Mamdani Appoints De Blasio Alum Liz Vladeck to Lead Labor Relations Office

Mayor Zohran Mamdani appointed Liz Vladeck, the Department of Education’s top lawyer, to lead his Office of Labor Relations — a crucial role tasked with representing the city in collective bargaining with unions representing hundreds of thousands of teachers, law enforcement, first responders and other civil servants.

Vladeck will succeed Commissioner Renee Campion, who this summer made the surprise announcement of her retirement effective Dec. 1, after nearly a quarter century at the agency. She will stay on as commissioner until that date, a City Hall source said.

Vladeck will have a lengthy to-do list. The Mamdani administration is in the middle of negotiating funding for a health program that pays for civil servants’ prescription drugs, chemotherapy and other benefits. Money for that program, known as PICA, was tied up in a cash pot that was declared insolvent days before Mamdani’s inauguration.

Those talks are the main obstacle to beginning negotiations on a new contract covering members of District Council 37, the city’s largest public sector union with approximately 100,000 members, sources have told The City Reporter. The current contract expires next month.

“Public servants keep our city running and they deserve respect, support, and a City government that takes its responsibilities to them seriously. I look forward to looking closely with Liz and our city’s unions to deliver real results for New Yorkers across the five boroughs,” Mamdani said in a statement. “I also want to thank Renee Campion for her decades of service to our city and wish her all the best in her retirement.” 

Vladeck is a veteran of city government, though she has never worked at the Office of Labor Relations. Prior to her appointment as the DOE’s general counsel, she was a senior labor policy advisor to Mayor Bill de Blasio and crafted policy at his worker and consumer protection agency, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Her City Hall tenure overlapped with the announcement of a doomed plan to switch the city’s retirees to a cost-saving Medicare Advantage program.

A labor attorney, she has more than a decade of experience representing private sector workers — not management —  at the bargaining table.

“I am honored to have the opportunity to continue serving the city and its employees, and it is with deep respect for our workforce that I approach being a steward of the city’s labor relations,” Vladeck said in a statement. 

“I am excited to work on behalf of this administration and with our city unions on issues that are vital to the workforce and city residents, as well as advance a broad economic justice agenda for all New Yorkers.” 

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