Doorman strike (possible) and showing apartments?

my bills? you jest.

wad: "just the fact that they have a union seems like an "unfair" advantage to those of us that do not."

Anyone can organize into a union. The only thing stopping you and your co-workers from NOT being in a union is your inaction.

Matt, would you be willing to organize us meek finance professionals?

All jest aside, I wasn't saying we want to be in unions.

So then you really can't complain about there being an "unfair" advantage.

sure he can..its america...and damn it, we're all allowed to complain. endlessly. and to blame others. while endlessly extolling our own virtues.

I see Matt, so you're saying that unions don't distort the market and that their union does not provide them with any advantage. Got it.

And I didn't really complain - you seem to be complaining about what I wrote though.

not all unions are the same..

THESE ARE DOORMEN.

i understand the nurse's union who are just as liable to patients (probably even more) than doctors and have to do more of the dirty work. you need to pay school fees, licensing, and be required to have a bit of a brain to be a nurse.

we are talking about DOORMEN here.

you can be a high-school dropout and secure this position. why don't we pay for the benefits of local barbers, dog-walkers, bartenders, cabbies, to make it "fair"?

give his job to little elian who'll truly be appreciative of the bonus we give him so he can cargo ship his family to NY to stimulate the cuban restaurants in union square, which stimulates restaurant vendors, its waiting staff who have extra money to buy sex toys on 8th ave, etc, as it trickles down to boost the city's economy.

"Were they non-unionized and were paid based on supply/demand, I think it would be very difficult to argue against their salaries (well unless you're one of those people who also complains that athletes are paid so highly)."

Of course, athletes are unionized.

but they do have a union. are you suggesting that they give it up?

"just the fact that they have a union seems like an "unfair" advantage to those of us that do not."

That is a bunch of BS. There are unions that are powerful and care for their members. And there are unions that are a complete joke and do absolutely nothing. Not all unions are the same.

"the bottom line is that the union is in a position to make life difficult for residents --- they have some leverage and they're trying to use it."

That's true, but most uniosn are too retarded to use their leverage. My fahter is a long time member of the TWU when he was a conductor. NO union can make life more difficult for the city through a strike than the TWU. What is worse than a no subways or buses? Did the union use their leverage during their past strikes? No, they watered down their demands and took the first piece of crap the MTA offered them.

"Of course, athletes are unionized."

Do you know who else was in a union? Your favorite conservative icon Ronald Reagan! Yet nobody hates unions more than Republicans.

I'd have no problem cutting the sick days if they allowed us to have off on some holidays like Xmas.Thanksgiving etc. Did I really say anything that bad that my posts were blocked?

kevin- your posts are not blocked...
how many vacation days?

it the button too fast... how many sick days do you have vs proposal and how many vacation days do you get each year?

kevin5, doesn't your job description say "work on holidays"? What does your job description say, really?

So, you want holidays off, sick days, vacation days, health insurance, TIPS, all the works. And what makes your occupation better than all others'? Cops, doctors, engineers?
PHDs?
Fire them all, tear the contract.

See what the pay is for unskilled jobs that don't require work on weekends, holidays, etc. and what kind of benefits they offer. (Answer: low and none, generally speaking.)

"Yet nobody hates unions more than Republicans."

Not true at all.

I'm a lifelong Republican and a member of FOUR labor unions.

if your mean to kevin he won't post.. he doesn't like anyone challenging him

neither does columbiacounty or Rhino86

but he LOVES getting tips and people telling him how wonderful he is...

Kevin, can you fill us in as to what the union is striking for?? If you read the press they are not doing the union any favors as it seems like it's for more sick days... I have to believe it's for more then that

See http://rabolr.com and http://www.seiu32bj.org for the two sides.

Thanks NWT, any specifics, ie how many sick days currently vs how many are being proposed? I can't imagine in this day and age we would want people to go to work sick. Just trying to understand the motivation that will not only effect the tenant but people who will lose $$ like dog walkers, cleaning staff, contractors because they will not have access to the building.

When and if they strike:
If I lose my I.D. card, or whatever: I'm storming into my building. The security guard can eat my dust. Call the cops -- I will be up in my apartment by the time they arrive.

RE2009-You clearly do not work in the private sector.

"I can't imagine in this day and age we would want people to go to work sick."

Believe it.

A growing number of companies are moving away from the traditional "X number of sick days" and "X number of days of vacation" per calendar year, in favor of what's commonly referred to as only ONE set of "PTOs": Paid Time Off.

They make it sound like they're giving the employee a better deal than he otherwise would have been offered: "Instead of two weeks of paid vacation, we're giving you THREE weeks of PTOs that you can use for anything you choose, be it vacation, personal, or sick days!" What they don't tell the employee, however, is that they've quietly done away with the notion of "sick days" -- meaning you are now FORCED to use your "PTOs" when you get sick.

Get the flu in February that knocks you out for a week? Five PTO days. Get a staph infection in May from an improperly cleaned pedicure foot bath (this actually happened to a friend of mine -- scary stuff) that keeps you hospitalized for nine days? Seven more PTO days. Summer hasn't even started yet, and already you're down to just THREE PTO (vacation) days for the rest of the year, and you haven't even taken a single "mental health day" off, let alone a real vacation.

