NEW YORK CITY-It’s official: the Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union has ratified a four-year contract with the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations on Friday morning. The deal—previously ratified by RAB’s board of directors at the beginning of January—guarantees a 5.6% wage increase, bonuses and the preservation of employer-paid health benefits for more than 22,000 commercial office cleaners across the five boroughs.
“This is a fair agreement with modest wage increases that will help the 22,000 building cleaners remain a part of the city’s middle class,” says Mike Fishman president of 32BJ SEIU, in a statement following the vote. “This contract will help workers support their families, and contribute to the growth of the economy."
The contract, set to expire in 2015, also establishes a new development committee that will focus on newly-constructed buildings and negotiating special agreements. The project, which will be guided by directors from both 32BJ and the commercial real estate community, will explore ways for the union and the industry to work together to advance economic development and protect jobs, according to 32BJ.
Howard Rothschild, president of RAB, previously told GlobeSt.com that the program would be the equivalent of a maintenance project-labor agreement, or PLA. “Through that type of system, this collective bargaining agreement will strengthen and grow the real estate industry in New York and put people back to work,” he said.
The union represents cleaning staff in more than 1,000 buildings across the city, including Rockefeller Center, the Empire State Building, the MetLife Building, the Chrysler Building, Grand Central Station, the Port Authority Bus Terminal and Time Warner Center.
“Both sides came to this negotiation in good faith to negotiate an agreement,” Rothschild said. “We received some of our goals, the union achieved some of their goals and at the end of the day, the winners in all of this are the industry and its workers.”
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