The bill was one of four pieces of legislation signed by Hochul aimed at improving workplace safety and tackling wage inequity. The new law will increase wage rates for building service workers from $15/hour to $26.45/hour or more––the rate that SEIU 32BJ union members currently receive––along with healthcare benefits.

“You are the ones who make this city happen,” said Hochul. “We’re gonna let people know that the most unionized state in America is proud of that. We’re going to increase our ranks and increase the influence of labor unions under my watch.”

A group of around 25 union members, all clad in purple t-shirts with the union logo, stood around Hochul as she spoke. Cheers swept the group, flags with the union symbol were waved with excitement, and signs declaring “Victory for co-op and condo workers” were held overhead.

A 32BJ Union Member holds a sign with the union logo at an event highlighting the passing of prevailing wage legislation in Columbus Circle on Friday, Sept. 17, 2021. Photo by Annie Jonas

This is Hochul’s first piece of legislation signed into law since taking office replacing former Governor Andrew Cuomo and becoming the first female governor in the state’s history.

But despite the fanfare, many of the workers were just grateful for the wages the law brings.

Edil Martes, a Brooklyn resident, has worked as a porter at a Manhattan condominium for the past eight years. He said he loves his job but as the only porter in the building he is “constantly overworked and overwhelmed and making just above minimum wage.”

Martes has faced many challenges in the past year and recent months. His mother died of COVID-19 complications and although he was able to afford her cremation, he cannot afford to bury her. His basement apartment was flooded by Hurricane Ida and he has had to relocate to his partner’s family’s house while he figures out his next steps.

“These are the challenges when you’re living paycheck to paycheck and can’t save for a financial emergency,” said Martes. “I’m happy to know that New York state legislators passed a bill that requires our employers to pay the prevailing wages to support us…[and] to put an end to this injustice.”

Renzo Ramirez, a Brooklyn resident who has been a 32BJ member for two years, said workers doing the same jobs as their unionized counterparts “are barely making minimum wage,” but with the passing of the prevailing wages bill, they can finally “g[e]t paid what they deserve.”

“Workers have a real voice in the union,” he said, “and the more we grow, the stronger we are when we have to stand up to our employers for disrespecting us.” 

The law specifically applies to workers in buildings that receive Cooperative and Condominium Tax Abatements, according to a press release from SEIU 32BJ.

Lieutenant Governor of New York Brian Benjamin speaks to 32BJ union members about the recent passing of legislation that provides prevailing wages to condo and co-op building service workers, in Columbus Circle. Photo by Annie Jonas

“If the state gives tax abatements to luxury co-ops and condos, the least we should expect is that there are prevailing wages and benefits for those who work in those buildings to keep everybody safe. That is the kind of New York state that I want to be a part of,” said Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin.

Benjamin served as senate sponsor to the bill when planning began two years ago and worked alongside New York Assemblywoman Carmen de la Rosa to see the bill’s passage.

Benjamin’s father is a retired member of 32BJ and worked as a building service worker in Manhattan. Benjamin said unions had a profound effect on his family and success.

Hochul signed the bills in the neighborhood of her immigrant grandparents in Buffalo, N.Y., both of whom were members of unions.

“I will never forget what labor unions did for my family, lifting them out of extreme poverty and living in trailer parks,” Hochul said. “And like so many others who come to this country in search of a better life, the labor union movement helped elevate all of us in the entire family for generations. I’ll never forget what that did for me personally.”

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A debate over life and death is being waged in New York.

As of 2018, New York has been considered one of the top battleground states for the medical aid in dying debate, centering around the legalization of prescriptions for lethal drugs for patients at the end of their lives. In the two hearings held on the issue this year, many who testified shed tears while telling emotional tales of the end of a loved one’s life.

The New York State Assembly and New York State Senate introduced identical Medical Aid in Dying bills, but neither progressed to a vote. Following the midterm elections, supporters have higher hopes for 2019, but the fight for legislation continues to be slow-moving due to deep divisions within several key groups.

“I would say that there are obviously people on both sides of the issue with every segment of society,” said Diane Coleman, disabilities rights activist and founder of Not Dead Yet, an anti-medical aid in dying organization.

Current legislation under consideration in New York, called the Medical Aid in Dying Act, mirrors legislation in Oregon and other states where the practice is legal. Medical aid in dying prescriptions are only available to terminally ill patients with a six-month prognosis, who must complete two oral and written requests in addition to being approved by two doctors. They must be residents in the state and both mentally competent of making the decision and physically able to self-administer the medication.

