In the second episode in our series, “A Look at Labor,” Rockefeller Institute Director of Labor Policy Maria Figueroa interviews New York State Senator Jessica Ramos. Their discussion covers the priorities of Senator Ramos as chair of the Labor Committee in the senate, the impacts of federal immigration actions, funding cuts, and other federal policy changes on workers, and the labor issues at play in a transition to a decarbonized energy infrastructure.
Guests
Transcript was generated using AI software and may contain errors.
Joel Tirado 00:00
Welcome to policy outsider presented by the Rockefeller Institute of Government. I’m Joel tirado. In the second episode in our series, “A Look at Labor,” Rockefeller Institute Director of Labor Policy Maria Figueroa interviews New York State Senator Jessica Ramos. Their discussion covers the priorities of Senator Ramos as chair of the Labor Committee in the senate, the impacts of federal immigration actions, funding cuts, and other federal policy changes on workers, and the labor issues at play in a transition to a decarbonized energy infrastructure. That converastion is up next.
Maria Figueroa 00:58
Hi. Hello, everyone. I’m Maria Figueroa of the Rockefeller Institute of Government, and I’m honored to welcome New York State Senator Jessica Ramos to our series of policy outsider podcast focusing on current labor issues and policy. Senator Ramos is a Democrat representing District 13 in the borough of Queens in New York City. She is chair of the Senate Committee on Labor and member of several committees including budget and revenue, finance, economic development and small business, among others. Senator Ramos began her tenure in the Senate in 2019 and more recently, she was a candidate in the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City. The daughter of Colombian immigrants, Senator Ramos has been a strong advocate for labor unions and working families in the legislature, and in her previous work with labor unions and the New York City government. Thank you, Senator Ramos, for joining us today. Thank you
Jessica Ramos 02:10
for having me, Maria,
Maria Figueroa 02:12
I like to start with a conversation about the challenging times that we’re leaving and that are being experienced by workers and their families in New York and across the nation. What are your constituents bringing to your attention regarding the impacts of federal policies and initiatives such as the mass deportation of immigrants, the underfunding of under finding and firing of key personnel in federal agencies and programs, as well as the impacts of trade tariffs on consumer and businesses. What issues are being brought out to your attention?
Jessica Ramos 03:02
Well, Maria, frankly, I feel that people in general are feeling a lot of anxiety. There’s a lot of instability coming from the federal government. People feel uncertain about the future. That’s especially true in the most diverse place in the world, which happens to be my district, we speak about 200 languages. I’m born and raised here, and have grown up and seen just how incredible we are when we work together. And frankly, the challenges coming from the federal government are many, and I would say, you know, we were the epicenter of the epicenter for covid, and so a lot of our burnout really stems from that era, which I think got us used to supply chain issues, which now come in the form of changes to trade tariffs, and so there’s constant trade policy volatility that really impacts and really does trickle down to smaller businesses, coupled with a Community fear writ large that that says we might feel fear in interacting with local law enforcement. That’s especially true for Latinos. That’s especially true for undocumented Latinos. But I’ll tell you as as a an Elmhurst born Latina, I you know, I also get scared, and that’s something that we’re all living with. It also means less foot traffic in many of our commercial corridors, and we know that our small businesses produce a lot of jobs, especially in our community, and so that economic model there has been greatly impacted. Impacted. You know, I think we seldom think of things at that micro level when we’re talking about federal policies, but there can be a real, real effect. And then I would say that the lack of access to immigration help is also a hindrance to many people being able to adjust their status apply for asylum. We saw it during the migrant influx that started a few years ago. Many of these people were fleeing real, dangerous situations, dictatorships and they should have been allowed to file for asylum. Filing for asylum is not only tedious, but expensive, and if you are fleeing your home and are trying to protect your family, you should be able to access the legal services to make your case for asylum. That’s not something that we’ve seen and could have, I think, helped relieved us of a huge headache, because the quicker people get on their feet economically, the better it is for everyone else. And right now, we just don’t have that mentality, unfortunately, and I see it every day in my district along Roosevelt Avenue, where, you know, there is a an economy that exists for the exploitation of undocumented people in many different ways, including by the city government, through the way the City has been treating street vendors exploiting undocumented people in a way that really just generates money for these dark forces, instead of helping them adjust their status, get a federal work permit and don’t leave any voids for those bad actors to fill,
Maria Figueroa 06:58
yes and specifically on the issue of mass deportations. Sen, I imagine that because of the diversity of your district, but also statewide there there might be issues, very pressing issues that are being being brought out to your attention. Is there anything that you’d like to highlight,
Jessica Ramos 07:30
Maria, how much time you got listen? I There is just so much to say. I mean, by and large, throughout my experience as a state senator, the number one reason people call or come to my office is to talk about their housing issue, and it runs the gamut seniors, you know, working families with young children, documented, undocumented People, I mean just the lack of affordable housing or landlord tenant issues is really a troubling a troubling thing. Imagine then so how much harder it must be for people who don’t have the proper documentation, or even for mixed status families, which often, you know, get get short changed because, you know, the children might be American citizens, the parents are undocumented immigrants. They they get taken away, and the children enter the foster system if there had not been a previous arrangement made with a responsible adult. And even that’s a hard conversation to have with some undocumented parents is to say, you know, heaven forbid, you know this happens, but it’s best to be prepared and actually designate a responsible adult, someone close with you, who would be able to take care of the Children while you’re gone. That is that has been part of the social work that we do in the office. And my hats off to my to my constituent services team, which is top notch, you know, we’re there to help. And all to say, you know, the mental distress that this leaves or, you know, this imposes on families, especially young children, who shouldn’t have to go through that, but also the people who are on the front lines taking care of them. It’s just incomprehensible that we would deny people their humanity when they’re really here to work and keep their family safe.
