Mamdani’s taxpayer-funded push to aid unions flies in the face of his ‘affordability’ agenda

New York pols have long sucked up to local unions, but Mayor Zohran Mamdani is taking it to a new level.

On Labor Day, he established an Office of Worker Power to help private-sector employees “get informed, connected and organized” about forming unions.

It’s an explicit use of taxpayer resources to promote unions and teach labor rights, to help workers demand better pay and terms of employment.

Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su, a champion of the United Auto Worker’s unionization efforts during her time as President Joe Biden’s acting labor secretary and the former head of California’s unemployment department when it lost $30 million to theft, will oversee the new Mamdani office.

The mayor is once again putting businesses, big and small, on notice.

And, make no mistake: To the extent that it’s effective, it will drive up prices.

After all, unionization basically creates a monopoly on labor, inflating the cost of goods and services.

Never mind that such outcome flies directly in the face of Mamdani’s supposed “affordability” agenda.

Hizzoner’s Democratic Socialists of America-inspired office will surely help squeeze businesses using City Hall’s might to force unionization, higher wages, more regulation.

Recall that Mamdani vowed to boost the share of unionized workers — about 20% currently — throughout New York City.

Long before the DSA took control of City Hall, progressive lawmakers here and Albany crossed the line from impartial regulatory oversight to partisan, taxpayer-funded union advocacy.

The war on private enterprise gained momentum years ago through Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, alongside City Council mandates that hiked the minimum wage and regulated pay across the delivery app industry.

Today, that agenda continues as the council weighs legislation aimed at shutting down private “last-mile” delivery operations utilized by Amazon and other e-commerce companies. 

Yet again, businesses won’t be the only ones to suffer, as they pass on higher labor costs to customers, or close down altogether.

Pols, on the other hand, particularly those on the left, will do great — as unions return the favor by throwing their political support, and funding, to them.

Yet it’s not government’s role to aid unions, at the expense of the businesses and the public. Particularly since they’re using taxpayer money to do so.

Meanwhile, Mamdani and his team best not try to blame higher prices on, say, Donald Trump — when they themselves are driving them up for the benefit of their pals in the labor movement.