New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has marched with striking nurses and Starbucks baristas — but he won't be joining Long Island Rail Road workers on the picket line.
Mamdani told reporters Monday he would not visit the picket line, but remains “hopeful that both sides will be able to reach a fair deal for the workers that ensure that this commuter rail system actually runs.”
The decision means the mayor, who typically aligns himself with labor, will remain on the sidelines while some of his usual allies join the fight.
State Assemblymember Claire Valdez, who’s running for Congress with Mamdani’s endorsement, marched alongside LIRR workers outside Penn Station Monday morning.
“We have the resources in New York State to make these workers whole and to make sure they have the wages and the dignity that they deserve,” Valdez said in an interview. Asked why Mamdani was not picketing alongside her, Valdez said she couldn’t say.
“I’m here to support the workers,” she said.
Both Mamdani and Valdez are members of the Democratic Socialists of America. The DSA’s Long Island chapter is standing with the union, writing on Instagram that the workers deserve fair pay, “not blame for budget issues.”
Some political observers said the distance between Mamdani and his comrades on the left wasn’t surprising.
“ He's the mayor, she's not,” said Joshua Freeman, a professor of history at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies.
Freeman said there’s a key difference between Mamdani’s support for private sector unions and public sector unions like the rail workers.
Mamdani marched with striking Starbucks baristas in December and New York State Nurses Association nurses in January.
But openly supporting the railroad strike now could erode Mamdani’s leverage in future negotiations with the city’s teachers, police officers or other municipal unions.
“ He's not exactly the employer, but he's sort of adjacent to that,” Freeman said.
Freeman noted Mamdani still needs to secure billions of dollars in funding for the city in the ongoing state budget process and doesn’t want to antagonize Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Hochul has said meeting the union’s contract demands could translate to an 8% fare hike.
“ The governor has stuck her neck out in a strong position, saying that what the unions are asking for is something that can't be done,” Freeman said.
Mamdani, he said, “may not want to pick a fight with the governor on this particular issue.”
Nicole Gelinas, a senior fellow at the conservative think tank Manhattan Institute, said there’s another key distinction between service worker unions and the public safety and transit unions.
“ These are not his people,” Gelinas said. “These are more Republican-leaning union members.”
Gelinas pointed to the fact that Hochul’s Republican challenger, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, is firmly on the side of the union.
“These are unions where the members live out on Long Island,” she said. “This is Trump territory.”
Freeman said he didn’t think Mamdani would pay a political price for declining to support the strikers.
“ I suspect most of his allies are sophisticated enough to understand the position he's in and the pressures he has to deal with in taking a public stance on this,” he said.
Ramsey Khalifeh contributed reporting.
