Mayor Establishes Office of Worker Power
To Support NYC Labor Organizing Efforts
NEW YORK—On Labor Day, New York City Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani signed an Executive Order establishing the Mayor’s Office of Worker Power (MOWP), the first office of its kind in the nation, to use the resources and convening power of City Hall to help workers get informed, connected and organized.
MOWP will work across City Hall and city agencies on outreach, education, policy, research and strategic partnerships focused on workers who lack meaningful benefits, adequate wages and a voice on the job. The office will be led by its inaugural Executive Director Tony Perlstein—a former longshoreman and UAW organizing director.
Mr. Perlstein brings decades of experience as a union and community organizer and a lifelong commitment to working people, community empowerment and public service. Born in the Bronx and raised in Brooklyn, he most recently served as a director in the organizing department of the United Auto Workers (UAW), having previously served as the union’s national co-director of education.
As a former longshore worker in the port of New York and New Jersey, Perlstein was elected Secretary-Treasurer of his local union and helped lead a successful national effort to raise wages and ensure new technology did not undermine workers’ standard of living. Before becoming a longshoreman, he organized New York City restaurant, warehouse, lumberyard and other industrial workers to advocate for better working conditions.
The new MOWP will: convene rank-and-file workers, union leaders, worker centers, immigrant workers, gig workers and platform workers; hold public hearings on significant worker issues; provide referrals to organizations that support workers; coordinate with city agencies to produce research on pressing issues facing workers and develop policy proposals informed by workers’ experiences. It will also engage workers on emerging challenges, including new technologies, worker misclassification, immigration-based exploitation and climate risks to worker safety and connect workers with information about their rights at everyday touchpoints, including workforce centers, libraries, IDNYC offices, schools and community events.
Published: September 9, 2026.