The union representing more than 34,000 luxury residential building doormen and porters said it reached a tentative agreement with a prominent landlord group, averting a strike ahead of a Monday deadline. 

The union, 32BJ SEIU, and the Realty Advisory Board, the consortium representing landlords at some of the city’s toniest condos and co-ops, had been locked all week in marathon negotiations in a hotel ballroom at the Midtown Hilton Hotel.

The four-year agreement preserves workers’ health benefits without premium-sharing — a main sticking point in the negotiations. Workers also won wage increases totaling an additional $4.50 per hour by the end of the contract in 2030, plus a 15% pension boost. The agreement is pending a mail ballot vote by union members.

“Today we found a common path forward with the RAB that rewards workers appropriately,” 32BJ SEIU president Manny Pastreich said in a statement Friday. “This agreement honors the indispensable contributions 32BJ members make to our city.”

The average annual salary will rise to $71,000 by the end of the contract, the RAB said in a statement.

The union and the RAB announced the deal at the Midtown Hilton.

“This agreement is a win, win, win, win,” for the employers, the union, the employees and building residents, said Howard Rothschild, president of the RAB.

Workers said management was seeking to force workers to begin paying towards their healthcare coverage, which is currently paid for entirely by employers. But the Realty Advisory Board said that it was obligated to cut back on expenses given rising costs and Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s pledge to freeze rent increases on stabilized apartments.

Earlier Friday, as negotiations were ongoing, workers gathered in a practice picket outside The Caldwell, an apartment building on York Avenue on the Upper East Side. 

The luxury San Remo co-op on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. More than 550,000 city residents live in building served by unionized doormen and porters. Credit: Jon Bilous/Shutterstock

Leon Sonson, a porter at The Caldwell, told reporters he was most preoccupied about preserving his premium-free healthcare. 

“I don’t want to mess up my healthcare,” said the father of four and grandfather. “I just want what’s fair, I believe in being fair and equal.”

The union nearly went on strike over the same issue in 2022, but reached a deal the day before the scheduled walk out. Residential building workers last went on strike in 1991, in a stoppage that lasted 12 days.

More than 10,000 workers rallied on Park Avenue on Wednesday ahead of the strike authorization vote, joined by Mamdani and others. 

Building managers began strike preparations earlier this month, requesting volunteers to take out the trash and warning residents of potential disruptions to delivery services and more. More than 550,000 people live in the buildings that were poised to strike, spanning from rentals to luxury Billionaire’s Row megatowers and iconic co-cops like The Dakota.

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