'Horrible,' 'Embarrassing,' 'Disqualifying': Municipal Union Workers React to Eric Adams Bailing on Pre-Endorsement Camp

Two years ago, when Mayor Eric Adams delivered a collective bargaining agreement that notched higher-than-expected raises and laid the foundation for remote work for the union representing 100,000 civil servants, their support for his 2025 reelection campaign may have appeared a foregone conclusion.

Instead the disgraced mayor, citing the advice of his personal lawyers, decided at the last minute to skip a candidates’ forum hosted by that union, District Council 37, Wednesday night — denying himself the opportunity to persuade members of the city’s largest municipal union to give him a second chance amid his swirling corruption scandal.

Throughout the two-hour event at Borough of Manhattan Community College, the mere mention of the mayor’s name elicited a chorus of boos from the audience of rank-and-file union members, a key base of support for the mayor, with their endorsement on the line.

DC 37 members who spoke with THE CITY said Adams’ decision to bail on the event ought to end any debate over whether their union should seriously consider endorsing him as it did in 2021. Even those who said they would have been willing to hear him out based on what they described as his strong record with labor said they’d soured on the no-show mayor in light of his absence.



https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/02/27/eric-adams-dc37-mayor-candidate-forum/