financial officer making sure new york is on solid financial ground new york city is a major part of our state economy so i keep a close eye on what's happening in the five boroughs today i'll be discussing the role of labor in the city's economy and the recently concluded twenty eight hundred state legislative session my first guest vincent alvarez began his career fighting for workers rights with the international brotherhood of electrical workers local three in flushing queens today he is president of the new york city's central labor council then it's great to see you thanks for being on the show it's great to be appreciate having me on board and on your show today the labor is in the news a lot these days and you know it from the ground up working in local three in working through the chairs of central labor council in the forefront of what's happening with organized labor here in new york city first for our viewers who may not be fully aware tell us what the central labor council is and what the role is well essentially for councils and affiliated body of the national f l c i a o who has over four hundred organizations like ours throughout the nation with the largest regional labor federation in the country we represent over a million workers about one point two one point three million workers they come from about three hundred different unions public sector unions private sector unions construction trade unions and we work with them on advocacy in advancing workers rights not only for them before all working people throughout the city it's a great job i'm privileged to to have it for the past seven years and i work with a great bunch of people must not always be easy seemed to be the focal point of providing a united front and many would argue today labor's under attack across the country so a lot is on your shoulders how how do you build that sense of solidarity among your private sector unions big unions small unions got some your colleagues have strong personalities too i might add they're all friends i know them well but that's that's that's a lot for you to manage well they all they all have an interest in making sure that that their work is that they represent in their respective industries that  their economic wellbeing is improved that they have opportunity that they mind that other as have if they didn't have the benefits of being represented collectively in the workplace you're right there is an attack on labor this is an attack that's been taken place really now for the better part of three plus decades it's a coordinated attack it's a well financed attack attack it taking place throughout the country region to region in every sector it's targeted right now certainly on the public sector unions but a lot of unions private sector union members as well have been targeted throughout the country but what's really i think a problem is is that we see ultimately that it's hurting all working people that even though this attack as directed at some of the really the most anti worker corporate backed well financed people throughout this country that even though we see the attack that they see this attack directed at working at unionized workers it's affecting all working people because we've lifted traditionally over the years we've lifted the four for working people in this country and it bears cases and really what you have to do is if you look at the statistics and you look at this thirty or forty year time period you see so much you see where work is voices limited where the attacks have have really  taken hold and somebody states throughout the country we see the effects of it so right to work states you see low wages you know you see union workers are making eleven thousand dollars more than their nonunion counterparts that roughly thirteen percent that's real money that's real  that makes a real difference for families for working class families throughout this country and you know what's different to today i think that that we haven't seen since fifteen or so years in this country support for you sixty one percent of working people today said they support that they support unions that they view them favorably and that's because they just want to restore some balance in the workplace i think you know i think some of that was evidenced by the vote last year on the constitutional convention in new york state and labor was very concerned about some of the protections pension otherwise the might have affected and all the polling showed that it was going to pass and it was really labor that the lead the argument to point out not just on labor issues but environment education so many other issues that were important could be altered in a very negative way and of the vote in there being over eighty percent negative vote and i really do credit labor for galvanizing the attention on that issue so i think it does show that people in new york  continues we have a higher percentage of you know his workforce of any state limitation and despite those threats so i do think that there is an advantage and credit to union leaders like yourself who do the right thing are responsible to the larger community not just from constituency that what we've seen other previously labor friendly states go in the wrong direction midwest particularly i don't think that's going to happen here in new york where you think well i don't think so either and i and it's not in anybody's it's not in anybody's interest that that happens in those right to work states that you've mentioned if you look at poverty rates we talked about it can we talk about the ability for working people to raise to have are a likelihood they going to that they're going to have higher wages in the union in having  and a non right to work states but if you look at right to work states to when you look at poverty rates and this is something that you and i have talked about and making sure that we have economic growth which is going to sustain the priorities and be able to to allow states and cities to have their priorities fully funded in their municipal budgets so if you look at poverty rates in right to work states