Strike averted

In a groundbreaking turn of events, the bargaining committee representing The 32BJ Service Employees International Union — one of the largest and most influential labor unions on the East Coast, whose members services buildings including Roosevelt Field Mall, Nassau Community College, the Nassau Coliseum and a slew of other commercial properties in Nassau and Suffolk counties — has reached a tentative agreement with roughly 85 contractors spanning across the Tri-State, successfully averting a potential strike that was unanimously approved by union members two week ago at the RXR plaza in Uniondale.

The approved strike was set to start Jan. 1 if no contract was agreed upon by Dec. 31, the day the existing contract expires. Now, the new agreement will instead come into tentative effect on Jan. 1, paving the way for this deal to go into full effect once members vote to ratify the agreement at a series of in-person meetings — if they vote to approve it, that is.

But that does not seem to be a concern for union members, who seemed thrilled at the new terms of the upcoming contract, including those who once called the contractors previous offers “an insult.”

“I could not be prouder to have played a role in winning such a historic contract," said Ederle Vaughan, a member of the union’s bargaining committee, and a cleaner at the Prudential Center in Newark. “We have won the acknowledgment that essential workers like us need and deserve after all that we have been through over the past four years.”

The tentative agreement includes much of what the workers have been asking for during negotiations, including an average of 4 percent wage increases in each of the next four years across the board for every cleaner, a 19 percent pay increase for Long Island cleaners, expanded access to pensions, added protections against workforce reduction, improved language protecting workers against sexual harassment and assault, better benefits and healthcare and even got Juneteenth included as a paid holiday — a far cry away from two weeks ago when the contractors and union were “far apart” in terms of a deal.

The union members believe that by sticking together, standing up to the contractors for what they deserve, and showing their strength in numbers are what made this deal possible and ultimately led to this major win for Long Island’s custodial workers.

“In my 33 years as a cleaner on Long Island and union member, I have seen and learned a lot about what our union can do, but this contract redefined what we can do when we unite and fight,” said Arnelje Escobar, another member of the bargaining committee and a cleaner at 300 Broad Hollow Road in Melville.

“We are more convinced than ever that together, our united forces have given us what we deserve, and it has been very gratifying to be a part of this committee and these negotiations. It was a long process, but in the end, we emerged with a historic 19 percent increase in pay for Long Island cleaners. That’s a difference that will change lives.”

Nick Grello, the lawyer representing the cleaning contractors in the negotiations, had not responded to the Herald’s requests for comment by press time.