Press Release: New York City Labor Unions Come Together to Launch Election Protection Labor Coalition in “Our Voice. Our Vote. Our Democracy.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2026
New York City Labor Unions Come Together to Launch Election Protection Labor Coalition in “Our Voice. Our Vote. Our Democracy.”
New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO convenes a growing coalition of unions representing more than one million members to ensure that NYC workers’ voices are heard, every vote is counted, and that elections are protected.
In cross-union solidarity, union leaders point to the continued assault on democratic freedoms and take proactive measures to protect free and fair elections against interference from the federal government.
Union leaders stress that the future of the Labor Movement is at stake.
New York, NY – On Thursday, October 15, affiliated unions of the New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO including 32BJ SEIU, 1199SEIU, NYSNA, CWA District 1, CWA Local 1180, PSC/CUNY, DC 37 AFSCME, UAW Region 9A, LIUNA Eastern Region, APWU New York Metro Area Postal Union Local 10, AFM Local 802, IUPAT DC9, Local Union No. 3, IBEW, UFCW Local 1500, IATSE Local One, RWDSU, OPEIU Local 153, and the Hotel & Gaming Trades Council will gather in front of the Farley Post Office to announce a new election protection labor coalition to defend their members’ right to vote. In the face of the Trump administration’s attacks on democracy, labor unions take proactive measures to protect the right to vote, encourage participation in elections, and ensure that every ballot is counted. Hundreds of union members from different industries are expected to attend.
The Trump administration has already taken several actions to disrupt elections and to undermine the rights of voters. From stifling protected speech and dissent, to disenfranchising voters, to manipulating the law and defying the courts to stay in power, this administration is repeatedly and continually attacking our democracy and the rights of working people. The administration is already sowing doubt about the November midterm election results and is trying to suppress the votes of working-class voters across the country.
Given Trump’s refusal to accept the results of the 2020 election, repeated statements casting doubt on the legitimacy of U.S. elections, and efforts to restrict voting access, labor leaders are taking seriously the possibility that the President and his administration will contest or reject any unfavorable election outcomes.
The administration’s campaign attacking immigrants in New York City and across the country has also caused fear and confusion, and has discouraged many working-class New Yorkers from accessing education and healthcare and from participating in our economy and our democracy. It has broken families apart and removed long-time friends and neighbors from our communities. 40% of NYC residents are foreign born, as are countless union members. The Labor Movement stands in support of their rights as well.
Local, national, and international news outlets have reported on a range of possible actions surrounding the midterms, including deploying the National Guard to polling locations in swing districts; attempting to change voting laws to disenfranchise or de-register hundreds of thousands of voters; rejecting or refusing to certify election results deemed unfavorable; and generally sowing confusion before, during, and after Election Day. In response, labor leaders in New York are standing together in solidarity to ensure that working people are educated and prepared to protect their voice and their vote in any eventuality.
The Labor Movement is prepared for all outcomes. Collectively, labor unions have turned out thousands of workers for get out the vote (GOTV) efforts, made tens of thousands of GOTV calls, and knocked on thousands of doors. In anticipation of election sabotage, unions have hosted dozens of know-your-rights trainings, have organized hundreds of poll-watchers, and have created rapid-response networks. Taking cues from Minneapolis and other cities where the administration has unleashed terror, they are organizing an emergency worker summit to educate and train members. In the event that the administration takes unlawful or authoritarian action, labor unions are also preparing for different forms of mass mobilization, mass labor actions, and whatever it takes to protect our democracy.
From labor’s role in the Civil Rights movement and support for the Voting Rights Act to contemporary fights to oppose court rulings and legislation that restrict voting, organized labor has long played a pivotal role in defending the right of working people to participate in democracy. Recent attacks on immigrant communities and efforts to disenfranchise voters have been met by vocal opposition from organized labor across the country. In New York, labor leaders assert that it is organized labor’s role to educate voters, mobilize communities, and demand democracy.
“When you attack the right to vote, you are attacking working people plain and simple. If this administration thinks they can rewrite the rules to quiet the very workers who keep our economy running, they are sadly mistaken,” said Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). “The labor movement isn't going to let that happen. Our members use their vote to protect their livelihoods, their paychecks, their families, and their communities. We’re standing together today to make sure every worker's voice counts, because we refuse to let anyone silence working people.”
“Our vote is our power, and we’re going to use it to protect our communities, defend our democracy and build a thriving future for all,” said Yvonne Armstrong, President of 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East. “We know what’s at stake because we feel the impact of elections every day. Higher prices wiping out the raises we bargain hard for. Devastating Medicaid cuts stripping communities of affordable, accessible care. Hardworking immigrants living in fear. Right-wing extremists know the power of the vote, especially when working people and people of color use it. That’s why, generation after generation, they’ve thrown up roadblocks to keep us from the polls, tried to intimidate us once we got there, and cried foul when we’ve won. But the labor movement has marched too far and sacrificed too much to be turned around. We will organize, we will vote, and we will win.”
“The Trump administration has terrorized our immigrant students, colleagues and neighbors. They've suppressed faculty research and the right to free speech and are blatantly attempting to undermine the legitimacy of the midterm elections,” said James Davis, President, Professional Staff Congress/CUNY. “PSC members are proud to stand with New York's labor movement as we throw down a marker to say clearly that we will fight back when authoritarians try to silence our voice, our vote and our democracy.”