there's a there are substantially higher than fifteen point three percent versus twelve point eight percent in the non right to work states so there's a lot of statistical evidence that we can look at that have a voice work is in the workplace and workers can come together collectively to exercise that right that not only do they do better but the communities in which they live do better all working people do better so we're going to continue to fight for that yes you mentioned the janice decision that's been very hot in the news and affects the public sector unions supreme court decision that basically said the so called agency fee requirement that nonmembers who get benefits representation without being members that they have to pay a certain fee now that's  changed because of the court decision a five four decision probably not unanticipated given the current makeup of the court what do you see is the response i do is a gloom and doom is this the end of public sector unions strength of a voice or just mention them in the benefits what it really means that i mean this is real this is a real financial difference in for the not only for them but for their families when they have a voice in the workplace so we know so they know what that means and they going to continue to support the unions  here in new york city and here throughout our state is as well we have about twenty five percent working in this city are unionized one of four work is we have a history of support for the trade union movement in this city because we know what it means to the to the economic well being of the city and for work is and we also have elected officials like yourself and other elected officials throughout the state the governor the mayor here have been helpful and legislators have been helpful at doing what they can to help lift up and support the labor because they know that it benefits every worker so we can we will we will continue to do the outreach and the connection that we have to members to make sure that we're talking to them about the value of being of having their voice at work and being in a union because there are other folks out there that are in their ear unfortunately and we've talked about they're very well financed and they are out there and they're trying to tell a different story well it also will and i think of you we've seen it before the decision was rendered it requires the unions to do  a more effective job of communicating what are the strengths of being in the union and how important is to support the union and you know my view is where it's at right now fact the unions have been prepared for this and have been laying the groundwork to remind their members how important is to continue to support the union for all the reasons that you've you know so eloquently stated so i mean my view is that those that have view this as the you know the end of public sector union strength if they are somewhat celebrating a little too soon that's not really what is going to be the reaction in fact some would argue that this will in the long run strengthen the unions because then in fact they will it will require a closer relationship between the members and the leadership and it doesn't prevent us from doing the things that hopefully we've all done in the past and will continue to do  make sure that we're talking to our members not even just about wages but about safety in the workplace about protections if they're injured on the job at retirement security which we both talked about all the time and so there's a lot of issues that we will continue to communicate with our members about  for new york state which took little time so much of the state's economy is driven by what happens here in the city and the city's economy has been strong we hope it continues you know the question is the health law that will continue every recovery has a slowdown and a certain point and you mentioned a higher percentage of the workforce that is unionized here in the city part of the strength of the city those are the economy is different than it was you know twenty thirty years ago when someone diversified economy you know you're seeing a lot of small business in the tech center growing i don't know if that's an area where you have many you know you did represented jobs on the other hand we see the strength of construction we see that health care consistently grows in terms of employment the social service area hospitality you know hotels  in that sector the many of these are very high all unionized sectors where do you see the changes in the states in the city's economy impacting on how labor organizes members how the unions  are managing navigate through a changing economic landscape well certainly our economy has changed in diversified i think it's a good thing it's diversified a lot over the past decade or so here in new york city and that's that is beneficial for for all of us here in the city not only for the workers  the work and that is something that even though that those were that is a new reality of the economy so while our economy is changing the nature of work is changing as well and but there are still facing the same issues in the workplace and outside of the workplace that are going to require us to work with them to somehow collectively all of us make sure we come together in industries like you mentioned tech that maybe weren't traditionally organized and say hey how do you have a how do you have very simply a voice in the workplace to talk about your economic well being to talk about issues that you're facing in their various industries because each and every worker in these different industries are facing issues that there is no question about it if they go in and have a conversation with the employer they have a conversation with their bosses individually on the rhone they may or may not be successful but they going to have a much higher degree of success when they go in and they talk about these issues collectively you know reform we started our discussion before can we were talking about some of the changing face of the labor movement in terms of generational changes in fact