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