BY TAMAR ROSENFELD
NEW YORK - In the midst of blustering winds and snow
flurries, more than 400 strikers equipped with picket signs
and whistles told the building owners in this city that
their strike is very much alive. Members of Service
Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 32B-32J marched
from Rockefeller Center to the offices of the Realty
Advisory Board (RAB) on Madison Avenue January 29. The RAB
represents the owners and managers of more than 1,000
commercial buildings here, against whom the workers are on
strike.
The marchers were disciplined and spirited. City cops, who were thick in the area, had to divert traffic as the chanting crowd of pickets wound its way through twelve blocks of midtown. Call and response echoed between the skyscrapers: "What do we want?" boomed the bullhorn. "Contract!" hundreds answered. Shouts and whistles grew to deafening levels. The strikers' energy surged as they rounded the corner and came upon the building that houses the RAB. No one from management dared address the feisty crowd. After half an hour of making their presence known, the strikers dispersed to resume their picket duty at each worksite.
Victoria Miranda carried a hand-painted sign in the January 29 rally that read, "Justice for the maintenance workers." Miranda, a member of the union for 12 years who is originally from the Dominican Republic, said the main issue for her in the strike is defending existing medical benefits.
"We want to go back to work, and we don't want two tiers," stated a defiant Lidia Guzmán, who has cleaned buildings for 15 years. Energized by marching through the streets of Manhattan shoulder-to-shoulder with her fellow strikers, Guzman exclaimed, "We rally because we want to fight for justice. Today we feel very strong. Tomorrow we should do this again!"
Spontaneous demonstrations by the strikers, ranging from hundreds to a few thousand, have become frequent, both in midtown Manhattan and in the financial district around the World Trade Center. Strikers march through the streets picking up reinforcements from one picket line to the next.
Utility porter James Audiffred, who has worked for the Port Authority for over 12 years, described some of the actions he has been a part of around the World Trade Center. "At least 200 people start out. We just take a group and go," he said. Strikers from the various buildings join in as they see the procession march by.
Samy Riad, an Egyptian porter for 10 years who gives his job description as "doing everything," said that when they staged their first march, "the city police surrounded us." The strikers were not provoked. "Nothing happened," Riad explained.
A thousand strikers chanted, "Contract, contract" January 31 outside the Sheraton Hotel, where negotiations between the union and the RAB resumed. It was the first official strike rally. Another one is scheduled for February 5.
U.S. labor secretary Robert Reich addressed both sides before the negotiations, urging continued talks.
Walkout against concession demands
More than 30,000 maintenance workers, janitors, elevator
operators, and cleaners who work in 1,300 commercial
buildings throughout New York City are striking members of
SEIU Local 32B-32J.
Their walkout began January 4, days after the old contract expired. Workers are fighting an attempt by management to impose a two-tier wage system, starting new hires at $352 per week in place of the current $573 per week. According to the employers' plan, it would take the lower tier six years to reach full pay, and the new workers would not receive health benefits for their first six months on the job.
The last contract, signed three years ago, included concessions that increased workloads and productivity. In a full-page ad carried in the New York Times January 30, Local 32B-32J president Gus Bevona stated that this time around, "We are still willing to make concessions for financially troubled buildings. We simply ask for proof that the buildings are in the red."
The employers have not backed off from their demands. Many strikers say the RAB is out to bust the union. Real estate executives say they have hired more than 15,000 temporary replacement workers to keep the buildings running - the largest use of scabs in the city in recent history. Union officials stated January 29 that the strike may soon expand to office buildings on Long Island and in New Jersey.
Big-business newspapers are either ignoring the strike or running articles designed to sow divisions between the membership and officials of the union. The New York Times and Daily News have devoted columns of space to the high salary of local president Bevona but barely cover the issues in the strike.
The January 30 SEIU ad in the Times was headlined, "Please help." The union letter pointed out that cops are "interfering with strikers' lawful right to picket peacefully by restricting them to areas convenient for the building owners." In addition to soliciting financial contributions that will go directly to the strikers, the union is urging other workers to get their unions to give support. Strikers welcome other unionists stopping by the picket lines to offer solidarity.