Posts tagged 32BJ SEIU
NYC firefighter unions back Andrew Cuomo for mayor, solidifying labor support
May 13, 2025 // He has secured the lion’s share of endorsements from labor unions compared to his rivals including: the Teamsters, health care workers 1199SEIU, 32BJ SEIU, the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council and most of the construction trade unions. UFA, which represents 20,000 firefighters, endorsed Andrew Yang in the 2021 primary while current Mayor Eric Adams. had been previously received support from the UFOA — which has 7,500 members including lieutenants, captains, battalion chiefs, deputy chiefs, supervising fire marshals and medical officers.
An embattled Adams gathers his union allies at Gracie Mansion
January 31, 2025 // Mayor Eric Adams, who has been laying low with a reported medical condition this week, hosted two union presidents at Gracie Mansion on Monday night as he contemplates his political future. The meetings — confirmed by two people with direct knowledge of them, who were granted anonymity to freely discuss a private event — come as Adams grapples with an upcoming corruption trial, sagging poll numbers and dire financial problems.
Why the protests at American Dream? Workers try to unionize, clash with employers
September 19, 2024 // They’re cleaning staff trying to organize and join part of the union 32BJ Service Employees International Union, and they’ve been protesting the treatment of several of their fellow workers at American Dream. Among their grievances, 32BJ alleged that two people working at the mall as cleaning staff — Jose Terán and Luis Verela — were fired because of their union organizing efforts by HSA Cleaning, a company the mall contracted for cleaning services.
NEW YORK; Union authorizes strike if contract reopened
April 2, 2024 // But Billy Schur, the president of the Bronx Realty Advisory Board, says the union is not considering the whole picture. “Last night’s vote by 32BJ fails to address the fundamental fact that rising expenses in the real estate industry, coupled with the devastating effects of the 2019 Housing Stability Tenant Protection Act have created an unsustainable downward spiral for Bronx property owners,” he said, in a statement. “Building service workers along with residents of the Bronx must join with property owners to call for action and the pursuit of alternatives that will protect housing affordability while allowing for the survival of Bronx buildings.” Schur said the combination of “draconian regulations” as well as a complete collapse of the Bronx housing courts, have created an environment where expenses have surpassed revenue, and where most Bronx rental properties are headed toward financial collapse. “We hope the union will work alongside property owners instead of encouraging grandstanding as the Bronx begins to burn,” Schur said.
‘Louisville is a union town’: A look back at the 2023 labor movement in the metro area
December 19, 2023 // This year, Kentucky saw 16 labor actions, including strikes and protests, which is more than the combined total of labor events in 2021 and 2022, according to Cornell ILR’s Labor Action Tracker as of Dec. 7. Each of these labor actions, from union giants such as Teamsters Local 89 at UPS and United Auto Workers Local 862 at Ford to the smaller labor actions at places including Heine Brothers Coffee, Sunergos Coffee and Rainbow Blossom, have resulted in victories for Louisville workers. “People are realizing, those that work for a living in places like Ford, in places like GE [Appliances], UPS and other large employers as well as the smaller employers, the baristas in these coffee shops ... that their only real option to progress themselves at their jobs and in their lives is to come together in solidarity as union members,” Londrigan said.
Labor unions urge regulators to press big U.S. railroads on employment and service levels
December 7, 2023 // Employment levels for train crews, maintenance workers, and shop forces is down 13% at BNSF, 22% at CSX, 28% at NS, and 26% at UP compared to 2016, the unions say. “The railroads credit themselves with having increased employment since this Agency held hearings regarding the service failures of the Class I’s in April of 2022. But climbing a few rungs up a ladder in a hole does not mean one is out of the hole,” Edelman wrote. The reductions in staffing levels significantly exceed the decline in rail volume, he says. The smaller workforce means that fewer employees have to inspect, maintain, and repair the same infrastructure. Edelman also says that despite train and engine crew hiring efforts, the railroads remain understaffed and are pressuring employees to work without days off.
