(NEW YORK CITY) - New York City remains one of the most heavily Unionized places in the country, but the steady decline of Private-Sector Labor Organizing presents a formidable challenge for Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Pro-Labor bona fides, according to a new report by Sociologists Ruth Milkman and Joseph van der Naald. About 20.5% of Workers living in the five Boroughs were Union Members in 2025-26, more than twice the national rate of 10%, according to their report, titled The State of the Unions 2026. New York State’s Unionization Rate was 20.9%, second only to Hawaii - but the City’s Union strength is concentrated in the Public Sector, where 65.1% of Workers were Unionized, compared with 14.3% in the Private Sector. Nationally, Public-Sector Union Density was 32.7%, compared with 6% in the Private Sector. Milkman, a Professor of Sociology at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center, said the early months of the Mamdani administration represent a significant change in the City’s political environment for Organized Labor - but not necessarily a reversal of the forces that have weakened Unions for decades. Federal Labor Law, Employer Resistance and New York State’s control over Medicaid funding and other resources remain outside the Mayor’s control. Despite these limits, Milkman said in an interview, that Mamdani's posture is a "definite shift in the right direction, what we’ve seen so far.”

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