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A week until Mayor Eric Adams leaves office, unions representing more than 5,100 city workers have yet to agree to new collective bargaining agreements during his term. In the almost four years Adams has been in office the city has reached numerous agreements with city unions representing more than 98 percent of city employees, according to the Office of Labor Relations, including contracts that had not been renewed since the Michael Bloomberg administration.
The agreement for roughly 120 Staten Island Ferry mariners reached in September 2023 came 13 years after the city’s contract with the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association expired in the first year of Bloomberg's third term. Adams, a former NYPD police officer, also finalized an eight-year contract with the Police Benevolent Association in 2023 retroactive to 2017, a deal that had eluded former Mayor Bill de Blasio.
In the most recent agreement, the Adams administration agreed to a new five-year contract with Iron Workers Local 40 that represents several dozen bridge repairers and riveters, both the union and OLR said this week. But Adams has been unable to settle with about a half-dozen unions, likely passing the buck on those to Zohran Mamdani.
The remaining workers include FDNY EMTs, paramedics, fire protection inspectors, EMS officers and EMS chiefs; sanitation enforcement agents and associate sanitation enforcement agents; as well as deputy sheriffs, according to OLR.
OLR commissioner Renee Campion said Monday that the city doesn’t have bargaining sessions for any of the outstanding contracts between now and the end of the year, but was confident that the city will eventually reach a contract with all the remaining unions. “Bargaining has to continue until we voluntarily settle with them, or we reach an official impasse,” Campion said.
Zachary Nosanchuk, a spokesperson for Mayor Adams, said in a statement that Adams will "remain in negotiations to reach a fair agreement with them until our very last day – as we’ve done with [98.6 percent] of the City’s workforce."
Along with the few remaining agreements, Mamdani will also have to reach new agreements with influential municipal unions like District Council 37, the United Federation of Teachers and the PBA, whose contract expired over the summer.
A spokesperson for Mamdani did not respond to a request for comment.
The largest group of workers who have not reached an agreement with Adams are the EMTs, paramedics, fire protection inspectors and EMS officers who are represented by Local 2507 and Local 3621, both of which are part of DC37. More than 4,700 workers are currently covered by a contract that the city jointly bargains with these two unions which expired in June 2022.
Leadership of Local 2507 and Local 3621 have been bargaining with the city for a new contract since June 2024, but little movement has been made as union leaders insist on reaching a deal that will bring EMS workers into pay parity with FDNY firefighters.
According to Local 2507, EMT salaries start at $39,386 and increase to $59,534 after five years. In turn, firefighters start at $54,122 and increase to $105,146 after 5.5 years.
Oren Barzilay, president of Local 2507 that represents EMTs, paramedics and fire protection inspectors, said his members were “disappointed and frustrated” not to have a contract and that the city’s refusal to entertain pay parity has been “shameful.”
“We thought Adams would be the one to save EMS but it's under his watch that EMS has been in crisis and has collapsed,” Barzilay said. “We are really seeing in front of our own eyes people dying in the city because of our lack of funds.”
The most recent bargaining session with the EMS unions was held Nov. 19, Campion said. She affirmed that the city’s disagreement with the two unions centers on the unions' insistence on pay parity with firefighters. The city has proposed paying EMS workers a civilian wage pattern that is lower than the wage pattern that uniformed workers like firefighters and police officers receive in their contracts.
Around 35 FDNY EMS chiefs who bargain with the city separately from the two EMS unions are also awaiting a new contract, Campion said. She expects to begin conversations with the chiefs only after the contract with Local 2507 and Local 3621 is finalized, as has occurred in the past.
The Law Enforcement Employees Benevolent Association represents around 145 sanitation enforcement agents and around 50 associate sanitation enforcement agents who enforce the city’s cleanliness laws. LEEBA has represented the workers since 2017 but the union has yet to reach a full contract agreement for either title through traditional negotiations.
In 2023, ASEAs were awarded wages consistent with the pattern of civilian bargaining for the period between 2010 and 2020 after a panel resolved an official impasse between the city and LEEBA in the city’s favor, according to the Office of Collective Bargaining, which resolves disputes between the city and municipal unions. In February 2024, LEEBA reached a memorandum of understanding with the city that extended the SEA’s contract, that had expired in 2017, to 2021
Representatives for LEEBA did not respond to a request for comment.
The union was founded in 2005 by Kenneth Wynder who was sentenced to 40 months in prison last year for defrauding LEEBA members of hundreds of thousands of dollars between 2012 and 2020. He used the money to buy a Lexus and to fund a weekend trip to Dallas for a Giants football game, a second apartment for himself in Astoria, clothing and other items, prosecutors said.
The union’s former financial advisor, benefits administrator and insurance broker, Andrew Brown, and its former treasurer Steven Whittick, were also sentenced to prison for financial crimes. In May 2024, 138 Department of Environmental Police officers voted to break away from the troubled union and join the Environmental Police Benevolent Association.
LEEBA has not sought to schedule any bargaining sessions with the city since March, Campion said.
The smallest outstanding contract covers around 130 deputy sheriffs represented by the New York City Deputy Sheriffs Association. The city hasn’t met for bargaining with the NYCDSA since December 2024, Campion said, adding that the union hasn’t requested any new bargaining dates.
NYCDSA did not respond to a request for comment.
The union has battled with Sheriff Anthony Miranda since his office began directing raids of unlicensed cannabis stores across the city. The union has criticized Miranda’s leadership and sounded the alarm about possible corruption.
The Office of Collective Bargaining ruled earlier this year that the president of NYCDSA Ingrid Siminovic was illegally punished by Miranda when he transferred her out of her unit and onto the night shift. Before the transfer, Siminovic had battled with Miranda over changes to employee hours and the Sheriff offices’ raids on unlicensed shops.
Miranda has reportedly been under investigation by the City’s Department of Investigation which raided his office in September 2024 and took tens of thousands of dollars in cash.
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