Two years ago, when Mayor Eric Adams delivered a collective bargaining agreement that notched higher-than-expected raises and laid the foundation for remote work for the union representing 100,000 civil servants, their support for his 2025 reelection campaign may have appeared a foregone conclusion.
Instead the disgraced mayor, citing the advice of his personal lawyers, decided at the last minute to skip a candidates’ forum hosted by that union, District Council 37, Wednesday night — denying himself the opportunity to persuade members of the city’s largest municipal union to give him a second chance amid his swirling corruption scandal.
Throughout the two-hour event at Borough of Manhattan Community College, the mere mention of the mayor’s name elicited a chorus of boos from the audience of rank-and-file union members, a key base of support for the mayor, with their endorsement on the line.
DC 37 members who spoke with THE CITY said Adams’ decision to bail on the event ought to end any debate over whether their union should seriously consider endorsing him as it did in 2021. Even those who said they would have been willing to hear him out based on what they described as his strong record with labor said they’d soured on the no-show mayor in light of his absence.
“It’s horrible,” said one union member who identified herself only as Omayra. “He should have shown face. In my opinion he is disreputable.”
“It’s embarrassing, just another area where he’s lied and let people down,” said Melody Liao-Chamberlain, a member of Local 3005. “It just makes it seem like he’s not taking this seriously, doesn’t value city workers, and doesn’t value opportunities to convene with the public.”
“It’s a shame he’s our mayor,” added Liao-Chamberlain.
Audience members guffawed after the evening’s moderator, DC 37 executive director Henry Garrido, read a statement from an Adams spokesperson at the event’s kickoff, explaining his departure: “Mayor Adams is respectfully declining the invitation to participate in the union’s debate as he awaits the conclusion of his case on the advice of counsel.”
‘The Credibility Is Gone’
A half-dozen Democratic mayoral hopefuls ultimately attended the forum: former Assembly member Michael Blake (The Bronx), former city comptroller Scott Stringer, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani (Queens), current city comptroller Brad Lander, and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie (Brooklyn). State Sen. Jessica Ramos of Queens arrived an hour late.
DC 37 retirees, who have been fighting to preserve their health care plan against cost-cutting measures, had a delegation at the candidate debate.
Even as the mayoral hopefuls articulated their vision for affordable housing, health care, education and public safety, the pall of Adams’ absence hung over the evening. The dozens of active city workers, retirees and union delegates in the audience hardly contained their glee at the candidates’ repeated jabs at the mayor.
“If a candidate did not have the heart to be here, they should not be your mayor,” Blake said in his closing arguments.
Some union members made up their mind on the mayor long before Wednesday’s forum, saying Adams had been compromised by his bargain to help the Trump administration with its deportation goals in exchange for the Department of Justice to withdraw the criminal charges against him.
“The credibility is gone,” said a member of Local 371, which represents social service workers, who asked to remain anonymous. “To have a mayor who supports a president who’s trying to destroy unions is not sitting well with a lot of people.” He was referencing the mass firing of federal workers and the “dismantling” of the federal National Labor Relations Board, which is unable to operate following Trump’s dismissal of board members.
He added that Adams’ capitulation to Trump’s agenda was making his job in a social services agency more difficult: “It pisses me off that immigrant children are struggling and scared to get help because of the climate that we are in.”
Several members of Local 3005, which represents scientists at the city’s health department, designed and printed t-shirts that read “Adams Resign” just for the occasion.
with “He’s disqualified himself in so many ways,” said a Local 3005 member who identified herself only as Gretchen T. “For him to now show up to this panel, is also telling of how he is focused on his own self-preservation versus on what is good for the City of New York.”
Our nonprofit newsroom relies on donations from readers to sustain our local reporting and keep it free for all New Yorkers. Donate to THE CITY today.
The post ‘Horrible,’ ‘Embarrassing,’ ‘Disqualifying’: Municipal Union Workers React to Eric Adams Bailing on Pre-Endorsement Campaign Event appeared first on THE CITY – NYC News.
