Mayor Adams Blindsides TWU; Backs Carriage Horse Ban

SEPTEMBER 18 -- In a video released Wednesday, while walking through Central Park wearing a Teamsters jacket with its horsehead logo, Mayor Eric Adams said that “we are taking the steps to ban the horse carriage industry in the City of New York… it’s the humane thing to do.”

Referring to a bill pending in the City Council called Ryder’s Law which would sunset the industry, he said, “they already have 20 sponsors, so there’s no reason we can finally end the horse carriage industry in the city.”

TWU Local 100 represents the 170 owners and drivers who operate the carriages that take passengers through Central Park, providing one of New York’s most memorable experiences for thousands of tourists each year.

For nearly 10 years, TWU has been fighting allegations from animal rights activists who say the horses are mistreated. Evidence and testimonials from multiple veterinarians show they are well treated and well cared for.

The union has also said that the animal rights group NYCLASS, which has spearheaded Ryder’s Law, is actually a front for real estate interests that want to develop the four horse stables on Manhattan’s West Side that now house the animals. If the industry is forced out, the stables would be attractive properties for speculators.

After hearing of Adams' decision, TWU International President John Samuelsen called him “a straight-up Judas Iscariot who has sold his soul to real estate developers. Developers have long sought to see the carriage-horse stables on Manhattan’s West Side vacated so they can build skyscrapers with luxury apartments and corporate offices,” he said. “NYCLASS was founded by real estate developers and is led by developers. Randy Mastro is a lawyer for the NYCLASS phonies.”

In a spontaneous floor speech to the TWU Constitutional Convention in Las Vegas Wednesday, Samuelsen told delegates that “Eric Adams is now Mayor Backstabber. He’s throwing his lot in with the billionaires who don’t give a rat’s ass about blue collar New York or the TWU. I condemn Eric Adams and his attacks on the TWU.”

Delegates supported his declaration with cheers and applause.

In a press statement, Samuelsen said that Adams had personally assured him and former Local 100 President Tony Utano that he would support the carriage horse drivers and their right to earn a livelihood from the industry. But “now, in an affordability crisis, he wants to throw 170 blue-collar carriage drivers out of work. Shame on him.”

Local 100 President John V. Chiarello said that “With his call to end the horse carriage industry, Mayor Adams has betrayed working class New Yorkers, which is an absolute disgrace. It’s disappointing to see Adams, who is polling dead last in the mayor’s race, now abandon hardworking people who make their living taking part in an age-old New York tradition.”