Rolling rally highlights push for Uber and Lyft drivers to unionize
July 13, 2023 // The industry-backed group Massachusetts Coalition for Independent Work, which has also rallied drivers at the State House this year, says many drivers prefer the independence that comes with contractor status. The group favors one bill that would establish drivers as independent contractors while also providing some new benefits, and another that would create company-funded “portable benefit accounts” for drivers. Conor Yunits, spokesman for the Massachusetts Coalition for Independent Work, said in a statement to GBH News that unionization bill “would force drivers to become employees for all intents and purposes,” and that his group will “continue to encourage the legislature to bring all parties to the table to find a compromise that protects the independence that drivers demand and the benefits they deserve.” Other bills on Beacon Hill also propose different strategies for addressing the pay, benefits and classification of gig economy drivers. Lawmakers on a pair of committees, the Financial Services Committee and the Labor and Workforce Development Committee, will hold hearings at some point in the two-year session to explore the issues.
New York’s biggest labor actions of the past year
February 28, 2023 // Only one other state, Hawaii, has a unionization rate higher than New York’s 20.7%. In the public sector, just around two-thirds of New Yorkers are in a union. In 2022 alone, nearly 200 workplaces in the state filed for representation through the National Labor Relations Board. But, despite the hype and a 57-year high in Americans’ approval of labor unions, New York’s union participation (and the country’s as a whole) is still trending downward. In 2012, 23.2% of New York workers were union members, 2.5 points higher than it is today. CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies Labor Department Chair Ruth Milkman said that despite 2022’s historic union victories, many were with small firms. “So all this publicity and media attention to these iconic companies that have had some recent experience of successful unionization, it’s kind of a drop in the bucket in terms of the whole labor market in New York,” she said.
School District of Philadelphia workers vote to strike one week before school begins
August 25, 2022 // The district’s maintenance, custodial, and transportation employees voted on Saturday to authorize a strike, as contract negotiations with the district have stalled. The workers, represented by the Services Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 32BJ, rallied at Benjamin Franklin High School on Broad Street in North Philadelphia prior to the vote.
NYC Avoids Strike by 30,000 Doormen, Building Workers
April 21, 2022 // Skylar Woodhouse Tue, April 19, 2022, 4:34 PM·3 min read (Bloomberg) -- New York City residents at more than 3,000 buildings, including the city’s most grand high-rises, can stand down on trash duty as building workers struck a labor deal, ending the possibility of a strike. Most Read from Bloomberg Netflix Tumbles as 200,000 Users Exit for First Drop in Decade In Defense of Elon Musk's Managerial Excellence Twitter Has a Poison Pill Now Putin Calls Time on Foreign Listings in Fresh Hit to Tycoons U.S. Stops Mask Requirement on Planes After Judge’s Ruling More than 30,000 doormen, superintendents and other building employees -- who are being represented by 32BJ SEIU, a powerful union -- negotiated a new contract with the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, a group representing building owners and managers, the organizations announced on Tuesday. The contract is up for renewal every four years, and the latest was set to expire at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday. The board had initially proposed cutting back employees’ vacation days and sick leave. They also wanted staff to cover more of their health-care costs, an expense currently borne by the management firms. As a part of the new contract, union members saw no changes to their vacation days and sick leave, or their health care plans. Annual wage increases will also average 3% over the next four years. Read More: NYC Braces for Doorman Strike as Negotiations Enter Final Hours “We got a deal done that our members have earned and deserved,” 32BJ President Kyle Bragg said in a statement. The union had said the board’s original terms were unfair considering how doormen, superintendents and other building workers played a key role in keeping apartment buildings functioning as much of the world shut down in during the pandemic, often endangering their own health in the process. The negotiation also came as the U.S. is goes through a period of labor unrest not seen since the early 1980s. The labor union had authorized a strike if a deal was not reached, leading buildings around the city to craft contingency plans for disruptions. In some cases, that meant asking residents to help with mail sorting, trash collection and security. The last New York apartment workers strike was in 1991 and lasted for 12 days.