Office cleaners and RAB reach deal; strike averted

There was no reduction in the number of sick days, vacation days and holidays. The two-tier wage system which would have paid new workers less money than existing workers was not implemented.

The union also protected its members’ right to have donations to the group’s political action committee deducted directly from their paychecks, which it says will benefit their political voice.

The new contract is subject to ratification by the union and the Realty Advisory Board, the industry association representing most of the city’s building owners.

“I am happy with this agreement,” Ivan Almendarez, a cleaner at New York University, said in a prepared statement. “Keeping my healthcare and getting wage increases will go a long way toward helping me raise my kids and take care of my ailing wife.”

There are more than 22,000 office cleaners citywide — 6,000 of them live in Queens and 510 work in 50 commercial office buildings here, meaning a strike would have impacted the borough more than any other but Manhattan, according to 32BJ.

The union had been engaged in contract negotiations with the RAB since Nov. 15, but they could not agree on wage and benefit issues. The last strike by city office cleaners occurred in 1996.

“The new contract is not just an important victory for office cleaners and their families, but for our economy and our city,” Hector Figueroa, secretary-treasurer of 32BJ said in a prepared statement.

The RAB called the agreement “a fair and equitable contract that accurately reflects today’s tough economic times,” and added that due to the wage increases the union members will continue to be the highest paid commercial building service workers in the country.