NEW YORK CITY-For the Real Estate Board of New York's 117th Annual Banquet on Jan. 17, GlobeSt.com is partnering with the organization and interviewing this year's award winners. Click here to get more information about this year's banquet. In this segment, we interviewed Mike Fishman, the international executive vice president of the Service Employees International Union, who will be presented with the 2012 Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award Winner. He spoke with us about what the award means to him and what he sees in the market.

GlobeSt.com: What does the award and REBNY mean to you?

Mike Fishman: I am very honored to be receiving this award from REBNY. As the president of 32BJ, we have worked with REBNY over the years and the 13 years I was president, we began our relationship in the early days and gradually learned how to work together in the later days. We are really working together for our mutual interest, which is helping to make the real estate industry thrive in New York, which helps the owners, partners and workers, who we represent, in the real estate industry.