UPPER EAST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) — The union representing thousands of residential building workers voted “yes” on Wednesday to authorize a strike.
More than 34,000 doormen and women, supers, porters and other workers with 32BJ could now walk off the job as soon as next Tuesday, impacting more than a million New Yorkers across thousands of buildings.
Ahead of the vote, more than 1,000 residential building workers rallied along Park Avenue on the Upper East Side.
“Today, we took over Park Avenue with our allies, including Mayor Mamdani, with a clear message: we are united and 10,000 strong in our demand for a fair union contract,” said 32BJ SEIU President Manny Pastreich.
“Let us prove, not just to this city, but to the world what solidarity looks like,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at the rally.
The union is at odds with the Realty Advisory Board, the group that represents New York City building owners.
Some of the main sticking points are wages and health care.
Under the current four-year deal, members have full family coverage and do not contribute money to the plan.
The Realty Advisory Board insists that model isn’t sustainable, pointing out the average door person makes about $62,000 a year, but costs employers more than $112,000, partly because of healthcare.
Adam Martinez, who has been a doorman on the Upper East Side for 25 years, says the city’s landlords are still profitable enough to afford them.
“You want to take our healthcare, you want to split us, divide and conquer, you want to make a two-tier work system? Why? Why are you trying to cut corners on us? We don’t cut corners with you,” Martinez said.
The board also pointed to the possibility of a rent freeze in rent-stabilized buildings, saying, “Without 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.”
Right now, many of the roughly 1.5 million New Yorkers in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island who would be affected by the job action are coming up with contingency plans.
This very public vote authorization, with supportive political heavy hitters, happens every four years, and even those who’ve seen it many times are still fired up.
“We want fair wages. We don’t want to give anything back. We can’t afford to live here,” said Michael Van Tassel, a doorman in Midtown.
Adam Riles has only been a 32BJ porter for only a couple of years, so Wednesday’s rally was his first, and he was impressed.
“I always wanted to be a part of a union,” he said.
It’s a union that still fully covers healthcare for 200,000 people, including family members, thanks in part to its bargaining power directly with healthcare providers.
The last strike was in 1991 when building workers were off the job for a total of 12 days.
WATCH | The Vault: Eyewitness News coverage of 1991 building workers strike
A look back at Eyewitness News coverage of the 1991 building workers’ strike.
The union, and the board representing employers, have more negotiations planned for Thursday morning.
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