Joined by Mayor Mamdani and elected officials, thousands of building service workers flooded Park Ave. on Manhattan’s Upper East Side Wednesday afternoon before voting to authorize a strike that could cripple the homes of 1.5 million New Yorkers.
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.
They warned residents could lose their services unless an agreement is reached on health care, wages and pensions.
However, Howard Rothschild, president of the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, argued the city’s “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.”
“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,” he said in a statement to the Daily News. “Now is the time for both sides to come together and negotiate a contract that reflects these realities and supports a viable path forward.”
A “show of hands” vote by the assembled building service workers was held — authorizing 34,000 building service workers across the city to walk off the job early next week.
“We feel very, very confident that the building owners, the co-ops and the condos can do what’s basic for the folks that take care of them every day,” said Manny Pastreich, president of 32BJ Service Employees International Union. “Our plan is, on Tuesday morning, if we don’t have a contract, our members will be ready to strike.”
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.
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.
The members’ 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.
At the massive Park Ave. rally, workers turned the heat up on building owners.
“While the residential real estate industry is collecting record-high rents, this city is becoming more unaffordable for working people every day,” Pastreich said. “Our 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’t allow it.”
Mamdani gave full-throated support for the building service workers, touting New York as “a union town.”
“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,” he said. “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.
“This will always be a town that is union strong, and that means that we fight for good jobs,” the mayor said. “That means that we stand with our neighbors when wages and benefits are on the line.”
“This is our living,” Derbet King, 61, a building superintendent from Queens, told the Daily News. “I been in the union 32 years. I’ve raised an entire family on this job and with this health care — and we’re not giving it back.”
“I have two sons in the union. One is a porter on Riverside Drive and the other is a porter in Electchester, Queens,” he said, referring to a Queens co-op built by the electrical workers union. “We have three generations here. We don’t want to strike, but we want a fair contract. If not, we’re out on strike. Absolutely.”
“We need decent health care, to protect our benefits and raise our wages,” said Erica Kardelky, 35, a Brooklyn concierge, as she waved a 32BJ flag. “It’s gotten more difficult over the last few years. Prices have gone up on everything. If we can’t come to a fair agreement, we’re ready to strike.”
Pamela Murray, 37, a Manhattan porter who lives in Queens, echoed, “The way the cost of living is rising, our wages and benefits aren’t matching. We have to get second jobs to make ends meet.”
“All we want is what’s fair,” she said. “The kind of work we do is important. We do the dirty work. When nobody goes to work, we still do.”
With Colin Mixson