Vol. 74/No. 24      June 21, 2010

Militant/Dan Fein

Workers at Co-op City housing complex in Bronx, New York, June 5 protest lockout there of some 500 members of Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ.

RiverBay Corporation locked workers out when they refused to accept concessions following the expiration of the contract between the company and Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ. The status of negotiations has not yet been reported.

Fifty-five thousand people—including many of the strikers—live in the 35 high-rise buildings and seven clusters of townhouses that make up Co-op City. It is the largest housing development in the United States.

Many residents of Co-op City supported the locked-out workers. On June 3 a rally took place there to show solidarity with the union struggle.

The company informed the union that to keep the current medical plan, workers would have to accept a contract with no pay raise for the next four years. If they agreed to switch to an inferior medical plan, they would receive a 2.3 percent annual raise over the life of the contract.

Alexander Vargas, a groundskeeper, told the Militant, “We showed up to work after the weekend to find no keys or IDs. There were signs this lockout was coming. The management hires temps for up to six months then lays them off. It puts them in a tough spot because these are our coworkers and because they are not in the union. They will be fired if they don’t work. These guys are trying all the tricks in the book.”

The company hired around 40 scabs off the street, picketers reported.

Mark Shapiro, a porter, said, “The current medical plan has much higher caps than the one the company offered with a pay raise. Higher hospital caps, higher annual caps, higher lifetime caps.”

“This is an international problem,” he added. “In Mexico they are fighting for union rights. Workers in China are fighting.”

“Everything is going up,” noted porter Allen Parchment. “We need a raise.”

Unionized city sanitation workers refused to cross the picket line to pick up garbage until the third day of the lockout when the New York City Department of Health declared a health “emergency.”

Kyle Bragg, vice president of Local 32BJ, showed Militant reporters a letter from the company ordering clerical workers who are members of Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 153 to do the jobs of the locked-out 32BJ members. About half of these workers did so, along with supervisors, according to Bragg.

“We want fair, affordable health care. This is a basic right all workers should have,” Bragg said.
 
 
Related articles:
Boeing strikers keep pressure on bosses in fight for contract
On the Picket Line  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home