CJI Holds Panel Session at 2024 SOMOS Conference in Albany
I am grateful to have been a part of Cornell ILR’s Climate Job Institute (CJI) delegation team at the SOMOS conference in Albany last week. Zachary Cunningham, Pria Mahadevan, Melissa Shetler, and I had a wonderful time attending the Labor Breakfast, Legislative Workshops, and receptions at SOMOS. We met with several legislators, including Senator Jessica Ramos (New York State Senate, 13th District and Chair of the Committee on Labor) and Assembly Members Carl Heastie (Speaker of the New York State Assembly), Yudelka Tapia (86th Assembly District), and Jessica Gonzalez Rojas (Assemblymember for District 34).
Zach Cunningham (Education & Training Associate at CJI) represented our team as a speaker at the “App-based Delivery Workers’ Long Road to Justice and a Safe Infrastructure for E-Micro Mobility” panel with Ligia M. Guallpa (Executive Director, Workers Justice Project), Gustavo Ajche (Founder, Los Deliveristas Unidos), Vilda Vera Mayuga (Commissioner, NYC Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP)), Shawn Garcia (Director of Advocacy, Transportation Alternatives).
The panel was sponsored by Senator Ramos and moderated by Maria Figueroa (Dean, Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies, SUNY Empire State College). Panelists discussed the impacts of apps’ algorithms on delivery workers and local communities and the importance of developing policy strategies to address street safety, labor protections, and equitable infrastructure.
Zach highlighted how CJI’s transportation policy recommendations for NYC included safe bike lane development, electric vehicle transition, availability of electric chargers for e-bikes, and subsidizing the membership of bike services. Panelists emphasized the importance of equitable infrastructure policies, citing the precarious travel conditions faced by workers in neighborhoods with unprotected bike lanes and roads. New micro-mobility infrastructure needs to be resilient in the face of extreme weather conditions from the climate crisis to keep our working-class communities safe. Broad support for climate action prioritizing workers and public accessibility is vital for a fair & just climate future.
Our team also heard from LCLAA, SEIU 1199, SSEU Local 371, and other unions at the Labor Breakfast, learning about their campaign to #FixTier6. Speeches from Attorney General Letitia James, Mayor Eric Adams, Senator Ramos, and labor leaders at the breakfast were powerful and inspiring. Meeting with Latinx politicians, labor unions, nonprofit organizations, and LGBTQIA+ advocacy groups at this year's SOMOS conference was exciting.
