No progress for building workers' contract, negotiators say

BY JENNIFER SMITH | Newsday Staff Writer

April 20, 2006

With their deadline fast approaching, negotiators reported no significant progress Wednesday toward a new contract between city residential building owners and the unionized doormen, porters and elevator operators who work at their properties.

The current three-year contract is set to expire at midnight tonight, raising the possibility of a strike that could leave doors and elevators unmanned at about 3,000 buildings across New York City if an agreement is not reached.

Wednesday the main roadblocks, union officials said, remained health care benefits for the 28,000 workers and a first-year wage freeze proposed by the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, which represents the building owners.

Local 32BJ of Service Employees International Union, which represents the workers, has resisted a push by the building owners' group for workers to contribute 15 percent of the cost of their health insurance. Under the current contract, building workers do not contribute to their premiums but do pay for prescriptions and copayments for visits to the doctor, union spokesman Matt Nerzig said.

In a written statement issued Wednesday afternoon, Realty Advisory Board president James Berg said the owners faced "dramatic increases in operating costs, especially with regard to health benefits," which he said cost employers about $10,000 a year for each employee.

"With the real estate industry doing this well, we will not give in to a wage freeze or any health care premium," Nerzig said. "Our workers make $37,100 a year and have no capacity to pay health care premiums," Nerzig said.

City officials, in a news conference on the steps of City Hall yesterday, called on both sides to negotiate fairly, but offered no specific template for an agreement.

"This has left tens of thousands of people facing uncertainty," said city comptroller Bill Thompson, referring to residents who live in the buildings where contracts are set to expire.

Staff writer Bryan Virasami contributed to this story.