Maria Figueroa 09:42
Yes, yes. Thank you for all the services that you’re providing through your office, Senator, I like to move on to to the issues that are being brought up to you by organized labor. As I mentioned earlier, there are all these federal policy. Policies that are undermining the the legal system that is in place to protect workers and their organizations and labor relations in general, in in our country, I also, I’m aware that that you play the critical role in the passage of legislation that would protect workers from from these new policies, no federal policies and and so I was wondering if you would like to speak to that the federal protection package that was introduced in the past session and which resulted in the passage of the NLRB three or bill. It would be great if you could tell us more about that.
Jessica Ramos 10:53
I’ll start with the NLRB. I mean, we’re in constant communication with labor unions as I chair the Labor Committee in the State Senate, and it’s, it’s disheartening to see, you know, all the work that went into wishing winning a National Labor Relations Board and making sure that they are holding unscrupulous employers accountable and such, to see it dismantled under this current federal administration. You know, I believe that first and foremost, you know, the government does play a role in helping mediate these issues, to make sure that our enterprises are abiding by the law and we are upholding human rights standards in in workplaces, and so, you know, with with the dismantling, with the firings that took place at the NLRB, I think it’s clear to say that this federal government has been no friend to labor, and simply doesn’t believe in proper labor rights for workers across the country and here in New York, and obviously that means that here in New York, we weren’t going to let that happen. So we have written a bill that would be that would allow New York State to step in in cases between employers and employees, when the federal NLRB is failing to act, and I feel really good about it, despite being there’s a lawsuit that’s been filed from Amazon. For those who don’t know, you know Amazon is really running modern day sweatshops, modern day, you know, factories. It’s like this, the modern day Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle, for those who read that back in school, how we’re seeing people forced to work under conditions that are literally written in order to favor the comfort of boxes, the boxes that are being moved, and not the human beings moving the boxes. And that’s really unfortunate. So I’m very proud to say that over the past few years, we’ve passed several laws, first in order to do away with the mystery surrounding the algorithms and the pressure to make people work harder and faster. And now we’ve passed the injury reduction act saying that there has to be ergonomic considerations when building these warehouses, in order to take into account the occupational hazards that come with the job, making sure that human beings are being prioritized and well, now we’ve actually been talking to the teamsters about perhaps making sure that there’s an added protection. We hope to be working very closely with Attorney General Letitia James in order to defend our bill that we do believe is constitutional. New York has the right to protect its people, including from the federal government. That’s why we have states rights. And you know, Republicans like to pull it out when it’s convenient for them, but it’s just a matter of fact that, you know, we we should be able to protect these workers, you know, when they’re when they’ve even been denied a contract. So I’m hoping to continue to legislate to be able to reduce the rate of injury across industries and make sure that people are receiving the living wage they deserve.
Maria Figueroa 14:49
What about the remedial construction Labor Law Act, which was part of that federal protection pact? Cage. Can you tell us about that?
Jessica Ramos 15:03
Yes, I so it’s the it’s the law that was signed at the Labor Day Parade by Governor Kathy Hochul, along with the NLRB trigger act that we just talked about. And I’m really excited that this bill would allow more of our schools to transition into, you know, quote, unquote, green buildings, right, making sure that they are on the way to decarbonization and utilizing renewable energy. So there’s a lot of possibilities here. What the law actually does is even allocate money for apprenticeship programs. And this is why I always talk about building a union climate economy, there’s just so much work to do, and we need to prepare, you know, younger generations to take these jobs in plumbing, in insulation, in sheet metal work, in all the all the amazing workers that are going to be needed in order to help us through this transition. Climate change doesn’t care where you come from or who you voted for, it’s happening, and we at the federal government, nothing is being done. And in fact, even FEMA, which is supposed to help people after natural disasters, has been essentially decimated and and essentially dismantled. It was never perfect to begin with, which is really, really troubling, and for an area like mine, which was ground zero for hurricane Ida, I can tell you, it’s an added stress, especially on immigrants who, for example, in Queens, might live in un legalized basements, basement apartments, because that’s what they can afford, And they actually might get flooded by climate change storms. So making sure that we’re getting people trained and to these jobs so that we can get shovels in the ground and make these infrastructure changes and create these resiliency projects is crucial to keeping everybody safe.