According to a poll conducted by Quinnipiac University, 63 percent of New Yorkers support Medical Aid in Dying. At hearings for the New York bills in 2018, advocates and opponents alike testified with emotional, moving personal stories.

One of these stories was that of Amanda Cavanaugh and her partner of five years, New York State correctional officer Chrissy Connery. After being diagnosed only a year after meeting Cavanaugh, 26-year-old Connery fought for three years against her cancer, exhausting every option available to her.

“I took a special interest in [this issue] because my partner Chrissy was coming to the end of her journey with stage four adenocarcinoma cancer,” said Cavanaugh, who is also the  campaign organizer for Compassion & Choices in New York and New Jersey.

Connery and Cavanaugh’s tale is one that too many families have also lived. Around 111,000 New Yorkers each year are diagnosed with cancer, with more than 35,000 not surviving. In fact, some opponents of Medical Aid in Dying legislation have heart-wrenching stories just like Cavanaugh’s, despite ending up with opposite perspectives.

This is the case for Lynda Holler of Brewster, NY. Eight months after marrying in New York City, she and her husband Kenneth Holler received devastating news: he was diagnosed with oral cancer at 39 years old.

Over the next 21 years until he passed, the Hollers had two sons together and learned to adjust to a “new normal.” Kenneth Holler battled through 11 surgeries and eventually lost his ability to speak and eat, but despite the pain he refused to let the cancer dominate his life. He remained an involved father to his two sons, cheering them on at every game, and never once wishing for medical aid in dying.

Their journey was what inspired Lynda Holler to become a passionate opponent of such legislation in the state.

“He made such an enormous impact on people and people are living their lives better because they saw how Kenny lived,” said Lynda Holler. “So, I really realized I needed to be involved in this movement because we have to treasure life, and we have to appreciate that there’s still value that comes out of suffering.”

Like Cavanaugh, Lynda Holler’s personal story drove her to get involved with the medical aid in dying debate. For people on both sides, medical aid in dying is a deeply personal issue.

Doctors remain on both sides of the issue

There is not a clear divide on this issue even within affiliated groups. The medical community remains one of the most divided. Though the majority of physician groups used to be opposed, several have recently switched their stance to neutral, including the American Academy of Family Physicians. Others, such as the New York State Academy of Family Physicians, have announced their direct support.

“I don’t think the medical community is monolithic,” said Katharine Deiss, a practicing physician in medical pediatrics at the University of Rochester Medical Center. “I think they have a split view like everybody else does.”

David Kim, an attending physician in Staten Island, is worried about the ethical burden it would place on physicians themselves, forcing them to be the “judge, jury, and executioner.” Other concerns he voiced include risks to the doctor-patient relationship and violations of some medical codes of ethics, in addition to fears that this would a “cop out” to fixing current care inadequacies.

“Assisted suicide really risks, and probably does, erode trust in the doctor-patient relationship,” said Kim. “We’re talking about death or suicide as a medical treatment to be prescribed by the physician, in order to alleviate suffering or pain by the patient, and that has never been a part of any mainstream code of ethics than any physicians follow.”

While Kim is one of many physicians who firmly believe in literal definition of “do no harm,” other doctors believe that medical aid in dying would in fact help them uphold that oath to patients. Regardless, under the proposed legislation, doctors who do not believe in the practice can opt out.

Concern from marginalized communities

Another group in the discussion is the disabled community. For them, there is fear about how the legislation might put unequal pressure to utilize medical aid in dying. An able-bodied person might define quality of life in a completely different way than someone who is disabled and some in the community fear that such legislation would target or discriminate against disabled New Yorkers.

“If you look at the reasons that people give, that doctors are writing down for why people want assisted suicide, the top five reasons are not related to being terminal — they’re related to being disabled,” said Coleman, who has been disabled for most of her life, which was her motivation for starting Not Dead Yet.

Oregon was the first state to legalize the practice, with seven other states and Washington D.C. following suit. According to data from Oregon in 2017, the top five reasons were decreasing ability to participate in activities, loss of autonomy, loss of dignity, burden on caregivers, and losing control of bodily functions. These traits are felt by both the disabled community and the terminally ill. In Oregon, most patients who used medical aid in dying in 2017 had cancer, followed by ALS, and heart/circulatory disease.

