New York City’s office-building workers, organized by SEIU 32BJ, are in the midst of contract negotiations with the city’s commercial building owners and managers. The workers are fighting for a much needed pay increase – a pay increase that the industry can well afford. Despite their complaints, the real estate industry – commercial and residential – is doing just fine (i.e. booming!) in NY.
Steven Greenhouse has this in today’s NY Times:
“Clearly, money is the issue,” said Mike Fishman, the union’s president. “We believe the industry is in good shape and has had an incredible three years, while working people are being squeezed out of New York. We need to make sure that our people earn enough money to make it possible to live in the city.”
Union officials repeatedly cite one fact: Average asking rents for office space in New York have soared 47 percent a square foot over the past three years.
And
We tell them that a 1 percent increase in our compensation will cost them only about 2 cents a square foot,” Mr. Fishman said. “That’s hardly anything compared with the increases they’ve received of more than $20 a square foot in rent since 2004.”
So while the real estate industry is crying about “Wall Street’s troubles,” the workers are fighting for a piece of the pie.
Actually, this is much more than workers fighting for a fair wage increase, it is workers fighting to be able to stay in their communities, to continue to live in the city they call home.
Rents are going up and incomes are going down. New York is quickly becoming a city of the very rich and the very poor. The middle class and low income New Yorkers are getting pushed out of their neighborhoods. This is hitting renters particularly hard and in all likelihood many of these workers are renters in the city. Like so many, the office-building workers are simply fighting to stay (and stay afloat).
Maybe it is just that time of year, but the greedy Mr. Grinch song keeps ringing in my ears. A rally and strike vote are to take place tomorrow….
Posted by Natasha Winegar.
