UAW Says It's Our Time to D.R.E.A.M.: Don’t Rank Eric (Adams) or Andrew (Cuomo) for Mayor
In December, New York City UAW members made a splash by endorsing Brad Lander, Jessica Ramos, and Zohran Mamdani for Mayor—along with explicit instructions to our fellow union members not to rank incumbent Mayor Eric Adams.
But now, with Andrew Cuomo poised to enter the mayoral race, we’re updating our endorsement. We are telling our membership to leave both Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo unranked and off our ballots.
Our very early endorsement served two purposes: to highlight to other unions and progressive organizations that we need a popular front to defeat Eric Adams, as well as to signify to our members we must embrace ranked choice voting and support real champions of the working class. Now with Cuomo entering the race as the new front runner, we need the popular front more than ever.
Zohran Mamdani, Brad Lander, and Jessica Ramos are the candidates New Yorkers should rank at the top of their ballot for a better city. These candidates have inspired working people to dream for more. Eric Adams and Andrew Cuomo don’t deserve the ink it would take to rank them. That’s why UAW members are united behind our D.R.E.A.M., which stands for Don’t Rank Eric or Andrew for Mayor.
In New York, UAW members work in auto dealerships, bookstores, museums, movie theaters, manufacturing, nonprofits, colleges and universities, courts, and more. Our members have felt the squeeze of the Adams administration’s cuts to libraries, early childhood education like 3K, and social services. We feel it in our pocketbooks too, with rents ever increasing. Our members cannot accept more of the status quo.
Our members take on bad bosses every day. Why would we elect one in Andrew Cuomo who settled with the federal government acknowledging he “subjected at least 13 female employees of New York state to a sexually hostile work environment?” He is the antithesis of union values that ensure working people can thrive free from discrimination and abuse.
Andrew Cuomo is a known deceiver and manipulator who had to resign the governorship in disgrace. He covered up nursing home deaths during COVID to make himself look better, at the same time he was sexually harassing the women on his staff. New Yorkers are the ones who continue to pay the price, to the tune of over $28 million in taxpayer money to pay the legal fees for his misconduct.
As UAW members, we know Cuomo’s pettiness and vindictiveness firsthand. In September 2019, UAW members at General Motors in Rochester, Lockport, and Tonawanda went on strike for six weeks. Earlier that year, we helped pass a bill to provide unemployment benefits to workers starting two weeks into a strike. As Governor, Cuomo refused to sign the bill, single-handedly denying 3,400 autoworkers unemployment insurance while they put their livelihoods on the line against corporate greed. It came as no surprise to us that while every other major politician in the state chose to stand with us on the picket line, Cuomo never showed up.
Cuomo isn’t running on a pro-worker vision for our city. Instead of addressing working class needs, he’s running to empower himself. He has spent the past months silent as our city has plunged further into duress as President Trump holds Eric Adams hostage. Rather than taking on corporate greed,or standing up for working New Yorkers of all backgrounds and immigration status, he will target his political rivals who unsurprisingly don’t usually run multinational companies. Hardworking New Yorkers deserve better. We need a Mayor who isn’t going to waste the next four years stalling policies fighting personal boogeymen. We deserve real change. To stop Andrew Cuomo from becoming Mayor, we need a strong coalition.
Luckily for us, we have three champions running for Mayor. Jessica Ramos is who we go to in order to pass legislation that helps working people. She embodies union values and fights for the working class because she is working class. Zohran Mamdani is a movement builder energizing new generations into action. And there is no UAW picket line in NYC without Brad Lander, who stands with us without fail. He knows the city, how it works, and how to help working people. The three of them together are the UAW‘s top three candidates fighting for all working New Yorkers.
Our members have called for a city that is affordable, safe, and welcoming to all people. In 2025, we’re more united than ever. Our city can and must do better. Working class New Yorkers deserve more. As our UAW President Shawn Fain says, “Workers have realized they’ve been getting screwed for decades, and they’re fed up.” Now is the time for working New Yorkers to stand up, reject Andrew Cuomo and Eric Adams, and fight for our future with our slate of Brad Lander, Jessica Ramos, and Zohran Mamdani.
Brandon Mancilla is Director of UAW Region 9A and Jane Fox is a member of UAW 2325 and chair of UAW Region 9A NYC Area Political Council.
In the News:
City & State NY: DREAM: A new motto for anti-Adams, anti-Cuomo voters (Feb. 28)