In Oregon, 94.4 percent of patients who used this option in 2017 were white, and most were described as “well-educated.”. Only 5.6 percent of patients in the state who utilized medical aid in dying did so partly due to the financial burdens.

“From these data, and in the absence of verified reports of coercion or exploitation of people with disabilities or other vulnerable groups, analysis has concluded that there is simply no evidence of coercion of people with disabilities or other vulnerable groups, despite predictions to the contrary,” said Alicia Ouellette in her Barriers to Physician Aid in Dying for People with Disabilities paper.

Also preventing any hints of coercion is legislation stating that doctors and insurance companies are not supposed to offer this as an option. Rather, patients must be the ones to ask for it and seek it out, and still over one third of people opt not to use their prescriptions in the end.

“I don’t know, you know you never know, if someone is going to use it or not,” said Cavanaugh. “People sometimes don’t, but knowing that the option is available is a huge, huge benefit. And so, I think if [Chrissy] had the control should she want it, it would’ve helped her live longer.”

Supporters look to renew their push for legislation in 2019

Hearings for the proposed New York bills lasted more than 14 hours combined. Despite neither bill making it to vote in 2018, proponents viewed the year as an overall success. Cavanaugh spoke of 2018 as a “foundation-building year,” and was happy with how far the movement had come since she first got involved. Supporters are hopeful since the democrats gained control of the New York State senate.

Compassion & Choices  supporters sport the organization’s t-shirt at the April hearing before the New York State Legislature in Albany. Photo courtesy of Compassion and Care.

“The bill that was in the assembly now has even more co-sponsors, legislators who have now signed onto it,” said Bonnie Edelstein, founder of Death with Dignity Albany. “It’s been adjusted and redrafted, somewhat, for this next legislative session, to include even more safeguards and to allay fears of some people who are in opposition.”

On Nov. 14, New York State Senator democrat Neil Breslin held a fireside chat in conjunction with Death with Dignity Albany. Though he expressed mixed support, Senator Breslin seemed unsure of whether or not the bill would progress in 2019.

“With 15 new democrats — and really there’s only about eight or 10 long-term serving democrats, I’m not sure — it certainly will be much better than under the Republicans,” said Senator Breslin. “There’s, to me, a lot of discussion it still needs.”

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Nearly 200 demonstrators attended the NYSYLC Albany Day of Action, calling for legislatures to support the NY Dream Act. Photo by Daniella Silva.

Immigrants rights activists and legislators faced a setback last week in the push for the New York DREAM Act, which would give financial aid opportunities to undocumented youth, when the act failed to be included in this year’s $135 billion state budget.

The bill’s failure to be included in the budget stemmed from a discrepancy between the state’s two legislative bodies, the assembly and the senate. The State Assembly, which currently has a Democratic majority, had already included $25 million in its budget for the New York DREAM Act. However, the Senate never included it in its version of the budget.

“In the Senate it’s a much more complex situation right now,” said Katherine Tabares, a youth organizer for the not-for-profit Make the Road New York. “Republicans are not in favor of it and they, together with the independent Democratic caucus, form the majority.” There are currently 22 sponsors of the bill in the 63-member Senate.

Since it was not incorporated into the budget, the bill’s only chance of being enacted this year would be if both houses pass it by the end of the legislative session in June. The bill would make New York the fourth state to pass a DREAM Act granting undocumented students access to state funded financial aid. Approximately 65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school, but only 5-10 percent of undocumented high-school graduates go to college, according to the Immigration Policy Center.

Assemblymember Francisco Moya introduced the bill in its current form in mid-January alongside Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Higher Education Committee Chair Deborah J. Glick. The bill would give access to the state’s Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) to qualifying undocumented youth, also establishing a DREAM Fund Commission to raise private funds for scholarships for children on immigrants. To qualify for the bill, undocumented students must have attended a New York high school for at least two years, graduated or received a GED, enroll in a college or university in the state of New York, and meet the requirements for TAP.

Senate Republicans in opposition to the bill have taken issue with its use of public funds. Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said legislation establishing a private Dream Fund instead had a possibility to pass this year.

“I think there is support from people that tend to be a little bit more conservative,” said Skelos at the Crain’s Business Breakfast Forum in February. “As long as it’s private money put into the fund.”
But Tabares said there are already private funds for undocumented students, and that they do not go far enough to meet their financial needs.

