{"id":195890,"date":"2026-04-13T20:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T20:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/195890\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T20:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T20:18:09","slug":"nyc-tenants-may-have-to-bag-garbage-man-doors-by-themselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/195890\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC tenants may have to bag garbage, man doors by themselves"},"content":{"rendered":"

CITYWIDE \u2014 Tenants in residential buildings across New York City might soon have to bag their own garbage and compost, man the front desk and manage deliveries, if the city\u2019s 34,000 unionized building workers vote to go on strike.<\/p>\n

Members of 32BJ SEIU<\/a> will hold a formal strike authorization vote on Wednesday; if a strike is approved, porters<\/a>, front desk staff, handymen and other workers in most of the city\u2019s residential buildings (with the exception of the Bronx) will walk off the job on April 21 at 12:01 a.m.<\/p>\n

Strike captains gathered Thursday in Brooklyn Heights to rally and strategize after the union received what it called \u201cinsulting\u201d contract changes from the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, which represents building owners.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"32BJ32BJ SEIU Strike Captains Edwin Devalle and Hasan \u201cSunnyD\u201d Dibra in front of 101 Clark Street in Brooklyn Heights. Photo: Mary Frost\/Brooklyn Eagle<\/p>\n

Strike Captain Hasan \u201cSunnyD\u201d Dibra is a concierge at 30 Main St. in DUMBO. He said RAB was trying to install a two-tier system, where new workers would start out with lower pay than current workers did. \u201cWe\u2019ve never had that before,\u201d he told the Brooklyn Eagle. \u201cI\u2019m doing this almost 30 years in the city and in Brooklyn, and it\u2019s not something we want. I mean, our families, we\u2019re already struggling as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dibra said union members were getting a lot of support from their building tenants. \u201cResidents \u2014 ask any of them \u2014 they love us. We do what we can above and beyond the call of duty. We\u2019re there for them, and they know this. And, you know, without us and without them, there\u2019s no New York.\u201d<\/p>\n

Strike Captain Edwin Devalle, superintendent at 1625 Fulton St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, added, \u201cWe need to get more pay. Our bills are going up, rent is due \u2014 and it\u2019s high. And we have families we have to feed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Several rank-and-file union members told the Eagle they hoped they wouldn\u2019t have to strike. \u201cFingers crossed,\u201d said one Brooklyn Heights superintendent.<\/p>\n

\"OnOn Monday, Iecha Vega, a lobby attendant at 101 Clark St. in Brooklyn Heights, was sorting packages, one of her many duties. Photo: Mary Frost\/Brooklyn Eagle
\nPay, healthcare, benefits<\/p>\n

According to a release from the union, RAB\u2019s proposals include: shifting the cost of healthcare onto workers via premium sharing; the introduction of a lower-paid \u201cTier II\u201d workforce; the expansion of temp workers; the weakening of labor contract enforcement; and the lack of a commitment to pension improvements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While the union claims that the real estate industry is enjoying \u201crecord high rents, high property values and historic low vacancy rates,\u201d RAB said<\/a> on its website that the industry \u201cis confronting existential threats, including the imposition of 0% rent increases on 1 million rent stabilized NYC apartments, which would severely constrain the industry\u2019s ability to provide wage increases.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Corcoran\u2019s March 2026 NYC Residential Rental Market Report, rents in Brooklyn have indeed reached record highs<\/a>, with a median rent of $4,296 per month (that includes apartments of all sizes and all Brooklyn neighborhoods). Manhattan rents have also reached a new, all-time high, at $5,000 per month.<\/p>\n

A strike would affect roughly 600,000 New York City households, or more than 1 million residents, according to 32BJ SEIU.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"32BJ32BJ SEIU strike captains gathered with the union\u2019s president, Manny Pastreich (center), on Thursday in front of 101 Clark Street in Brooklyn Heights. Photo: 32BK SEIU
\nNo FedEx, UPS or DHL deliveries<\/p>\n

Building managers are warning tenants that FedEx, UPS and DHL will not make deliveries for the duration of the potential strike, as it is likely these vendors will not cross the picket lines. (Food and other small deliveries, in most cases, will be allowed as far as the lobby.) In addition, building renovations will come to a stop and move-ins will be suspended.<\/p>\n

One Brooklyn Heights cooperative sent tenants a fact sheet calling on residents to sign up for volunteer assignments if the strike is called. \u201cWe will need people to sit at the front desk and able-bodied individuals to pick up garbage and recycling. We also need volunteers to help neighbors that may need assistance,\u201d the communication said. (Volunteers should note that garbage collection takes place three mornings a week between 5:30 \u2013 8:30 a.m.)<\/p>\n

While some workers said they were worried that a strike could drag on, Sal, a superintendent at a building on Kings Highway, told the Eagle he believes the odds of the union actually going on strike are low. \u201cI feel strongly we\u2019re going to be winning a decent contract, and it\u2019s going to be agreed upon,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Sal had a message for tenants: \u201cSupport our union. We\u2019re all on your side, and we give you the best of services that we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last building workers\u2019 strike, which lasted 12 days, took place in 1991. A strike was averted<\/a> in April 2022 when workers reached a deal with RAB which included a post-COVID-19 raise and 100% employer-paid health care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CITYWIDE \u2014 Tenants in residential buildings across New York City might soon have to bag their own garbage…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195891,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[38044,5324,9,5325,56,63,65,64,71091,7978],"class_list":["post-195890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-32bj-seiu","tag-mary-frost","tag-new-york","tag-no-paywall","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-realty-advisory-board-on-labor-relations","tag-tenants"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195890"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195890\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}