New York doormen in negotiations, poised to strike

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Uniformed doormen and apartment building workers run elevators, dispose of trash and hail taxis for thousands of New Yorkers, but a threatened strike may leave residents doing the chores themselves.

Some 30,000 unionized doormen, superintendents, handymen, concierges and porters are threatening to walk off the job just after midnight on Wednesday in a contract dispute with the owners of 3,222 New York City buildings.

The workers, represented by the Service Employees International Union, are asking to keep their current benefits and get a hike in pay in a new four-year contract. The existing contract expires at midnight on Tuesday.

"They want to cut too many things," said Roberto Arce, a doorman on Manhattan's posh Upper East Side, ticking off proposals to raise the out-of-pocket costs of health insurance. "How the hell am I going to pay if they cut the benefits?"

Building owners, represented by the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, or RAB, argue workers must accept cuts.

"We are still in a time of economic uncertainty in the city, state and the nation, and we need to contain and control costs," a RAB statement said this week. A typical building spends nearly $70,000 a year in wages and benefits to employ a doorman, according to the RAB.

"ONE OF LIFE'S LITTLE LUXURIES"

Doormen's duties range from staffing security posts and hailing cabs, monitoring visitors and accepting deliveries, holding doors and watching resident children and pets.

"One of life's little luxuries is living in a doorman building," said Michael Gross, author of "740 Park: The Story of the World's Richest Apartment Building."

The tradition of uniformed doormen, typically a sign of affluence, has survived in New York, where many residents are willing to pay hefty monthly sums for their services.

Andrew Alpern, a historian of the city, said cities with fewer high-rise buildings have less need for doormen. "It probably began with apartment houses to distinguish them from tenements," he said.

In event of a walkout, residents may be undertaking much of the work themselves, as they did in a two-week strike in 1991.

"I ran the elevator then, and I'll run it now," said Marian Feniger, who lives on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

"Their requests are not unreasonable but health benefits and higher pay are not compatible with how the economy is going," she added.

A strike may disrupt deliveries as other unionized workers opt not to cross service workers' picket lines. But Patricia Durkan, of the Upper East Side, said she was not concerned.

"Maybe we're not going to get our liquor as fast," she said, noting her building was signing up volunteers to do many of the tasks. "We all know the routine."

The city will help mediate if necessary, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. Talks have been ongoing for more than a month.

"This is a responsible union and a responsible organization of landlords, and I would not expect any nastiness," he said. "They have a right to work it out."

The threat of a strike has prompted its share of humor. The New York Times ran a blog entitled "In Event of a Strike, How to Open the Doors."

"While it may seem intimidating to the uninitiated, opening a door is actually a simple act," it said. "It can be accomplished safely with advance planning and practice."

(Additional reporting by Joan Gralla; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Philip Barbara)