NY-07: Claire Valdez campaign staff unionizes - the first in NY this year
Socialist Assembly Member Claire Valdez has sought to portray herself as the most pro-labor candidate in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Nydia Velázquez, launching her congressional campaign in January with an endorsement from the lefty United Auto Workers Region 9A. But many of the state’s most powerful labor unions – including 1199SEIU, 32BJ SEIU, DC 37, New York State United Teachers, New York State Nurses Association and the Hotel & Gaming Trades Council – as well as the state AFL-CIO have instead lined up behind her chief rival, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.
Now she’s got support from a new union: her own.
Valdez agreed to a collective bargaining agreement on Thursday with her own campaign staff, who are represented by the Campaign Workers Guild. Her campaign is the first in New York to settle a union contract so far this cycle, and it’s given her a chance to prove her support for organized labor. (A spokesperson for Reynoso said that his staffers have not expressed any interest in organizing but that he would support them if they did.)
“Collective bargaining is how workers secure their rights on the job, and I'm proud we reached this agreement so quickly,” Valdez said in a statement. “Campaigns run stronger when the people powering them are organized, secure, and fairly paid. This contract makes us better.”
https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2026/05/claire-valdez-campaign-staff-unionizes-first-ny-year/413595/?oref=csny-category-lander-river