News
Building Workers · Labor Agreement · NYC Real Estate · Strike Averted
Union leaders representing 34,000 New York City apartment building workers, including doorpersons and superintendents, reached a tentative contract agreement with private building owners, averting a strike that would have impacted 1.5 million residents and securing pay raises and a 15% pension boost.
This deal, announced by union President Manny Pastreich, came just days before the existing contract with the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations was set to expire. The agreement includes a rise in average annual wages for a doorperson or porter from $62,000 to $71,000 over four years, alongside a new training program designed to accelerate future hires' wage progression.
Building owners, represented by Howard Rothschild, conceded on proposals to introduce health insurance premiums for employees and create a lower-paid job classification for new hires. In return, owners received a break on some payments into a health fund with a built-up reserve.
Negotiations were tense, with the union citing members' struggles with New York-area bills against owners' sharply rising rents for market-rate apartments. Owners countered by highlighting their own rising costs and the potential rent freeze on 1 million rent-stabilized apartments, an idea championed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Workers will vote on the tentative agreement by May 28; a strike would have been the first in 35 years, with the last one in 1991 lasting 12 days.
