Israel Torres says his hourly pay has barely budged, after accounting for inflation, since he began work as a doorman at a luxury Upper West Side co-op overlooking Central Park in 1995.<\/p>\n
He makes about $30 an hour, which has about the same buying power<\/a> as the nearly $13 he earned just starting out. Torres, who’s 52 and has three adult children, says he\u2019s feeling the effects of rising milk, egg and gas prices, and he tries to cut costs by eating out less, among other things.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very tough out here right now,\u201d said Torres, who lives in Lodi, New Jersey. \u201cIt\u2019s tough to manage, but this is something that we have to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Torres is among the 34,000 doormen, concierges, building cleaners, superintendents, handymen, property managers and other building services workers who will vote on Wednesday over whether to authorize a strike if they can\u2019t reach a new contract with building owners in the coming days.<\/p>\n A strike could begin as soon as Monday, when the workers\u2019 current contract expires, marking the first strike by building workers since 1991. They serve some 600,000 co-ops, apartments, and condos in 3,500 buildings across the boroughs except the Bronx, according to their union, 32BJ Service Employees International Union, or SEIU.<\/p>\n A walkout would leave an estimated 1.5 million residents to mind their own doors, take out their own trash, accept package deliveries and otherwise tend to their own building needs. Wednesday\u2019s vote comes amid renewed attention to affordability issues in New York City and across the country, including service worker wages and rising living costs.<\/p>\n Mayor Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, has already signaled his support for the building workers in their negotiations with building owners, after aligning himself with delivery workers and striking nurses in his first months in office.<\/p>\n \u201cUnder our administration, New York is, and always will be, a union town,\u201d Mamdani said in a statement ahead of a planned rally Wednesday with 32BJ SEIU. \u201cWe are sending a clear message to every building owner that the hardworking members of 32BJ will not be pushed around by anyone. They deserve a fair contract that values their contributions to our neighborhoods and to our city.\u201d<\/p>\n Union leaders say they are seeking higher wage and pension benefits, along with improved work conditions and paid leave. On the other side of the bargaining table is the Realty Advisory Board On Labor Relations, or RAB, which represents about 3,000 building owners. The board is asking union workers to share in the costs of their health insurance and also seeking the introduction of a new \u201cTier II\u201d workforce, for those hired after April 20, who would make less money than previously hired counterparts \u2014 measures also opposed by union leaders.<\/p>\n \u201cThe New York City residential real estate industry is facing mounting pressures, including the likelihood of 0% rent increases on stabilized units for years to come, overregulation, and rising operating costs,\u201d Howard Rothschild, president of the RAB, said in a statement. \u201cWithout meaningful movement to address costs, including healthcare contributions and the establishment of a Tier II structure, the long-term sustainability of the industry and its workforce is at risk.\u201d<\/p>\n The RAB estimates that the average doorman or porter under the union contract earns approximately $62,000 annually. With the cost of health insurance and other benefits included, that compensation equates to $112,000, according to the board.<\/p>\n The union has cast the contract negotiations as a battle over affordability and economic security in New York City, where 90% of the union members live. The union contract covers workers at most of the city\u2019s residential buildings, except in the Bronx.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aThese are the folks that cleared all the snow this past winter, worked through the pandemic, show up every single day to take out the trash, clean the buildings, take care of the residents,\u201d 32BJ SEIU President Manny Pastreich said in an interview. \u201cWhat we’re asking for is to ensure that they can keep up with the cost of everything. Just fair wage increases that allow them to continue to live in the city.\u201d<\/p>\n Pastreich called the RAB\u2019s claims about a potential rent freeze on rent-stabilized apartments a “distraction,” adding that rent-stabilized units comprise only a small fraction of the residential buildings with workers represented by the union. Pastreich said two-thirds of the unionized building workers are based at condos or co-ops and a third are in rented apartments, with just 3% of all the workers based at rent-stabilized apartments.<\/p>\n After the building workers\u2019 last strike in 1991, which lasted 12 days and affected 2,800 buildings, workers and building owners \u201cessentially split the difference on wages, the chief issue in the strike,\u201d according to the New York Times<\/a>. Roughly 30,000 building workers \u2014 including doormen, elevator operators, handymen, and porters \u2014 won a three-year-contract with annual wage increases averaging about 4%.<\/p>\n