Published: March 14, 2010

How will life change without a doorman, porter, super or concierge?

1 Many buildings will lock all their doors and have to hire a security guard to guard the front door. Residents could get security passes to get in and out.

2 Buildings could prohibit major deliveries since there will be no one to let them in.

3 Residents will have to take their trash out to the sidewalk if there’s no porter.

4 The city declared a public health emergency when rotting trash piled up on the sidewalks in 1991.

Enjoy that doorman while you’ve got him. Rumblings are underfoot about a possible strike, as the doorman’s union haggles with city building owners over pay raises and health care.

“I think we are going to strike this year,” said Rafael Pajares, 58, a doorman at 14 Horatio St. in the West Village. “I hope I am wrong, but I have that feeling.”

32BJ SEIU, the union that represents 30,000 Manhattan doormen, superintendents and porters, is in talks with the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, which represents apartment building and co-op owners in Manhattan.

Their four-year contract expires April 20, and doormen are already saying they’re ready to walk the next day if they can’t reach a deal.

“I think there’s about a 60 percent chance we’ll strike,” said Anibel Rios, a doorman at a building on East 72nd Street.

The group last walked out in 1991. Picket lines, piles of garbage and trouble with deliveries — after sanitation, UPS and other workers refused to cross the lines — marked the 11-day strike.

Russell Zito, a doorman at The Verdi on West 73rd Street, wondered who’d operate the elevator in case of strike. So did Verdi resident Chris Reinhard, 40.

“I would have to walk up and down the stairs to my apartment on the seventh floor,” Reinhard said.
Demands

Health care: “It’s a very rare industry where no contributions are made to health care plans,” said Mary Ann Rothman, executive director of the Council of New York Cooperatives and Condominiums.

Pay: Most doormen in Manhattan earn less than $50,000 a year, including tips. Building owners say, with benefits, a doorman costs $68,500 a year.