Why do buildings still have elevator men?

It's a union thing.

I used to ask questions like this when I was in elementary school.

In some cases they are locked in by stabilized leases and the associated laws -- longtime tenants had the elevator operator service when they signed their leases decades ago, and the building is bound to maintain the amenity as long as the leases remain in effect.

One woman's waste is another woman's necessity. I would prefer to live in a building where I didn't have to touch an elevator button that had been handled by the filthy fingers of God-knows-who's little sprogs . One solution is to pay to have an elevator man push the button for me. While part of the reason for having elevator operators was simply to operate the machinery, the other part was because genteel people simply didn't do certain manual activities. (but I gather it's mostly the union thing).

Uptown Joe is totally correct. I used to live in a building with elevator men that were required by leased signed in the 1950's. Even if it meant an exorbitant cost, they couldn't cut the elevator men without tenants filing lawsuits about reduction in services.