On the night before Mayor Bill de Blasio was scheduled to have hernia surgery, he made an appearance at two holiday parties hosted by local unions to remind workers of his labor-friendly accomplishments during his two years in office.
De Blasio also touted his wife's mental health program, joked she "righteously kick(s) my ass" when he's feeling defeated and slammed Donald Trump during the speeches, according to an audio recording provided to POLITICO New York.
The mayor, who has a mixed relationship with the city's public-sector unions, talked about the movement to increase New York's minimum wage and the city's expanded "living wage" law at a soiree hosted by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.
De Blasio also reminded union members of the expansion of the city's law mandating that private employers provide their workers paid sick days — something he and the City Council changed shortly after he took office. (At the time, he said the broader paid sick leave mandate would impact half a million New Yorkers.)
No mention was made of Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who came out in support of a $15-an-hour minimum wage last month.
In thanking RWDSU president Stuart Appelbaum, the mayor said, "Stuart, you've always been — to your great credit — you've always been one of the audacious leaders who believed that we could move our society on things like living wage and paid sick leave and all those things that just a few years ago brothers and sisters — a little bit of memory — a few years ago, it was supposed to be impossible to expand paid sick leave to a million more people. But it happened. We did it."
As a candidate, de Blasio pushed one of his opponents, former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, to pass the paid sick leave bill into law. She hesitated for years before doing it during the campaign.
He took longer to come around on the living wage law, which requires certain private companies receiving city subsidies to pay their workers a mandated amount that began at $13 an hour and has gone up over time. But de Blasio eventually supported it as a candidate and expanded it as mayor.
De Blasio encouraged the union to continue to "demand of elected officials that we support organizing drives," such as the ultimately successful effort to unionize car washworkers that Appelbaum oversaw.
And he joked about his wife, Chirlane McCray, who also attended the parties.
"Brothers and sisters, there's moments when sometimes I get a little weary and say can we do it. And there to righteously kick my ass was my wife, telling me — she would use this phrase, I don't know if you've ever heard it — Si se puede. Okay? She would be there to tell me keep going, reach farther," he said to applause.
He also touted McCray's multi-pronged plan known as ThriveNYC to improve services for the city's mentally ill residents.
And as he has repeatedly done in recent weeks, the mayor attacked Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, saying he "will get some coal in his stocking."
At a separate party hosted by District Council 37, the city's largest municipal union, de Blasio made similar remarks, according to an attendee who spoke on background.
"He thanked the members of 37 for the work they do, talked about the different direction of City Hall after 20 years of the previous two mayors, and about the ThriveNYC initiative re: mental health," the attendee wrote in an email. "He was with Chirlane and gave her an effusive shout-out for the work that’s being done to dispel the stigma of mental health problems."
On Friday, the mayor will have surgery for a hernia, his spokeswoman told reporters. He will be back in City Hall on Monday and possibly hold events on Sunday.
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