Across the borough, a fleet of Bronx building service workers — porters, door attendants, handy-persons and superintendents — are preparing to go on strike if Tuesday’s last-ditch negotiating session doesn’t result in a new contract before midnight, when their pre-pandemic labor contract with Bronx Realty Advisory Board (BRAB) expires.
Heading into Monday’s negotiations, both the board and union workers with 32BJ SEIU felt that talks were progressing when BRAB withdrew three proposals that had been sticking points, including limiting worker health coverage to 5-star centers, a separate contract for superintendents and modifying the “just cause” discipline standard for superintendents.
But both sides left the bargaining table Monday — the fifth such session during ongoing contract negotiations — without an agreement and increased tensions.
Officials from 32BJ SEIU told the Bronx Times that the gulf in negotiations revolves around wages, stating that BRAB offered a six-month extension for contract talks Monday with zero increases and a proposal, they say, to peg essential workers’ wages and benefits to a pending decision of the NYC Rent Guidelines Board.
“Our members are now in full-blown preparation for a possible strike. These essential workers have kept residents safe and felt the cost of COVID-19 and its economic pressures,” said Shirley Aldebol, 32BJ executive vice president and director of the Bronx Residential Division. “After five bargaining sessions the BRAB backtracked and derailed our session [Monday] by offering a six month contract extension with zero wage increases and the potential for several years of wage freezes and benefits cuts. We made an offer that was consistent with past BRAB negotiations and negotiations in other residential contracts that have settled since the onset of the pandemic.”
BRAB officials told the Bronx Times that they believe the union “refused” to counter their offer, which they say is based…
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