D\u2019yan Forest, 91, recalls the 1991 doorman strike as \u2018total chaos.\u2019<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nIt\u2019s enough to put a damper on your night at Cipriani.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With a potential doorman strike looming, residents of the city\u2019s posh apartment towers are bracing themselves for the worst. They will have to open their own doors. Pick up their own mail. Take out their own trash.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a mess,\u201d said Hailey Glassman, a 39-year-old who owns her own PR agency and recently joined the cast of \u201cThe Real Housewives of New York City.\u201d<\/p>\nHailey Glassman worries about what a possible doorman strike would mean for her and the luxury building in which she lives. Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nGlassman, who lives in a newer, amenities-packed building in Hell\u2019s Kitchen \u2014 it even has a bar and movie theater on the roof \u2014 notes that her doormen typically assist with everything from garbage and signing for packages to even picking up after fellow residents\u2019 small dogs who tend to have accidents in common areas. <\/p>\n\n<\/aside>\nIn anticipation of the strike, she said building management has already asked residents to limit their trash, and she\u2019s fearing the worst.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole building will start smelling like dog pee and poo,\u201d she said. \u201cWe pay an astronomical amount to live in these buildings, and if the doormen go out, they may close the pool and gym.\u201d<\/p>\n
Glassman typically summers at her home on Martha\u2019s Vineyard and has a house manager take care of her apartment in the city while she\u2019s away. In preparation for the strike, she\u2019s put the staffer on alert that she might need her services early to cope with her DIY living situation.<\/p>\nSome 34,000 workers in residential buildings across the city could potentially go on strike. Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nStill, she\u2019s sympathetic to the workers. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe staff deserves to be compensated,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u201cThey see that the apartments are so expensive, and they are making pennies.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Some 34,000 workers in 3,300 residential buildings across the city are part of Union 32 BJ SEIU. According to the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, the average doorman makes $62,000 per year, not including benefits and gratuities.<\/p>\n
The union is seeking a wage increase to keep up with inflation, along with better pension benefits and continued health care covered at 100%. Union members are set to vote Wednesday on the strike, which would begin April 20. <\/p>\n
D\u2019yan\u00a0Forest, a 91-year-old comedienne who lives in the West Village, remembers the last major doorman strike, in 1991.<\/p>\n\u201cThe staff deserves to be compensated,\u2019\u2019 Glassman said. \u201cThey see that the apartments are so expensive, and they are making pennies.\u2019\u2019 Olga Ginzburg for the N.Y. Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n \u201cIt was total chaos,\u2019\u2019 she told The Post. The nonagenarian recalled people in the building volunteering for shifts and then flaking out, and extra keys being made for the garage, jeopardizing building security.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody knew what they were doing, and keys were floating around,\u201d she said. \u201cAfter that, we all said, \u2018Just pay them whatever they want!’\u201d<\/p>\n
Safety is a key concern for many residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are crazier than ever,\u2019\u2019 said Tom Whitburn, 60, who lives in Union Square. \u201cI\u2019m concerned that they will come off the street and roam the halls. Just having IDs isn\u2019t enough; we should be given fobs or keys to a locked door.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Beena T., a 37-year-old physician who lives on the Upper East Side with her husband, and preferred not to use her full last name for privacy reasons, said she chose her Upper East Side luxury building because of its security. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe pay the rent we do because we feel safe there, and we have a relationship with the staff,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we have to pay a couple of hundred dollars more a month to keep them happy, we would do it.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\nD\u2019yan\u00a0Forest (not pictured) remembers the chaos caused by the building workers\u2019 strike in 1991. New York Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe possibility of not receiving her medication is a stress for Esther Uziel, a 77-year-old jeweler who lives in an Upper East Side post-war building. \u201cThe prescription I need to take is delivered to the building, but I\u2019ve been notified that I will have to go to the post office now to pick it up if the doormen leave,\u2019\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n
Residents who shop online frequently, will also have to adjust. <\/p>\n
\u201cI order everything, including food online, so I will have to stock up on supplies,\u2019\u2019 said literary agent Karen Gantz, 65, who lives on the Upper East Side. \u201cWe have a lot of service here, including elevator operators, but I\u2019m resilient and I will manage.\u00a0I\u2019ll just have to figure out how to operate the elevator myself.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Many buildings, including some on Park Avenue, are asking residents to volunteer and help out. <\/p>\n
Sean Hurley, 35, who works in finance and lives in the East Village, said his building had asked for residents to pitch in, but he\u2019s skeptical. <\/p>\nResidents have been asked to chip in to help with duties normally done by doormen. Cavan \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cWe pay a lot of money to live in a building with amenities, and a doorman is one of them,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I volunteer to take out the trash, will they cut my rent? And will I pay less than the guy who doesn\u2019t take it out?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Nechama Pielet, a 77-year-old who lives on the Upper East Side, said her building was also trying to give residents jobs. She quipped that it could be an exercise in socialism for any left-leaning neighbors.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think this will be a good experiment for all the Mamdani voters.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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