The union that represents 85,000 city doorman and other service workers, including building porters and handymen, has a new leader. Hector Figueroa today assumed his new role as president of 32BJ, a division of the Service Employees International Union, which the largest private-sector union in the state and the largest property services union in the U.S. according to a press release issued this afternoon. Figueroa previously served as 32BJ’s secretary-treasurer, a position he has held since 2000.
He replaces Mike Fishman, who is taking a position as executive vice president of the SEIU in Washington, D.C.
Earlier this year, 32BJ joined the Responsible Landmark Coalition along with the Real Estate Board of New York, the New York Building Congress and other associations to limit the number of sites designated as landmarks. The union also represented 70 handymen and porters who got locked out of their job at a Flatbush, Brooklyn property in 2010, following a wages and benefits dispute.
During his time with the union, Figueroa helped establish the American Dream Fund, 32BJ SEIU’s political action fund, the release said. — Zachary Kussin