New York City’s political leaders are in Puerto Rico for the annual Somos conference, where they are discussing priorities and strategizing to advance their agendas. As City Council members consider their big ideas for next year, they should also consider the staff required to make those big ideas a reality.
We are members of the Association of Legislative Employees (ALE), the union representing City Council staff. ALE has already secured a historic first contract for Council member aides and financial analysts, delivering raises and workplace protections.
Now, Legislative Division staff are fighting for our first contract. As attorneys, policy analysts, data scientists, and web developers, we draft legislation, organize hearings, analyze policy, and build tools that help the Council serve New Yorkers. Our pay should reflect the experience and expertise this critical work demands.
What we are asking for is not unprecedented within the Council. In 2024, after we submitted our request for union recognition, the Council gave our supervisors and non-supervisory administrative staff in our division a 20% wage increase. Cost-of-living increases were added on top of those wage increases, bringing the increase in median pay for non-unionized titles in our division to 25.5% since May 2024 and the median pay for supervisors to more than two times what members of the bargaining unit earn.
Earlier this year, Council members voted to increase their own pay by 18.2%. The Quadrennial Advisory Commission Report that studied and recommended the Council member pay increases underscored compensation that encourages high-quality candidates to seek and remain in office. The same logic applies to legislative staff. We are asking for similar recognition of the work we do to keep the Council running.
Our work is not only undervalued within the Council; pay for legislative staff is also lagging behind the city agencies that we are tasked with overseeing. Attorneys in our bargaining unit make 25% less than our counterparts in the Law Department. Data scientists leave for other public service roles in the city and their pay increases as much as $60,000. Policy analysts struggle to recruit qualified colleagues when similar positions in the mayor’s office pay $20,000 more. Losing out on experienced staff weakens the Council’s ability to serve New Yorkers.
Speaker Julie Menin has made clear that she intends to pursue an ambitious legislative agenda. Under her leadership, the number of legislative and oversight hearings held by the Council has increased by more than 20%. We have organized and staffed marathon hearings on complex issues including antisemitism, artificial intelligence, and micromobility.
We have stayed at the office until midnight, finalizing landmark legislation phasing out the horse-drawn carriage industry, establishing year-round roadway dining, and providing workforce stabilization payments to public school paraprofessionals. Most of us are not eligible for compensatory time for the long hours we put in.
Our concerns about pay precede this speaker, but they are exacerbated by the added pressure of the Council’s bold agenda. It is exceedingly difficult to achieve ambitious objectives when we cannot attract and retain high-quality staff, and when current staff feel overworked and undervalued. So we ask that, as Council members in Puerto Rico contemplate bills to solve the issues that affect their communities, they also advocate for fair compensation for the staff who make the work of legislating possible.
Meltzer, Kohn and Frye are members of the ALE Bargaining Committee.