Passing bills to benefit workers in the state Senate

Jessica Ramos was elected to the state Senate from Queens representing Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Corona in 2018 when Democrats took control of the chamber. She became chair of the Senate Labor Committee the following year. She has recently helped pass the Retail Worker Safety Act, which required employers to develop a violence prevention plan and training, and expanded workers’ compensation benefits for people who experience PTSD at their job site. A Queens native, Ramos is currently running for mayor of New York City in the Democratic primary. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

What key union-oriented legislation passed last year? What were the highlights?

We did a lot in the Senate Labor Committee. Something new that we did last year that we hadn’t done before was hold the first-ever state hearing on the Workers Compensation Board, and we were able to hear from injured workers, and the doctors and pharmacists who helped them, and from the board itself. I was happy to see in the executive budget there was a recommendation to give them extra funding so they can branch out and help people injured on the job.

In the face of essentially freezing out of the (National Labor Relations Board), we have to make sure that worker protection systems here in New York are as strong as possible. If regulation for corporations is going to not be as important federally we have to make sure that’s important locally.

We’re able to also pass a bill for people who experienced PTSD on the job to be covered by the workers’ compensation benefit. Injuries aren’t just physical, they’re mental as well. That’s something that some workforces like police officers have been able to enjoy but not others. And a lot of things happen on the job.

We passed the Retail Worker Safety Act. We want there to be accountability for retail theft, but workers want to feel safe and that they have a plan and they know what to do if something happens on their shift. Now we have buttons that New York’s major employers have to install to make sure all workplaces have a plan, or a worker knows a plan and there’s been a discussion with the employer.

What’s on the agenda for 2025 in terms of organized labor’s priorities?

One of the priorities that I still have that carried over into last year is reform to the temporary disability insurance. It was in the executive budget last year but not this year but Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages and I are pushing ahead. We want an increase from the current benefit $170 a week to $1,170 per week. That would be obviously scaled up over time. We reached a three-way agreement at the end of session last year but the deal broke apart at the last minute.

The other one is a temperature bill we’re working on with Teamsters and many others in order to protect workers dealing with extreme heat on the job. People who work outside, including Amazon workers, UPS drivers (and) agricultural workers, are increasingly affected by extreme heat due to climate change. We are expecting the Trump Department of Labor to kill the heat standard that Biden had set so we want to make sure it’s done this year as soon as possible.

A coalition of unions and other organizations have launched a Share Our Wealth campaign, which would increase income tax rates for those earning over $5 million and over $25 million by 0.5% and increase the corporate tax rate by 1.75% and make these changes permanent. Do you support this proposal? Was this part of the Senate’s one-house budget bill last year?

I will support increases in taxes to the richest. This is why I carry a bill, the Mark-to-Market tax that will tax unrealized capital gains for New Yorkers worth $1 billion or more. That’s about 135 New Yorkers. We would generate $33 billion in revenue. I want us to really think about the possibilities so that we can really address the shortfalls that we will see coming. There are going to be new holes to fill that the federal government leaves. That’s something that worries me. We need to make sure our constituents are taken care of. Those are discussions I welcome. This year I’ve been appointed to the budget and revenue committee and the finance committee. I’m enjoying my participation on it.

What are the chances that the governor would ever agree to raise taxes? Is the best move politically to find compromise and work across the aisle in the current environment, or double down on progressive policies?

I’d want her to sign all my bills. Our richest class has changed. When Andrew Carnegie was one of the titans in New York, he decided what he would do with his wealth was build 2,500 public libraries. That’s incredible. Here we can’t even get them to pay their taxes, much less pay significant contributions to the wellness of their fellow New Yorkers. It’s deeply disappointing. I’m hopeful we can find proposals, even from my colleagues. I’m a big fan of the pied-a-terre tax. Hopefully we’ll see what recipe we can get in the budget this year.

You’re running for mayor of New York City. What specific labor-oriented measures are part of your campaign platform? Do you expect worker issues to play a big part of the campaign?

More people are paying attention because of this, let me tell you. They’re saying “Whoa, who’s running for mayor?”

Labor is my lifelong vocation and I’ve always felt my purpose is to try to end poverty in New York and I’ve seen the labor movement as the tried-and-true vehicle into the middle class for so many generations of immigrants in this state and in this country, and that’s true of civil service too.

I’ve announced my policy platform for a youth jobs guarantee. I want to make the summer youth employment program year-round. It’s a great way to make sure our young people ages 16-24 have a bigger understanding of the opportunities they have available and get a jump start on contributing to their Social Security fund and get real work experiences under their belt.

We have shortages in lots of different essential job titles, including teachers, doctors, police, firefighters and the mental health workforce. If I have my way with universal child care we’ll need more child care workers. This is about building a care and service economy that is the backbone of New York.

I also think about NYCHA, where a lot of this takes place. Human services are at the forefront of care in New York City. We want to make it affordable to live here and also great to live here.

And the city’s retirees need to be able to keep their health care. I would like for them to keep their health care. Medicare Advantage is from Project 2025 and we can’t have any part of it.

I’m looking forward to having these conversations on the campaign trail for how we’re going to revisit and fortify the human condition of New Yorkers right now.

In January, President Donald Trump abruptly fired members of the National Labor Relations Board. What impact will that have on organized labor?

I think we’ve been monitoring very closely what’s happening with the Department of Labor and NLRB. We’re brainstorming with partners in the executive branch and advocates who are just as worried as I am how we’re going to protect our workers. We already know we have a wage theft issue in the state that costs Main Street billions of dollars. It’s very interesting to see after the most successful years of union organizing in this country, Starbucks and Amazon workers are taking action against companies that are exploiting workers. And at the same time there are chains that really transform neighborhoods. We’re fighting to make sure we support labor unions to put pressure on Donald Trump to do the right thing.

How much of a role are unions playing in the casino siting process? What’s the latest with Steve Cohen’s casino bid in Queens?

We’ve been talking about the project. They certainly are still hoping to be a bidder and those conversations are ongoing. I don’t want to introduce legislation to alienate the parkland for that purpose. My neighbors don’t want me to. I want to be absolutely clear about that.

I talk with the unions all the time about many of the bids. They just want to make sure that whatever casino is chosen will provide good jobs. They’re doing their due diligence.