Luxury building workers protest low wages, subpar benefits

A group of porters, maintenance workers, concierges and doormen protested working conditions at luxury apartment buildings in Chelsea Thursday, lobbying for higher wages and improved benefits, Gothamist reported.

The Vesta Group’s 16-unit condominium, which opened in the fall of 2008 at 231 10th Avenue, asks upwards of $1.7 million for a one-bedroom apartment, yet workers in the building say they struggle with no health insurance and wages that hover around $12 per hour.

A doorman from the Sky Garage at 200 Eleventh Avenue told Gothamist that three years of attempts to negotiate improved conditions have gone nowhere.

“They promised me better benefits, better wages, and they never did it, nothing,” John Videal, a doorman from Young Woo’s Sky Garage, told Gothamist.

Mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn, though not present at the protest, sent letters to the boards of three Chelsea buildings noting that she hoped they would use the “generous” tax breaks they received to provide benefits to workers. [Gothamist] — Julie Strickland