“Regardless of whether national immigration reform is passed or not, the time that it would take for an undocumented youth to actually receive financial benefits from the federal government will be up to 14 years, so many students will have already graduated,” said Tabares, who is also a second semester student at LaGuardia Community College in Long Island City, Queens. “The NY DREAM Act needs to pass this year because there are so many youth right now who can’t attend college.”

Governor Cuomo, who has come out in support of a federal DREAM Act, has yet to voice his support for the state sponsored legislation. Legislators in support of the bill have recently been more vocal in pushing the governor to take a stance.

“On behalf of all Dreamers, I am urging Governor Cuomo to again bring to bear his great courage, considerable political skills and extraordinary leadership abilities in getting something big, important and meaningful done. And make no mistake: Immigration reform is important and most certainly needs to get done,” said cosponsor Senator Jose Peralta in a statement last week.

“If Cuomo came out in support, many of the Senate Republicans in a neutral position right now could change their minds,” said Taberes. “But he hasn’t been vocal about it, and there continues to be opposition and a lot of doubt over the bill.”

Other undocumented students continued to hope the bill would pass while they were still in school.
“I feel behind compared to my citizen friends who have financial aid,” said Viviana Sanchez, a student at York College in Jamaica, Queens. “There are thousands of Dreamer students in New York State it would mean a lot to them, to parents—to my parents—and to myself.”

Viviana Sanchez, 19, a student at York College in Jamaica, Queens who just received deferred action said her inability to receive financial aid is forcing her to attend school part-time. Photo by Daniella Silva.

Sanchez, 19, added that her financial situation and inability to receive state financial aid have kept her a semester behind and forced her to attend college part-time.

“It’s been very hard for me to get through school, I try to work to supplement it with a bit of my parents help, but it’s still taking longer than it should,” she said.

Sanchez on the financial burden of being an undocumented student
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Tabares said the key to having the bill pass was continued activism throughout the state.
“I personally have seen the growth in the last three years about the community being more vocal and supportive about it,” said Tabares. “Undocumented youth have been fighting for the NY DREAM act for years, you just can’t give up until you get what you want.”

Last month nearly 200 students and activists joined the New York State Youth Leadership Council, an organization that represents undocumented youth, in an organized trip to the state capital calling on legislators to enact the NY DREAM Act. The group completed scheduled visits with 59 legislative offices and in addition to those planned visits, also completed drop-in visits with 31 additional legislative offices, according to Gabriel Aldana, a member of the NYSYLC.

As a result, the group had 12 new co-sponsors, said Aldana.

Maria Jaime, 21, co-coordinator of the Westchester chapter of the NYSYLC, addresses her team members before meeting with state legislatures regarding the NY DREAM Act. Photo by Daniella Silva.

Maria Jaime, 21, co-coordinator of the Westchester chapter of the NYSYLC, led a team of participants to meet with staff of State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Assemblymember J. Gary Pretlow, and Assembly Member Addie J. Russell.

“Lobbying like this is a crucial part of passing a bill, focusing on activism and getting out in the streets,” said Jaime, a senior at Manhattanville College. “At the end of the day politicians are voting on the bill, but we give them that power as constituents.”

According to a report by the NYSYLC in conjunction with NYU Law School’s Immigrant Rights Clinic, the cost of extending the Tuition Assistance program would be approximately $17 million per year.

“If the New York State DREAM legislation were financed through the state income tax, it would represent 87¢ per year—less than the price of a single donut—for a median tax payer,” said Jaime.

Assemblymember J. Gary Pretlow, a co-sponsor of the bill following the NYSYLC’s trip to Albany, said he looked forward to the bill coming to the floor.

“This is an issue that has been before us for a number of years, I think it’s of the utmost importance that everybody be given the opportunity in this country to advance themselves and move on,” he said.

Pretlow on the importance of passing the NYS Dream Act

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Jaime said overall she felt the visit was a success, and that the most rewarding aspect was seeing others in her team share their stories with legislative staff.

“Seeing how each time you tell a story it gets more a little more personal, that’s great for their own growth throughout the day,” she said. “Last year when I came was the first time I shared my story with politicians as well, I didn’t tell anyone but I was really scared, but once you say it out loud it’s so empowering.”

Maria Jaime on putting a face to the issue
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Sanchez, a member of Jaime’s team, echoed the sentiment.

“Of course it’s daunting to tell a politician your story, they’re the people who make the laws, the people who decide if I stay here or not, if the New York DREAM act passes or not,” she said. “But it’s such a big accomplishment for me.”

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