when you became head of sales so that was a generational change and your counterpart at the state level mariel celeb so what are you seeing as we move forward with a more diverse community generally a younger generation coming forward certainly we know new york continues to be thankfully the place where immigrants feel very welcome and that certainly changes the face of the workforce as well what will labor new york city look like ten years from now with the trends that you're starting to see today will certainly a lot of i think the trends are going to continue that we see high levels of minorities live in new york city are also working in new york city the there is a huge gap with the different generations now of children and there is a big gap certainly between the different between the gen x is between the millennium goals and between the baby boomer gap and and how they view the world and how they view the workplace and how they view work and so our goal is going to to continue to make sure that we're bridging the gap between all of those all of those different generations of work is as well as a different industries in which they work and see if we can what we can do to help them out and to make their lives improve their lives just a little bit more and with your leadership next guest is going to be senator brad hoyle but thanks for watching represent n y c the manhattan neighborhood network we will be right back everything and our studio is right in your district here it is indeed right in the heart of hell's kitchen upper west side a great neighborhood that really reflects i think the diversity of my district which extends from the east side of manhattan to election to the state senate you certainly have been immersed in so many of the community issues ahead of the community board involved so many nonprofits work partnership for new york city a very important leadership role you brought your knowledge of concern for the community you i saw that but you really have emerged as one of the key leaders just wrapped up the session you had a number of priorities some successes but a lot of disappointments you know in terms of going around your district now you've been home what are you hearing and what do you say to your constituents about the unfinished agenda and what your priorities will be as we go through the rest of the year and head into next year session well something that you know i've encountered getting on the subway which i ride almost every day when i'm not writing a city bike s i'm usually like you know so pleased that they would recognize me and then they say without missing a beat fix the subway you know and so there's this real crisis in our mass transit that i believe most new yorkers feel correctly hasn't been addressed it was an address in our last session you know there's a plan put forward but we need to fund it and we need to figure out how to do that the leadership at the m t a seems to figure it out in this one some changes there you know what the what the plan is but the the issue is how to pay for it and that's where you know this back and forth between the you know the city and the state and i guess to be more specific and really go around the mayor of that continues to create an inability to resolve it that is going to be an issue for the city and you know and you know i live on long island it's an issue terms a lot of metro north and when we talk about the economic strength for new york city which is key to the economic health of new york state if we don't have a quality public transit system we're going to fall backward and there was a lot of concern about going back to the battle days the one nine hundred seventy s when there was so much the glare so i think the focus is there that's probably a better situation than it was two or three years ago  and a recognition of the problem but but certainly more work to do and i know you'll continue to try to build coalition with suburban and urban members to deal with this issue there were some other issues that you were very very involvement with the child victims i kind of was a big issue for you women's reproductive health and certainly a lot of the changes on the u s supreme court we can talk about that as well if you go back for a special session what do you want to see get done well certainly with in washington and  new supreme court nominee who has made it clear he opposes a woman's right to choose and a decision that he wrote for the d c circuit we need to make certain that new yorkers new york women are protected and as you know very well we do not have the standard of roe v wade and our statutes here in the state and we have to fix that through passing the reproductive health act the problem has been this for the republicans and their unwillingness to bring any bill involving women's health to the floor for a vote so i think a special session would be useful if only new yorkers who may have been those senators as the representative would know where they stand because i think till now they've been able to you know bob and weave around the issue of reproductive health saying things like we don't need a bill we don't need a law in new york because it's constitutionally mandated well now the time has come to put that to the test so a special session in connection with that would be very very useful i think for voters think to your point many new yorkers may not realize or don't remember they may be too young to remember new york's laws on abortion predated roe v wade and then when roe v wade came in that became the standard and everybody said that is the standard but so few years ago when this bill was first proposed some people said exactly as you point out we don't need it but who would have thought were in the situation and i know you pay close attention to what's happening with the supreme court you're the ranking member on the judiciary committee i'm among you many other important to many assignments it is a i guess a stark reminder that as much as we feel we control our own state and your work as a legislator we are very much at the mercy of what's going to be coming out of washington