Mamdani’s ‘Office of Worker Power’ Is as Bad as It Sounds– www.dailysignal.com

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has decided that enforcing labor law is no longer enough. City Hall now wants to get into the business of helping workers organize, too.

Earlier this month, Mamdani created the Mayor’s Office of Worker Power, which his administration describes as the first office of its kind in the country. Its mission is not merely to tell workers what the law says or where to file a complaint. City Hall says it will use its “resources and convening power” to help workers become “informed, connected, and organized.”

That sounds less like a traditional government office and more like a union organizing hub with a city seal on the door.

The concern is not that workers are organizing. They have every right to do so. The question is whether the same government helping them organize can also credibly investigate employers and enforce workplace laws involving those same disputes.

Mamdani’s executive order makes the overlap clear. The new office is supervised by the deputy mayor for economic justice. The order also directs agencies with labor-enforcement responsibilities to share information about workplace violations.

Picture a restaurant owner whose employees are in the middle of an organizing drive. One arm of City Hall is expressly charged with helping workers get “connected and organized.” Another arm of the same government may investigate that restaurant for workplace violations.