Doormen, Residential Building Service Workers Vote to Strike

With Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin cheering them on, the workers of 32BJ SEIU authorized a strike on Wednesday afternoon.

The strike authorization by the doormen and residential building service workers of the city was approved after a rally on the Upper East Side, Bloomberg reported. The union’s labor agreement is set to expire on Apr. 20, meaning workers could walk off the job as soon as Monday.

The union represents nearly 34,000 workers who ply their trades at approximately 3,500 co-ops, condos and multifamily buildings across the city. Property owners have scrambled to prepare for the looming strike, recruiting volunteers to take care of services such as package distribution and lobby maintenance.

“Stand together for the contract that you deserve, the contract that you have earned,” 32BK SEIU president Manny Pastreich told members.

At the heart of the dispute is health care coverage, as well as wages. The union is opposing potential cuts to health care and wants to see pay rise to help workers deal with the rising cost of living and a stronger pension fund.

The advisory board to property owners, the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, is calling on staffers to contribute to health care premiums and is threatening an additional classification for future employees that would see them making less than their more experienced counterparts.

“The New York City residential real estate industry is facing mounting pressures, including the likelihood of 0 percent rent increases on stabilized units for years to come, overregulation, and rising operating costs,” Howard Rothschild, president of RAB, said in a statement

The impact of the strike would stretch beyond the services residents of the buildings have come to expect. Incoming tenants could face delayed move-ins and residents will need to take out the trash themselves, which could lead to smelly sidewalks if residents don’t comply correctly.

The last strike took place 35 years ago, resolved a dozen days into the stoppage. The two sides took things to the brink four years ago, but were ultimately able to make a deal to stave off a strike.

— Holden Walter-Warner