Central New York’s unionized workforce has many reasons to celebrate this Labor Day, but there are also looming threats.
President of the Greater Syracuse Labor Council Mark Spadafore doesn’t sugarcoat the threats to labor.
“It's existential. You can say that," he said.
Just when labor secured successes with organizing at Syracuse University, the I-81 project, Micron, and many others, Spadafore said the federal administration is trying to take away protections.
“That's been the big challenge for labor locally, is to continue to fight for the things that we have fought for all these years while this historic investment's been made in this area," he said.
Spadafore offered some examples. First, New York State cancelled a project labor agreement for the second half of the I-81 project because the Federal Highway Administration wasn’t advancing projects with requirements to hire union workers. Then, he says federal pressure is being felt elsewhere.
“In the education side, where they're making a big move towards charter schools, which takes money away from the public schools," he said. "On the healthcare side, where the HR1 last year, those big cuts to Medicaid go into effect on January 1st of this coming year. So how is that going to play out when facilities start closing and especially in rural healthcare.”
Spadafore said healthcare will probably take the biggest hit.
“It's going to be a challenge next year," he said. "We're at a time when we're negotiating contracts on the healthcare side, but we're very cognizant of where the cuts are going to be. In the meantime, we were underfunded going into this whole crisis. You could talk to any health care worker, and they all complain about short staffing.”
He said the state will struggle to plug a nine-billion-dollar hole in its robust Medicaid program. The good news, Spadafore added, is public opinion of unions is at an all-time high, especially among younger people. He said that presents opportunities to rally support and show solidarity. That will be on full display Monday at the state fair with the annual parade at 11 a.m.
