On Thursday March 5, 2026 – 32BJ SEIU kicked off negotiations for the contract covering more than 34,000 porters, doorpersons, superintendents, handypersons and resident managers working in NYC Buildings with disappointing results from RAB.
“In the wake of this week’s disappointing and insulting proposals from the real estate industry, 32BJ has set a formal strike vote and rally for April 15,” Manny Pastreich, president of 32BJ SEIU said in a statement. “We won’t let the thriving real estate industry raise health care costs, jeopardize retirement security, and undermine the core fabric of a labor contract that thousands of working families depend on.”
Over 600,000 households across 3,500 Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island co-ops, condos and apartment buildings will be affected by a strike. The current four-year industry-wide labor agreement between 32BJ SEIU and the New York City residential real estate industry, represented by the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations (RAB) expires on April 20, 2026. The current four-year industry-wide labor agreement between RAB and 32BJ SEIU, represents over 34,000 residential service workers. A formal strike vote will take place on April 15, 2026.
32BJ SEIU is accusing RAB of making “dramatic and insulting changes” to the industry-wide labor agreement, adding that the changes represented a “fundamental attack” on the labor contract.
