New York, NY – June 1, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — Co-Op City apartment building workers were locked-out by their employers at Midnight on Tuesday, effectively preventing them from performing their jobs, as their contract expired with Riverbay. The employer action took place hours before a planned worker strike was set to take effect. The contract, which expired at 12:01am Tuesday, covers the 500 porters, handymen, maintenance men, garbage attendants and groundskeepers who maintain the massive complex that is home to 55,000 New Yorkers.
“RiverBay’s refusal to put realistic wage proposals on the table was unacceptable, and their lock-out is a blatant disregard for the tenants as well as the workers of Co-Op City.” said Kyle Bragg, 32BJ Vice President.
In a good faith gesture to prevent a work stoppage, 32BJ offered to extend the contract negotiations late Friday for one week beyond the deadline –but RiverBay flatly rejected the union’s offer.
In the three years since the last contract, the consumer price index (CPI) in the New York City-northern New Jersey area has jumped 7.2%. The cost of milk and many everyday items have climbed more than 10%.
Courtney Lumley is both a resident and a 15-year maintenance man at Co-op City. As a single father of a 13-year-old daughter, he doesn’t know how he’s going to pay his bills.
“It’s a slap in the face to hear RiverBay say we don’t deserve cost of living wage increases,” Lumley said. “We work hard every day to keep the tenants happy and to make RiverBay look good.”
With more than 55,000 residents living in 15,400 units across 35 high rise buildings and seven clusters of townhouses, Co-Op City is the largest housing development in the country and the largest cooperative housing development in the world.
In late April, a strike of 30,000 apartment building workers in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island was averted when 32BJ reached a four year agreement with building owners providing annual wage increases for the workers. The 500 workers at Co-op City are covered by a separate contract.
With more than 120,000 members, including 70,000 in New York, 32BJ is the largest private-sector union in the state.
Contact:
Kwame Patterson: 312-371-2485
Matt Nerzig: 917-584-0787