“Since the birth of the American labor movement, unions and working-class people have stood up for democratic values within our organizations and federal, state, and local governments. To this day, it remains up to us to protect the right to vote and to exercise this inalienable right whenever and wherever there is an election,” said Business Manager Christopher Erikson Jr. of Local Union No. 3, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. “In the upcoming midterms, everything is at stake. We know this, as does the current President. That is why his administration and the Republican majority in Congress are trying to disrupt the voter registration process, threaten the deployment of armed forces to polling locations, and sow doubts about election results if they don't go their way. The members of Local Union No. 3, IBEW and our sisters and brothers in the labor movement will not allow that to happen without a fight. Our members know their rights and will proudly vote over the next three weeks alongside millions of union sisters and brothers across our city and country, standing ready and willing to defend against any infringement or overreach from the Republican Party and the Trump Administration.”
“The democratic backsliding and repeated attacks on voting in our country should be a concern to all labor unions,” said Nick Galipeau, Secretary-Treasurer of OPEIU Local 153. “At Local 153, we want to encourage all members, who can, to exercise their right to vote at the ballot box this November 3rd. We will not be intimidated, it is still safe to vote and we need union members across the country turning out to make their voices heard.”
“Fairness, common sense, and dignity for working people are values that have always carried the labor movement forward. Today we make it clear to the Trump administration that we will not accept attempts to tamper with the election or prevent our neighbors from having their votes counted,” said Henry A. Garrido, Executive Director of District Council 37 AFSCME. “This is what democracy looks like: standing together against the threat of interference, standing up for disenfranchised voters, and standing in solidarity with those whose rights and freedoms are under attack. New York City is a union town, and working people will not back down– we will fight back.”
“Working people have an enormous stake in our democracy because every day elected officials make decisions that affect the ability of workers to earn a living,” said New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO President Brendan Griffith. “Every election, the NYC CLC and our affiliated unions work to make sure that union members have the information they need to make an informed decision when they get to the polls. This coalition gives participating unions another way to work together, share resources, and help ensure that every legitimate voter, in any political party, can participate without interference. Every eligible voter deserves to have their voice heard and their vote counted. These are principles that should unite us all, and the CLC is proud to support these efforts.”
“The voting rights that 1960s-era civil rights activists fought and died for are under attack like never before,” said NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN. “The Trump administration has targeted our immigrant communities and communities of color--first to deny them healthcare and now to disenfranchise them. NYSNA nurses are united to protect our patients, unions and communities. We are proud to join the civil rights and labor movements once again to defend our voice, our vote and our democracy.”
“An individual’s right to vote and have their vote counted is the foundation of our democracy,” said Mike Hellstrom, LIUNA Vice President, Eastern Region Manager. “We view any threat to manipulate the outcome of our elections as a direct threat to every trade unionist. Our cross-union, cross-sector solidarity unites hundreds of thousands of members as we say, with one voice, that we will fight any efforts to silence the voices of our members and alter the results of the Midterms.”
“The labor movement was foundational to the building of our democracy as we know it. Therefore, democracy is essential to the sustained future of both the labor movement and our country,” said Brandon Mancilla, UAW Region 9A Director. “As our values, rights, and democracy are put to the test, we are proud to stand up with our siblings and fight for our future together. We will not back down.”
“Today, New York City’s labor movement is sending a strong message that we will not let anyone get in the way of our members’ voices being heard,” said Rich Maroko, President, Hotel and Gaming Trades Council. “We will mobilize every resource at our disposal to prevent the disenfranchisement of the working class. The Hotel and Gaming Trades Council is proud to stand with our union brothers and sisters at this critical moment to protect democracy.”
“Over the last year we have seen repeated attacks on voting rights with a particular focus on weakening the voice of working people,” said 32BJ SEIU President Manny Pastreich. “As a union of immigrants and people of color, we are disgusted by this administration’s attempts to weaken our votes. Whether election tampering happens in NY, Florida, Texas or anywhere – it impacts us all. Any attempt to undermine our elections jeopardizes our democracy and the basic principles of this country. The New York City labor movement, stationed in an economic epicenter, has an important role to play in standing up to any tampering and making sure the voices of working people are heard.”
“The musicians of greater New York City stand firm with all workers for free and fair elections. We will not submit to intimidation, abuse and the slow drip of disenfranchisement,” said Dan Point, President of the NYC musicians’ union (AFM Local 802). “Our country was founded in the spirit of democracy 250 years ago, and we need to stand up for our values now more than ever. We will not back down in our demands that everyone must be allowed to vote freely and that every single vote must be fairly counted.”
“This country rests on a simple idea: that government is by the people and for the people,” said Dennis G. Trainor, CWA District 1. “While this administration continues to stifle dissent and rewrite the rules to threaten our members' ability to vote, the labor movement in New York City is ready to fight back. Our vote is how we make healthcare more affordable, defend the strong contracts we've won, and take back power from an Administration and his billionaire friends who attack working people at every turn. We're here today to stand up and protect our vote, because when we organize, we win. When we vote, we win. When we stand together, we win.”
“Perhaps at no time in our nation’s history have we seen so much bedlam and mistrust sowed by our own government and its interpretation of the very core values that we all expect as United States citizens,” said Michael “Wex” Wekselblatt, President, Local One, I.A.T.S.E. “One of those core values is the right and honor to vote and expect reasonable safeguards for those exercising their right to do so in a fair and reasonable manner according to the Constitution of the United States. It is for these reasons that this coalition of Labor Unions have come together to help ensure that voters, who are exercising their rights will in fact be heard no matter which party or who they are voting for.”
Organized labor is in solidarity with all people who have a right to participate in our democracy. Together, these unions represent over one million working people across New York, including building service workers, healthcare workers, nurses, communications workers, entertainment and hospitality workers, legal services and cultural workers, retail workers, public sector workers, non-profit workers, university faculty and staff, construction trades workers, and more.
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