{"id":587150,"date":"2026-04-16T05:23:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T05:23:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/587150\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T05:23:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T05:23:14","slug":"nyc-residential-building-workers-vote-to-go-on-strike-over-wages-healthcare-starting-tuesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/587150\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC residential building workers vote to go on strike over wages, healthcare starting Tuesday"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joined by Mayor Mamdani and elected officials, thousands of building service workers flooded Park Ave. on Manhattan\u2019s Upper East Side Wednesday afternoon before voting to authorize a strike<\/a> that could cripple the homes of 1.5 million New Yorkers.<\/p>\n

With the clock ticking on a contract that expires Monday night, around 4,000 unionized doormen, handymen, porters, superintendents and building managers packed the tony avenue, which was shut down to car traffic between 79th and 83rd Sts.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a union rally on Park Ave., in New York, Wednesday, April 15, 2026. (AP Photo\/Seth Wenig)<\/p>\n

They warned residents could lose their services unless an agreement is reached<\/a> on health care, wages and pensions.<\/p>\n

However, Howard Rothschild, president of the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, argued the city\u2019s \u201cresidential 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<\/p>\n

\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 he said in a statement to the Daily News. \u201cNow is the time for both sides to come together and negotiate a contract that reflects these realities and supports a viable path forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

A \u201cshow of hands\u201d vote by the assembled building service workers was held \u2014 authorizing 34,000 building service workers across the city to walk off the job early next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel very, very confident that the building owners, the co-ops and the condos can do what\u2019s basic for the folks that take care of them every day,\u201d said Manny Pastreich, president of 32BJ<\/a> Service Employees International Union. \u201cOur plan is, on Tuesday morning, if we don\u2019t have a contract, our members will be ready to strike.\u201d<\/p>\n

The union is at odds with the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, which has been asked to scrap proposals to shift the cost of health care onto workers, Pastreich said.<\/p>\n

The contract covers workers who maintain 3,500 Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island co-ops, condos and apartment buildings that are home to 600,000 households.<\/p>\n

\"AA “show of hands” vote was held by the assembled members, authorizing 34,000 building service workers across the city to walk off the job early next week. (Kerry Burke \/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

The members\u2019 day-to-day duties include cleaning surfaces, clearing snow and ice, collecting and taking out trash, welcoming residents and guests and organizing signing for and receiving packages.<\/p>\n

At the massive Park Ave.<\/a> rally, workers turned the heat up on building owners.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the residential real estate industry is collecting record-high rents, this city is becoming more unaffordable for working people every day,\u201d Pastreich said. \u201cOur members are essential to this industry and to New York City. So while the RAB wants to cut costs on the backs of workers, we won\u2019t allow it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mamdani gave full-throated support for the building service workers, touting New York as \u201ca union town.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that I\u2019m 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,\u201d he said. \u201cI know that I\u2019m 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will always be a town that is union strong, and that means that we fight for good jobs,\u201d the mayor said. \u201cThat means that we stand with our neighbors when wages and benefits are on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our living,\u201d Derbet King, 61, a building superintendent from Queens, told the Daily News. \u201cI been in the union 32<\/a> years. I\u2019ve raised an entire family on this job and with this health care \u2014 and we\u2019re not giving it back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have two sons in the union. One is a porter on Riverside Drive and the other is a porter in Electchester, Queens,\u201d he said, referring to a Queens co-op built by the electrical workers union. \u201cWe have three generations here. We don\u2019t want to strike, but we want a fair contract. If not, we\u2019re out on strike. Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need decent health care, to protect our benefits and raise our wages,\u201d said Erica Kardelky, 35, a Brooklyn concierge, as she waved a 32BJ flag. \u201cIt\u2019s gotten more difficult over the last few years. Prices have gone up on everything. If we can\u2019t come to a fair agreement, we\u2019re ready to strike.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pamela Murray, 37, a Manhattan porter who lives in Queens, echoed, \u201cThe way the cost of living is rising, our wages and benefits aren\u2019t matching. We have to get second jobs to make ends meet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we want is what\u2019s fair,\u201d she said. \u201cThe kind of work we do is important. We do the dirty work. When nobody goes to work, we still do.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Colin Mixson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joined by Mayor Mamdani and elected officials, thousands of building service workers flooded Park Ave. on Manhattan\u2019s Upper…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[7053,3237,69156,97,252,253,2558,983,2005,1999,186702,3,34905,256835],"class_list":{"0":"post-587150","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-city","9":"tag-county","10":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-health-care","13":"tag-healthcare","14":"tag-latest-headlines","15":"tag-local-news","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-new-york-county","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-nyc-crime","21":"tag-sub-county-region"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}