A Message from Business Manager Chris Erikson
Disappointed in the result of the NYC Democratic primary election for mayor, to say the least. Mamdani won after all of the ranked choice votes were counted, and he will be the Democratic candidate for mayor in the November general election. If – and there is still lots of uncertainty – Adams, Cuomo, and Sliwa remain in the race, then their votes will probably be split and Mamdani could win. If one of those three went head-to-head against Mamdani and got the votes that would have gone to the others from all who oppose a democratic socialist running the city, then Mamdani possibly loses. Egos may overrule that possibility, but we’ll see. There is a lot of time until the general election. I would urge you to research the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). While some of their agenda lines up with the Trade Union movement, most of it doesn’t. If the objectives of the DSA are the agenda of someone who could be the next mayor of NYC, I would be very concerned. The Democratic Party is not blameless, but socialism is not the answer. Unions and Organized Labor have been standing up for workers and the working class for 150 years and will continue to do so without socialists co-opting our role. I’ll remind you that only a few years ago, the DSA in New York City put out a memo laying out a plan to infiltrate and take over a number of NYC unions, and Local 3 was one of them. That will never happen to our Union, and it shouldn’t happen to our city either.
On a lighter note, I’m happy to report that four Local 3 journeymen will be heading offshore this week to start the cabling for the Empire Wind project. The future is here. As the work opportunity that we have been planning for a long time starts, the IBEW will make its mark. Good luck to those brothers. We are all proud of you and we know you’re going to do a great job representing all of us.
Let’s all KEEP THE UNION STRONG, brothers and sisters.
