Lander and Ramos support organized labor on a tumultuous day for Mayor Eric Adams

When news broke on Sept. 5 that top officials in New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ administration had been raided the day before by the FBI, his critics highlighted the importance of government accountability at City & State New York’s Labor Power 100 celebration of New York’s most tenacious labor leaders.

The annual event was held at The View in Battery Park to honor 100 labor leaders representing unions, government, advocacy groups and more.

Mayoral candidate Brad Lander, New York City’s comptroller, centered his keynote speech on honoring workers’ dignity, rights and pay.

“In the comptroller’s office, we are working hard to make sure that accountability means accountability to workers, and we show up every day to do that,” Lander said.

The comptroller also emphasized this year’s 10% returns in retirement systems and pension funds, totaling over $1.8 billion saved – which will be reinvested into the workforce. His office just launched the city’s first employer violations dashboard: a searchable tool that identifies employers who violate Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations, steal workers’ wages, violate workers’ rights to organize and have unfair labor practices.

“You can, for the first time, go look them up. There’s a wall of shame of the worst ones. You won’t be surprised. You can look up any employer where you’re organizing, shopping or thinking about contracting and make sure it is folks who respect the rights of New York workers,” Lander said.

Later, Lander touched on the impact of the raids on some of Adams’ closest advisers: “Anyone would be distracted when their entire senior leadership team, or very large parts of their senior leadership team, is facing FBI raids and federal prosecutor investigations. I think New Yorkers have reason for two concerns: about distraction and about trustworthiness, and both of them are very real issues here.”

When asked whether Adams should suspend his campaign, the comptroller stressed the need for transparency across the administration.

“I am running in no small part because New Yorkers deserve trustworthy leadership. I have worked really hard to model that my whole career, through hiring trustworthy staff, to exhibit it myself, to put practices in place,” Lander said. “So to me, it is really important to set a tone and walk the walk on trustworthiness. That’s a really important part of being mayor and running for it.”

Another strong union advocate, state Sen. Jessica Ramos stressed the importance of accountability and expressed enthusiasm for Vice President Kamala Harris in her keynote address.

“I know a lot has happened today, and I think it’s worth saying that in moments when people are losing trust in so many of our institutions – it truly is the labor movement who’s doing the work and telling working people that a better tomorrow is possible when you organize together in the workplace,” Ramos said.

Ramos also highlighted key labor victories, like raising the minimum wage, expanding labor protections and eligibility for child care subsidies.

“Unions are polling higher than they have in decades, and it’s truly because of the leadership of the union town, New York state,” Ramos said. “Our recovery from the pandemic was quite incomplete. New York truly does need a renaissance that can only be brought by labor. The working people of New York have the creativity, the resilience and the hustle to usher in our next era.”

That sentiment was echoed by state Department of Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon, whose unionizing background included being the first co-president of SAG-AFTRA, a 165,000-member union for the entertainment industry.

“In recent years, we have witnessed significant strides in labor rights, many of which were made possible by the people in this room,” Reardon said. “None of this great work would have been accomplished without all of you. … That’s what unions teach us – strength in unity. When we come together and make sure that we have diverse voices at the table, we can win bigger battles than we ever thought we could.”