscal outlook.<\/p>\n For more than a century, New York City labor negotiators have relied on a system known as pattern bargaining. That system, which is not required by law, uses one union to strike a deal on wages, health care and other benefits that then becomes the baseline for every other municipal union. Which union sets that pattern is a matter of intense attention and maneuvering across the city\u2019s labor landscape.<\/p>\n Traditionally, City Hall has pushed for DC 37 or the United Federation of Teachers \u2014 the two largest civilian unions \u2014 to establish the pattern.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also the matter of the contentious new health benefits plan for city workers and some retirees<\/a>, designed to reduce costs by some $1 billion annually as part of a union-management health savings pact in prior bargaining. It is scheduled to go into effect the day Mamdani is sworn in but is the subject of lawsuits<\/a> seeking to stop the switch.<\/p>\n His administration also needs to move to negotiate a new contract with DC 37, which expires next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMost mayors inherit this challenge,\u201d Joshua Freeman<\/a>, a labor historian and professor emeritus at Queens College, told THE CITY. \u201cThere\u2019s labor broadly, and then there are municipal unions with contractual relationships that have to be worked out. Mamdani hasn\u2019t said very much about that side of labor at all, but his administration is going to have to deal with it.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of Mamdani\u2019s first appointments indicate he\u2019s likely to lean heavily on former government officials with years of experience \u2014 and some baggage.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Monday, he appointed Robert Linn as one of the 400 members of his expanded transition team. Linn served as commissioner of the city\u2019s Office of Labor Relations during the start of the administration of former Mayor Bill de Blasio. He also had that same role<\/a> for Mayor Ed Koch and has worked in the private sector as the Police Benevolent Association\u2019s chief negotiator<\/a> during the administration of former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.<\/p>\n Over the years, he\u2019s been involved in contentious labor negotiations, which have upset rank-and-file union members and retirees.<\/p>\n One open question is whether Mamdani will choose to keep the city\u2019s top labor negotiator, Renee Campion, on board. The longtime head of the city\u2019s Office of Labor Relations, Campion, is the primary foe of the unions bargaining directly with the city.<\/p>\n Dean Fuleihan, Mamdani\u2019s pick for first deputy mayor, dodged questions from THE CITY about whether Mamdani intended to ask Campion to stay in his administration.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are working through all personnel decisions, and you\u2019re seeing the mayor-elect announce them, and we\u2019re going to continue to do so,\u201d Fuleihan said at a Starbucks Workers United picket line in Lower Manhattan last week.<\/p>\n Mamdani has said he wants to hire 1,000 new teachers<\/a> per year and keep the police department\u2019s headcount at its current levels, and has pledged to raise the minimum wage to $30 an hour<\/a> by 2030, which could turn out to be a boon for the city\u2019s lowest-paid civil servants, many of whom earn the minimum wage. He has also promised to work with state lawmakers to reverse certain aspects of Tier 6<\/a>, the unpopular reform approved in 2012 that slashed pension benefits for future public employees and raised their retirement age.<\/p>\n But he has dodged some of the thornier issues in the public sector throughout the campaign trail as he courted the endorsements of the city\u2019s powerful unions. Speaking to an audience of rank-and-file DC 37 members at a February candidates\u2019 forum<\/a>, Mamdani said he was \u201cnot sure\u201d if he supported removing residency requirements for city workers \u2014 drawing some light boos from the crowd, the one negative response he received during the two-hour event.\u00a0<\/p>\n DC 37 has long pushed to allow its members to live outside<\/a> the five boroughs. The city\u2019s police officers and firefighters are allowed to reside in nearby counties.\u00a0<\/p>\n Still, DC 37 eventually endorsed<\/a> Mamdani in the primary as part of a ranked-choice slate led by City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, and quickly lined up behind him<\/a> in the general election.<\/p>\n Mamdani has also faced pushback from retired city workers, many of whom do not live in New York City. At issue was another piece of the union-management health savings pact: a proposed move to less expensive Medicare Advantage, fiercely opposed by retirees.\u00a0<\/p>\n Though he said throughout his campaign that he did not support the switch, Mamdani declined to sign a pledge from the main retiree group that opposed the switchover ahead of the primary, drawing scorn from advocates<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now he must pick up the pieces after Mayor Eric Adams decided to scrap the Medicare Advantage switch<\/a>, leaving Mamdani and the unions with the task of how to replace $600 million in pledged annual health care savings.<\/p>\n Those savings were supposed to help boost a key fund that covers some benefits and has reportedly run dry<\/a>. Together with the $1 billion in projected savings under the health plan for active city workers that is slated to go into effect on Jan. 1, the two deals were meant to bring that fund back to solvency. The group representing the 102 public sector unions and the city are currently locked in a legal battle<\/a> over who is responsible for the fund.<\/p>\n Though Mamdani hasn\u2019t said how he plans to bridge the gap now that Medicare Advantage is dead, his recent appointments may provide some clues. Fuleihan served a key role in laying the groundwork for the health savings plan in 2014<\/a>, when he was then-Mayor de Blasio\u2019s budget director. Linn was labor commissioner at the time.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Marianne Pizzitola, the outspoken head of the NYC Organization of Public Service Retirees, said she is concerned with Mamdani\u2019s latest appointments. She said Mamdani\u2019s campaign ignored her requests to meet after an initial virtual meeting at the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n Fuleihan and Linn, she said, were \u201corchestrating these deals of leveraging health care \u2014 that\u2019s a concern for me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s hired the same people that have made these poor decisions in the past. I don\u2019t have any comfort level that they\u2019re not going to guide him on the path that they were on that they took with the previous mayors,\u201d added Pizzitola.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s transition has not responded to requests for comment from THE CITY.<\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNovember 28 | \t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNovember 26 | \t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Zohran](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/MG_0127-scaled-1-1024x683.webp.webp\")
<\/a>Zohran Mamdani speaks at a rally with unions that endorsed him, July 2, 2025.\u00a0Photo:\u00a0Alex Krales\/THE CITY<\/p>\n![\"Incoming](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/111025_mamdani_cheif-staff_announcement-4-1024x683.webp.webp\")
<\/a>Incoming first deputy mayor Dean Fuleihan speaks alongside Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani at the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, Nov. 10, 2025.\u00a0Photo:\u00a0Ben Fractenberg\/THE CITY<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAttorney who turned client\u2019s home-sale proceeds into his own slush fund is disbarred<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBrooklyn Eagle Staff\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFour plead guilty to conspiracies to misappropriate funds of homeless nonprofit<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSpecial from the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Eastern District of New York\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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