NEW YORK \u2013 Thousands of New York City apartment building doorpersons, superintendents and other workers voted to authorize a potential strike Wednesday after contract negotiations snagged over issues including health care and pensions. <\/p>\n
A strike would be the first in 35 years and would affect 1.5 million renters, co-op owners and condo dwellers across the city, according to the workers’ union, called 32BJ SEIU. Residents could have to take on such tasks as staffing doors, sorting packages, mopping hallways, sweeping sidewalks and hauling trash to the curb.<\/p>\n
If no deal is reached, a strike could start as soon as midnight Monday, when the current contract expires. <\/p>\n
The union says building owners are trying to squeeze 34,000 workers who already strive to afford the pricey metro area on salaries that average about $62,000 a year for doorpersons. Averages vary for other jobs. <\/p>\n
Building owners, represented by an umbrella group called the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, say they are facing financial pressures themselves. They want the workers to start paying health insurance premiums and want new hires to come in under a new job classification that the union says would be lower-paying. <\/p>\n
At a rally that stretched for more than four blocks along Manhattan’s Park Avenue on Wednesday, thousands of workers held up cards that said \u201cYES I am ready to strike\u201d as some of their colleagues looked on from their posts at doorways on the tony boulevard. <\/p>\n
Adam Cintron, a doorperson at a building elsewhere in Manhattan, was hoping a deal would avert a strike. But he is concerned about keeping up with the cost of living. <\/p>\n
\u201cI love my job,” Cintron said as he attended the rally with his rescue dog, Jett, whom a dog-loving resident of the building helped him find. To Cintron, that is an indication of residents’ regard for the staffers who work to ensure their home runs smoothly. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe try to take care of everyone,\u201d said Cintron, 39.<\/p>\n
While battling owners\u2019 health care and new-hires proposals, the union is pushing to increase pensions and increase wages, although it has yet to make an exact proposal on pay. Union President Manny Pastreich emphasized that workers face rising costs, including rents \u2014 a source of income for \u201cthe very same building owners who say they have to come after our health care to make ends meet.\u201d<\/p>\n