BY MARK HALLUM | Doormen and maintenance workers at a Financial District building called a strike Thursday against the board of 90 William St., claiming they have not received a raise in seven years, and the one they did receive was paltry at best.
Service workers union 32BJ filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board after management backed out of talks to give the employees a four-dollar per-hour raise, up from their current $20.67 an hour wage.
Negotiations have fallen short of satisfactory as they attempt move the workers onto a better pension package and the union standard of $24.75, according to 32BJ New York Metro District Vice President John Santos.
“Workers here at this building have been in negotiations for about two years now with the board and in the summer, one of our last bargaining sessions, they started to recess – they went backwards. Throughout bargaining they agreed to the pension for the workers, they agreed to pay raises,” Santos said. “We had agreed on a wage [hike], it was reasonable. They would have a four-year progression to catch up… They came back to the table and withdrew their proposal on the pension and went back on the wages. They wanted to keep talking so we filed charges.”
There are nine total workers in the building, including the super, according to Miguel Rodriguez, who works as a doorman and said his last raise was seven years ago and was only fifty cents.
“They’re just asking what every other doorman and residential worker in this area is making,” Santos continued.
New Bedford Management Corp. operates the building and the manager did not immediately respond to a request for comment. This story will be updated once The Villager receives word.