Maria Figueroa 17:20
That’s great news in the face of all the challenges. Moving on to the topic of the New York City mayoral elections coming up in a few weeks, what do you think are the key labor issues or working families priorities that the elected mayor will need to tackle.
Jessica Ramos 17:41
Well, that what we just spoke about, is certainly one. I think, you know, I think Superstorm Sandy should have been our major eureka moment right then realize that we had already been going too slow. And that was what back in 2011 20 maybe 2012 I don’t remember exactly what year, but it’s definitely been over 10 years ago, and we are still behind, and particularly on battery storage and wind power. We’re not doing so bad when it comes to solar in meeting our goals that we set with the clcpa, which is the state’s first, foremost environmental law that states our climate goals, and we’re really trying to chart a path to get there. That means keeping you know the typical everyday maintenance that a mayor is supposed to do for the city, right? Make sure, make sure that our that our sewers are and drains are cleared, making sure that we are electrifying as much as the fleet of the fleet as possible. I mean, for starters, you know, the city of New York is actually the number one car owner on the streets of New York. A lot of people don’t know that, so I would you know, minimizing that fleet would certainly help. Then when it comes to education, we talked a little bit about apprenticeship programs and really diversifying opportunities for young people. But I would say, given everything that we’ve been through, just really New Yorkers mental health, including bringing mental health specialists and professionals to our schools and to different places, that should definitely be a priority for the next mayor. And you know, I think ultimately, the affordable the housing issue, which we also talked about a little bit at the beginning, we need to build more affordable housing. We need that housing to be well built, which means union built, and we need we need workers to be able to afford to live there. So really understanding the grasp that the real estate industry has in on this city and knowing how. To balance and speak all stakeholders, at a time when property taxes are very high in many places, and at a time when we just need a sheer number of affordable housing units that need to be built. Fast, fast, this is why, you know, I’m such a champion for modular housing in the state legislature. This. These are the things that we that we should expect. I don’t know how much can be accomplished in four years, but I’m hopeful that at least the the right seats will be planted for the work to get in, the go, start going in the right direction.
Maria Figueroa 20:43
Yeah, yeah. Very complex set of needs to be addressed. I have a fun question, Jessica, in the in the Senate website, I read that you don’t have a driver’s license. Is that still the case?
Jessica Ramos 20:58
Yes, that’s true. I don’t have a driver’s license. My husband would very much like for me to have a driver’s license. And frankly, I have come, you know, around to the possibility I’ve had a learner’s permit at first when I was in college and I took a class, but then I didn’t. And, and, you know, I had this experience a few years ago when someone close to me was having a medical episode, and I didn’t know what was happening. And I could have taken the keys, gotten into the car and taken them to the hospital, but I couldn’t do that. I had to wait, and, you know, I had to call a taxi cab and to get there. So, you know, if it was, if it was a an emergency, that where minutes and seconds mattered, I don’t know how I would have lived with that. So that was a really eye opening experience for me. I’m eventually, I’ll do it. I do see it as a life skill. I don’t know, I don’t know that I’ll own a car in New York City, though I’m very blessed to be able bodied and you know, public transportation gets you, gets you just about everywhere you want to go.
Maria Figueroa 22:12
Okay, thank you. Thank you for that answer and and thank you so much, Senator for for your contributions today, and and would you, would you like to add any final words?
Jessica Ramos 22:28
These are uncertain times, and there is a lot of anxiety out there. But you know, the storm can only go so far. The sun will come out. And I want people to feel positive, knowing that we are all learning from each other, like right now, having these important conversations, and this is precisely how we build knowledge, how we build community, and how we’ll be able to move through everything that we’re experiencing right now.
Joel Tirado 23:05
Thanks again to Maria Figueroa for leading this important conversation and New York State Senator Jessica Ramos for sharing her insights with us on the show. If you liked this episode, please rate, subscribe, and share. It will help others find the podcast and help us deliver the latest in public policy research. All of our episodes are available for free wherever you stream your podcasts and transcripts are available on our website. I’m Joel Tirado; until next time.
Joel Tirado 23:37
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