New York doormen strike averted with contract deal

NEW YORK, Apr 21: A threatened strike by New York doormen and apartment workers was averted today, sparing hundreds of thousands of city residents from having to hail their own taxis or take their trash to the curb.

The 28,000 workers, mainly in Manhattan, had threatened to walk off the job at 3,500 city residences by midnight on Thursday after failing in two months of negotiations to come to terms on wages and benefits.

The threatened strike, which would have affected up to 1 million residents, was postponed just before midnight as both sides reported sudden progress in the talks. Less than two hours later, the doormen's union and building owners announced a tentative four-year contract.

The agreement, which must be approved by the union membership, provides workers an average wage increase of about 2 percent a year -- a boost the union acknowledged was unlikely to keep pace with inflation.

It also requires building owners to continue full payment of workers' health insurance premiums and ensures employee insurance co-payments will not be raised, said Matthew Nerzig, a spokesman for Local 32BJ of the Building Service Workers Union.

''At a time when health care costs are increasing dramatically, the agreement will preserve our health benefits, which was our main concern,'' Nerzig said.

Building owners previously insisted on a wage freeze and called on workers to significantly finance their own health care, Nerzig said.

''We did this in recognition of the cost of living in New York City and the turmoil that a strike would cause for our residents and employees,'' the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, which represents building owners, said of the agreement.

A strike would have left apartment owners and residents to perform tasks performed by their doormen, porters and handymen -- everything from pressing elevator buttons to moving furniture and taking in deliveries.

Doormen currently earn an average of about 37,000 dollars a year, the union said. They also receive tips for special services and as recognition on holidays.

REUTERS