The Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations is optimistic about its collective bargaining negotiations with Local 32BJ.
The groups met for the second time today to discuss a new collective bargaining agreement for building service employees in New York City residential buildings. The union made its initial proposal to the RAB on February 27.
“Today was another reminder of how well the real estate industry and Local 32BJ work together,” Howard Rothschild, president of the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, said in a statement. “Our relationship, which values cooperation, respect and mutual goals, is a model for labor-management relations in the city and country. The residential real estate industry and 32BJ are jointly creating and supporting more than 30,000 middle class jobs. In addition, the great benefits that come with the job—no healthcare premiums and a defined benefit pension program—put our workers well above the majority of their peers in the U.S. workforce. We want that to continue and we look forward to more productive negotiating sessions that will result in a fair and mutually-agreeable resolution by April 20.”
The current labor agreement expires at midnight on April 20. It which was negotiated in 2010 during the midst of the great recession and provided a 10 percent wage increase over four years, according to the RAB, which said that’s 150 percent greater than the average increases of unionized workers throughout the country during the same time period.
The next negotiating session is scheduled for March 24.
