New York Janitors’ Union Approves Strike

According to the Rockland/Westchester Journal News in an article on lohud.com, more than 10,000 janitors in the Hudson Valley area of the state of New York have voted to approve a strike if no contract agreement is reached by midnight on December 31.

As of Tuesday, December 12, the janitors’ union, Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ (SEIU 32BJ), which has been in negotiations with commercial contractors since September, had yet to reach an agreement. The union is asking for pay raises in line with inflation, employer-paid healthcare benefits, and no workforce cuts without first receiving notice and having the opportunity for bargaining.

According to Rush Perez, SEIU 32BJ spokesperson, more than 1,500 workers clean 52 million square feet of space at 132 commercial buildings within the Hudson Valley region. The Journal reports that Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Argent Ventures LLC, RPW Group, RXR Realty, Simon Property Group Inc., and The Feil Organization are the landlords of the major properties involved in the negotiations.

The end-of-the-year strike, should it take place, would constitute yet another walk-off during a year that had a major uptick in labor unrest. According to CNBC, more than 453,000 workers have gone on strike by the start of October 2023. In comparison, there were 180 strikes involving 43,700 workers over the same period in 2021. The cleaning industry saw strikes in Los Angeles in March, Massachusetts in June, Southern California in July, and Washington, D.C., in October, along with a nationwide strike by healthcare workers that same month.