Members of a bargaining committee representing New York City commercial building services workers have “overwhelmingly” voted to ratify a new contract with the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, with 99.5% of the voters agreeing to a new contract that provides wage increases, improved retirement benefits and a $3,000 bonus, according to a Feb. 2 news release shared with Facilities Dive.
The ratification comes just weeks after the RAB and the Service Employees International Union local chapter, 32BJ, signed a tentative agreement that provides a progressive four-year wage increase, improved retirement benefits for the first time in 15 years and continued healthcare benefits for 20,000 commercial cleaners, porters, maintenance workers, lobby attendants and other building workers in the city.
As of Dec. 31, members made $29.47, which amounts to $61,300 a year, before taxes, while working for 40 hours a week, 32BJ President Manny Pastreich said in an interview. The new contract includes a wage increase of $149 per week, or $3.725 per hour, by the end of the four-year contract, per the release.
“New York City has one of the highest costs of living in the country and our members struggle to make ends meet. Inflation took a real bite out of our members’ earning power over the last two years,” Pastreich told Facilities Dive. “The negotiated wage increases and bonus were real steps to counteract increasing costs.”
Pastreich noted that the tentative agreement won through the collective bargaining process was “thanks in no small part to the workers’ mobilizations ahead of the contract deadline,” as well as support the workers had garnered from the public’s elected representatives.
Around 8,640 local members, or 43.2% of the building service workers covered by the contract, turned up to vote on Feb. 2, according to a 32BJ spokesperson. “We continued tracking ballots received after the count on Feb. 2, but didn’t tally those votes. By Feb. 9, we had a 52% voter turnout, but those additional votes came in late and weren’t part of the official count,” the spokesperson said.
