Bronx Co-op / Condo Workers Rally as Strike Looms
March 10, 2011; updated 8:47 p.m.— With a potential strike by building staff represented by Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union less than a week away, workers and politicians were scheduled to rally today in The Bronx. In addition, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. directly entered into the fray this afternoon.
Approximately 3,000 building superintendents, janitors, handypersons, porters, doorpersons, elevator operators and others could go on strike should an agreement with the borough's realty board not be reached before the 12:01 a.m., Tuesday, March 15, expiration of the current contract. The union estimates this would affect more than a quarter of a million residents living in over 1,000 apartment, condo and co-op buildings in the borough.
In addition to workers, supporters and 32BJ Vice President Kyle Bragg, the 4 p.m. rally at Franz Segal Park, 153rd Street and Grand Concourse, was set to include Congressman José E. Serrano (D-16th District), State Senator Jeffrey Klein (D-Bronx/Westchester), New York State Assembly members Carl Heastie (D-83rd A.D.) and Vanessa Gibson (D-77th A.D.) and New York City Council members Larry Seabrook (D-District 17) and Fernando Cabrera (D-District 14)
Contract negotiations between 32BJ and the The Bronx Realty Advisory Board have been underway since early February. The union said several issues, including health care and retirement savings, remain unresolved.
Borough president Diaz late Thursday (March 10) afternoon announced he will hold a press conference Sunday, March 13, at 2 p.m. on the steps of the Bronx County Courthouse, at 851 Grand Concourse, "to call for fair negotiations," according to his spokesperson.
"The owners and operators of these buildings have seen increasing and escalating costs over the past three years of the existing contract," William Schur, president of the BRAB, told Habitat last month, "and due to the current economic situation are trying to negotiate a fair and reasonable contract for both sides."
Last June, a week-long lockout by management of 500 Co-op City members of 32BJ ended when the staffers returned to work under their previous contract's salaries and benefits while negotiators returned to the bargaining table. After bringing in the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, a government agency, the two sides reached a tentative agreement on June 23 and ratified it shortly afterward.
A citywide strike was averted last April 21, when the Realty Advisory Board for Labor Relations (RAB) and union negotiators struck a last-minute agreement for a four-year contract covering 30,000 workers. The union claims membership of 70,000 in New York state and 120,000 members concentrated in eight states..
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