So what are people doing, to preserve their precious PTO days? That's right. They're going to work sick, because under this asinine system there's actually a PENALTY attached to staying home when you're sick.

RS, how insulting. where do you work? do you work?

you have no clue where RE2009 works. at my husband's firm the staff is given 30 days off to use as they will, sick or vacation. which makes a hell of a lot more sense now that most families have two people working.

"at my husband's firm the staff is given 30 days off to use as they will, sick or vacation. which makes a hell of a lot more sense now that most families have two people working."

Sounds like someone has drunk the Kool-Aid on the PTOs.

Frankly, I'll stick with my six weeks of vacation that are COMPLETELY SEPARATE from the "unlimited" number of sick days (at my company it's not really unlimited, but red flags are raised when you exceed 15) that are used only if and when I actually get SICK.

At law firms many 80 hours a week is not unusual.

The doormen in my building are really upset about the possibility of the strike. They know that 99% of their bonus tips just flew out the window, and their cultivated relationship with people did the same.
Unions are the corrupt entities that now are good only for blackmailing the economy. They work against self-improvement of the workers. The philosophy is: just strangle the guy who pays you.
NYCMatt, didn't you say somewhere that you run you business from your home? So who gives you all those perks? Yourself?

"Unions are the corrupt entities that now are good only for blackmailing the economy. They work against self-improvement of the workers. The philosophy is: just strangle the guy who pays you."

SOME unions perhaps, but not all. You can't generalize about unions any more than you can generalize about people.

*****

"NYCMatt, didn't you say somewhere that you run you business from your home? So who gives you all those perks? Yourself?"

I'm an employee of my television network as well as a consultant running my own firm from my home. Yes, I'm one of those overachieving New Yorkers essentially working two jobs. But the consulting is fun (and profitable).

One of those overreaching New Yorkers. And your television network doesn't move reproduction 20th Century furniture to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland?

I strongly support all labor unions, and their vast expansion, except those of the construction trades in NYC.

And I strongly OPPOSE all labor unions, except for the nurses and teachers.
Look at the state government: all those countless do-nothings. The definitive union picture.
The unions were supposed to protect the worker. Now they have either mafia or removed power hungry freaks (MTA?) for the representation.
Look at the theater industry: a man won't untie a curtain holder because his only job is to move a particular chair from right to left, and NOT from left to right: that's another guy's job.
Clowns. I wish they were harmless.

commoner, who is that man? Name names.

"Look at the theater industry: a man won't untie a curtain holder because his only job is to move a particular chair from right to left, and NOT from left to right: that's another guy's job."

So don't go to the theatre.

The point is, labor unions are a necessity in MOST of this current economy, whether you like it or not.

When labor unions act like guilds and ensure a standard of quality that is positive. To the extent they help create a pool to lower health care costs even better. After that I'm not sure.

Unlike most people here i am not an authority on every subject in the universe... I have my opinions on unions, and i will keep that to myself for now. What i have learned (from this blog) is not all doorman/building staff are union. So the union workers cannot be upset about striking because they made the decision to be part of the union. I am not so much of a princess that i will die if u have to carry out my own garbage ect., but i am very upset about the people who will not have access to the building and cannot do their job.

And btw- i do work in the private sector.

alan: wouldn't you like to know! But why?
Matt, do you hear yourself?

matt, you do realize that the amount of time i referred to was 30 days, which is six weeks? that's hardly drinking the koolaid since previously they had 3 weeks sick and 3 weeks vacation. now they have the same but if they have kids they don't have to worry about how their absences are perceived.

With PTO days, firms can have short-term disability kick in after 5 or even 3 consecutive days' absence so that employees don't use up all of their PTO on an illness. Work-from-home can also be a solution when employees may be contagious but still well enough to work. Generally, I like the concept of PTO because I'm rarely sick enough to miss work and am not comfortable as others are about lying for an extra day off.

When my firm converted to PTO, no one got less than the sum of all vacation + all sick days. We still get personal days for deaths in the family that are separate from PTO.

Most of you pampered and greedy souls underestimate the threat of labor solidarity if the doormen strike and other workers refuse to cross their picket line.

UPS may delivery packages to the nearest UPS office instead of crossing the line.

Package closets and utility rooms may be locked.

New York City Department of Sanitation may refuse to pick up garbage until a state of health emergency is declared.

It will become quickly a smelly situation LOL

A few years ago y firm cut back the number of sick days... funny thing is no one asked, no one voted and i don't recall anyone striking..
lad brings up excellent points about short term disability and working from home

Trust me HT1, we get it.
Hope the few extra vacation days is worth pissing everyone off and impacting holiday tips.
And if you really feel that way about the residents, good for you. But what about the poor schnooks trying to get into the building to do their job that do not have a union to cry to?

Really, without the "pampered and greedy souls" where would the salaries come from?

The "pampered and greedy souls" are the unskilled workers whose job is to open doors. Show me a person who cannot perform this task.

It's not an easy job.

yes, you need a high school diploma, and forearm girth over 4 inches.

leeches.

I have a question regarding moving out during a doorman strike. If the building won't allow move in or out (they have already said this) and I can't move out before the possible strike date am I responsible for rent if the strike goes beyond my lease termination date and my stuff (but not me) is still in the apartment?

Yes.

No

Maybe so.