Posts tagged SEIU 32BJ
Cleaners at American Dream fired for union activity must be rehired, NLRB says
April 25, 2024 // Two former cleaning staff members at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford who said they were fired for trying to organize a union must be reinstated, a three-judge panel has ruled. Previously, the National Labor Relations Board sided with the two former workers, Jose Terán and Luis Valera, who were employed by HSA Cleaning Inc., a company contracted for cleaning services at the Meadowlands megamall.
Unions call on lawmakers to tackle affordable housing
April 17, 2024 // Michael Heller, president of the Association of Riverdale Cooperatives & Condominiums, said he was happy to see the strike averted. “We’re delighted this was avoided and we hope our co-op boards and our co-op leadership can continue to have a productive relationship with their unionized employees for a full three more years,” Heller said. In a statement, realty board president Billy Schur said rising interest and insurance rates, vacancies, and other issues arising from the 2019 Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act were to blame for a hostile environment for property owners throughout the borough. Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz disagreed. “That’s a lot of nonsense,” Dinowitz said. “They’ve been bellyaching about the HSTPA for the past five years. But they certainly didn’t complain when the laws were so heavily skewed toward landlords, when they were making money hand over fist.” The root of the problem, Dinowitz said, is rents are too high. “The solution to everything is not necessarily in Albany,” he said.
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.
NYC Commercial Building Workers Authorize Strike
December 22, 2023 // The board is asking workers to kick in on health insurance premiums — a nonstarter according to the union. 32BJ has a self-funded health plan and has worked to keep health insurance costs down. Its members are among the minority of American workers that do not bear any of the cost of their insurance premiums. The board is also proposing a lower pay rate for new hires and other changes it refers to as “enhanced flexibility.” But 32BJ leaders disparage this idea, saying it’s akin to the two-tier wage system auto industry workers overturned this fall.
‘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.
The business of tipping: experts, unions and tip workers weigh in on gratuity in 2023
August 23, 2023 // “Eight years ago when I was hired, the tipping was okay,” he said. “But now it’s going down. [Back then] our major income was calling taxis , so people gave you two, three dollars here and there. Now, a lot of people use rideshare apps like Uber or Lyft. So they don’t need our help. The other thing is, with the digital age, a lot of people want to give you something, but they don’t even have cash. Because of these reasons, we are affected.” Tips cover most of his and his coworkers’ expenses, said Tadege. With a lack of tips, most work multiple jobs to fill the gap in their income.
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.