Upper East Side - On Strike!

Steven Greenhouse reports on the looming strike deadline for 28,000 NYC doormen and superintendents this week.

Tensions are greater than usual because management says it is being
squeezed by rising health and heating costs, while the union, Local 32BJ of the
Service Employees International Union, says soaring real estate prices should
make it easy for management to afford a generous contract.

"The industry continues to enjoy increasing real estate values and rents,
and they can easily afford the kind of increases we need," said Michael Fishman,
the union's president.
Management complains that it will pay $10,700 for
health coverage next year for each of the union's doormen, elevator operators,
handymen, porters and superintendents, up $1,000 from this year. To help offset
the rising costs, management is demanding a wage freeze in the first year of a
new three-year contract.

Mr. Fishman said the union could not accept a freeze because workers
are facing higher costs for rent, fuel, food and college educations for their
children. The union has also rejected management's proposals to have workers
switch to 401(k) plans from traditional pensions, and to begin paying 15 percent
of their health insurance costs.

"Their proposal on health insurance would mean in effect a 4 percent cut in
pay," Mr. Fishman said, noting that the workers earn an average of $37,300 a
year.

"It's a terrible atmosphere in this country for unions," he added. "Every
negotiation is a defensive one, and we're going to draw the line."
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In lopsided votes during the past month, Local 32BJ's members authorized their leaders to call a strike if talks falter before Friday.

"A wage freeze is a terrible idea — it's unacceptable," said Edward Bonilla, a concierge at 300 East 74th Street, a co-op building with 238 apartments.

"Everything is going up right now. My kids are going to college. I can hardly pay for that. The way I see it, a wage freeze, givebacks on medical, on pensions, they would all be a strike issue."

The two sides say it is hard to assess the likelihood of a walkout, although they agree that a strike seems likelier than at any other time in the past decade. The apartment building workers last walked out in 1991, in a 12-day strike.