The union representing thousands of residential building workers voted “yes” on Wednesday to authorize a strike.
More than 34,000 doormen and women, supers, porters and other workers with 32BJ could now walk off the job as soon as next Tuesday, impacting more than a million New Yorkers across thousands of buildings.
Ahead of the vote, more than 1,000 residential building workers rallied along Park Avenue on the Upper East Side.
The union is at odds with the Realty Advisory Board, the group that represents New York City building owners.
Some of the main sticking points are wages and health care.
Under the current four-year deal, members have full family coverage and do not contribute money to the plan.
The Realty Advisory Board insists that model isn’t sustainable, pointing out the average door person makes about $62,000 a year, but costs employers more than $112,000, partly because of healthcare.
On top of that, one of the mayor’s key campaign promises is not sitting well with buildings owners: the idea of a rent freeze on stabilized apartments.
Right now, many of the roughly 1.5 million New Yorkers in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island who would be affected by the job action are coming up with contingency plans.
The last strike was in 1991 when building workers were off the job for a total of 12 days.
WATCH | The Vault: Eyewitness News coverage of 1991 building workers strike
A look back at Eyewitness News coverage of the 1991 building workers’ strike.
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