the chord changes you know when our reports on risk to the state budget by extension the city budget and while we try to just point out to people need to know the trump agenda in terms of cutbacks on health care and education and housing and however you feel philosophically about some of those issues it will be a real financial hit on the city and the state at a time when we've been in relatively good shape so people say to me so you know what are you worried about the economy you always worry about economic cycles but what could hit us from washington is  problem because we have so many adult survivors of child sexual abuse in the state of new york and they currently do not have the opportunity to bring very abusers to justice to confront them to seek civil redress in courts because of our outdated and really punitive statue of limitations for child sexual abuse if you're a young person and you've been abused as an adult you have only until the age of twenty three years to file a criminal or civil claim against them so once that time has passed you have no redress whatsoever and what that means tom is that not only is your life damaged and not only do you have that pain and suffering for the rest of your adulthood and the inability to to bring closure to that issue but that predator who abused you is off scot free and we've seen time and time again in new york that these predators who have people and abuse them take advantage of this loophole in continue to abuse children in institutional settings whether it be schools or your shiva's or or churches and we really have to put a stop to that new york's dutchy limitations is the most punitive in the nation so we really are protecting the predators by virtue of this law and we need to turn turn that around and you know i'm really disappointed that once again the republicans would not bring that bill to the fore for a vote they actually broke their own rules and would not allow a hearing on it in the judiciary committee which as you know on the ranking member and they continue to basically stall once again though i think the voters are going to have something to say about it in november of november speed cameras that's in the papers every day is that as that likely if there is a special session to be on the agenda for sure well i think there's a lot of impetus to do that because the current law expires at the end of the month and it's just beyond me that we couldn't come to some resolution on something as lifesaving as speed cameras in front of our schools the data from the partner transportation shows that they have been effective in reducing speed in lowering the number of crashes i have a daughter who goes to public school there was a crash outside of her school just about a year and a half ago where someone was injured there is no speed camera there the artificial number that has been set for speed cameras should be raised i think it should be the cap should be lifted and in its entirety what what or what are people afraid of getting tickets for god's sake this these are children's lives and it is interesting that we did manage though to renew the law that allows ticket scalping in the state of new york after much debate and hullabaloo and a lot of lobbyist efforts but you know we couldn't come together and renew the law to extend the use of speed cameras outside of school so it really is a telling statement about where the priorities are in the state senate q issues very important to all new yorkers transgender community that's been one area where new york needs to do more with what your sense about how well or not so well we are dealing with a lot of that community i really appreciate your work on examining our hate crime statute in particular as it relates to transgender people so thank you for that you know transgender people sense trumps election the truth is they are the most targeted population in the country when it comes to hate crimes more than any other group whether they be religious or ethnic minorities so here in the state of new york we still do not have what i would regard as a transgender human rights law transgender folks are not protected by the hate crime statute in any part of the state of new york not to mention the fact that while the governor has taken steps to prevent discrimination from you know health care institutions or education institutions those are just executive orders and have not been put into statute so we need to pass the gender expression nondiscrimination act it's long overdue tr leadership of understeer cousins who is a real conciliator she's someone who doesn't hold grudges in looks to the future i think that's the kind of leader we need in the senate and i don't think it's a coincidence that that a woman is the type of person to get that kind of job done she's a great collaborator with her membership and even the republicans so i'm looking forward to her continued management of what by most accounts is a pretty difficult situation when it comes to the number of factions that we've had in the states and many of us thought the city the state the nation was moving in a certain positive direction and i sense a fair amount of concern and despair out there and someone like you gives me hope and gives all your constituents inspiration so some of the oil my keep doing what you're doing thank you thank you mr controller and keep doing what you're doing we're so appreciative of everything that you're providing not just my colleagues in the senate and the assembly but every taxpayer in the state of new york thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule get back to those great constituents here in manhattan and when you see settlement portman on the street say hello senator and tell them what your priorities are and brad hallman will address them it's been a real pleasure talking with you thank you senator i also want to thank you york city central labor council president many alvarez for sharing his thoughts with me today i hope our conversations have provided some helpful insight and perspective to some of the issues that are shaping new york city and new york state controller