Thousands of unionized doormen, porters, superintendents, handypersons and workers who keep the city’s residential buildings running smoothly, voted to authorize a strike Wednesday — all over contentious negotiations about a new union contract with building owners.
The current contract expires April 20, and without major concessions from the Realty Advisory Board (RAB), which represents building owners in negotiations with the union 32BJ SEIU, residential building service workers may walk off the job in five days, leaving packages unattended, trash uncollected and essential building systems unrepaired.
President of SEIU, April Verrett emphasized the weight of the offer on the table which 32BJ has called, “insulting.”
“It’s not just a contract expiring,” Verrett said to the crowd. “It’s respect expiring— it’s fairness expiring.”
Union members filled a cherry blossom-lined Park Avenue in Manhattan from 79th Street to 82nd Street. In purple and gold they cheered, chanted and danced under the sun and heat for around 3 hours, waiting to green-light the shut down.
At the center of the dispute is affordability and negotiating a contract that will help union members keep up with the rising cost of living in NYC. Members of 32BJ emphasized a wage increase, zero cost-sharing for healthcare and pension increases as key sticking points in the negotiations. Current union members told amNewYork that a full pension amounted to around 15,000 a year.
Union members cheered and chanted amid the crowd. Thousands showed solidarity with residential building workers and promised to support striking workers. Credit: Sadie Brown
Over a dozen elected officials including City Council Speaker Julie Menin, Council Member and Union leader of 32BJ’s public school service workers Shirley Aldebol, Chair of the Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection Harvey Epstein, Council Majority Leader Sean Abreu, Council Member Farah Louis, Borough Presidents Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Antonio Reynoso, City Comptroller Mark Levine, Council Member Farah Louis, Candidate for U.S. Congress Brad Lander and Mayor Zohran Mamdani, among others.
Candidate for New York’s 10th district, Brad Lander came out to support 32BJ SEIU. Credit: Sadie Brown
Mayor Mamdani told members at the rally that there’s a stark contrast in the way that building service workers live compared to those in the buildings they service.
“ I know that I’m speaking to those who handle DoorDash deliveries for so many, and yet when it comes time for them to go to the grocery store are straining to afford what they need,” Mamdani said. “I know that I’m speaking to those who look after luxury cars and yet sometimes have to be stuck on the slowest buses in the United States of America to get home. I know that I’m speaking to those who maintain multimillion dollar apartments, and yet when they get home, struggle to understand how they can make rent on the first of the month.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani addressed the 32BJ SEIU union and illustrated the differences in the quality of life for members compared to the residents they serve. Credit: Sadie Brown
But RAB contended that the entire portfolio of unionized residential buildings in the city can’t be defined by the multimillion dollar condos on Park Avenue. It’s hinted at its reluctance to come to the table and promise wage increases is—at least indirectly— tied to Mayor Mamdani’s “last resort” to fill historic budget gaps by raising property taxes.
A spokesperson for RAB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Supporters at the strike rally pointed to historically high rents and profits for landlords as an argument that RAB was strong arming the union despite strong profits.
But for the residents in coops and condos, especially those that fall on the lower end of the income scale, Peter Massa, a partner at Fox Rothschild who provides legal advice to cooperative boards and condominiums told amNewYork that the stakes are different than for commercially owned apartments.
“ The buildings are obviously hoping to keep costs down as much as they can because they observe those costs, they wanna see their staff members fairly paid and taken care of, but all of the co-ops and condos are not-for-profit enterprises and zero budgets, so any increase in wages, health benefits—whatever it is— is coming directly out of the residents’ pockets, and that’s really the difference.”
As the April 20 deadline looms, both sides maintain their ground and the fate of residential buildings hanging in the balance.