‘We Make NYC Home’: 34,000 Residential Building Workers Launch Labor Negotiations

On Thursday, 32BJ SEIU residential building service workers kicked off negotiations for the contract covering more than 34,000 porters, doorpersons, superintendents, handypersons and resident managers who maintain 600,000 households across 3,500 Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island co-ops, condos and apartment buildings. The current four-year industry-wide labor agreement between 32BJ SEIU and the New York City residential real estate industry, represented by the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations (RAB) expires on April 20, 2026. The RAB was created in response to 32BJ’s 1934 elevator operator strike.

1,100 and counting 32BJ SEIU Strike Captains are preparing for a possible strike if necessary to protect their benefits and catch up to the cost of living and inflation. 32BJ SEIU members announced their top demands:

• safeguarding comprehensive fully employer paid family health care that currently insures thousands of members and their families;
• fair wage increases to catch up and keep pace with the cost of living and inflation;
• strengthening the pension benefit;
• protecting legal and training benefits;
• protecting immigrant members;
• improving work conditions and paid leave.

32BJ SEIU residential building service workers maintain historic pre-war co-ops on Park Avenue, to new developments, condos on the Upper West Side and luxury apartment complexes across the four covered boroughs. 32BJ SEIU members keep New York City homes safe and secure through all imaginable emergencies. Their day-to-day duties include cleaning all surfaces, clearing snow and ice, collecting and taking out the trash, welcoming residents and guests at the door, keeping residents safe, maintaining building heat, AC, electrical, sprinkler and other systems, painting walls, guarding and organizing packages, and much more. They are often called upon to respond to emergencies – be it an act of violence, a power outage, a snow storm or medical emergency – notifying and coordinating with police and medical personnel when necessary. Follow the workers' fight for a fair contract on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook!