White Plains, N.Y. – 32BJ SEIU residential building workers in Hudson Valley voted overwhelmingly in favor of a contract that would provide 16% wage and benefit increases over four years, maintaining health care as well as retirement benefits. The pact maintains existing affordable health care coverage and retirement benefits and contains no monetary givebacks for 1,400 superintendents, porters, janitors, elevator operators, doormen and women, and handypersons who work in 500 buildings across the Hudson Valley.
“This contract will allow the hard working men and women in the Hudson Valley to keep up with the cost of living in Westchester, which remains one of the wealthiest areas in the US,” said 32BJ SEIU Vice President John Santos. “Residential building workers keep Hudson Valley buildings well-maintained, clean and safe all year round and now it will be a little easier for these workers to provide a brighter future for themselves and their families.”
The contract approved by 32BJ residential members was tentatively agreed to by the union and the Building and Realty Institute of Westchester and the Mid-Hudson Region Inc. on September 30. Members ratified the deal at a membership meeting at Pace University in White Plains. The new contract will expire on September 30, 2018.
“I can sleep a little better knowing that I am getting a pay increase and that my affordable family health care and retirement benefits will stay intact,” said Abel Rodriguez, a superintendent in Larchmont.
“This contract works for everyone and I am glad that the membership voted in favor of it,” said Manny Rivera, a handyperson in Yonkers.
Doormen and porters who had been making $35,100 will earn $39,000 by the end of the contract. Superintendents who had been making $36,920 will earn $40,820 by the end of the contract. Handypersons who had been making $35,880 will earn $39,780 by the end of the contract.
With 145,000 members in 11 states in the District of Columbia, 32BJ SEIU is the largest property services union in the country.
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