Published: April 14, 2010

Readers of this newspaper need no convincing that some of the most important people in our lives are the building workers who help secure and maintain the places where we live and work.

In fact, we are such big supporters of doormen, superintendents, resident managers, handymen, concierges and porters that we have created an annual awards ceremony to honor the finest of these local heroes. The Building Workers of the Year, which has been an annual event for three years, always reminds us and our readers about the importance of these men and women who work so hard for us each day.

And now, as happens every few years, these workers’ contract is up for renewal and there is a chance that their efforts may not be justly rewarded. If an agreement is not reached by the end of April 20 with the Realty Advisory Board, an industry association representing most building owners in New York, a strike may affect more than 1 million New Yorkers living in more than 3,200 apartment buildings across the city.

We are aware that the city is in the midst of a recession and that all industries are struggling, but the real estate industry in New York has held up better than almost anywhere else in the country. In the four years since the last contract was negotiated, the value of residential real estate has grown by 28 percent in New York City. And vacancy rates are still very low: approximately just 1.6 percent.

So we encourage the Realty Advisory Board to negotiate a fair agreement with 32BJ, the largest property service workers union in the country. We need our doormen and supers and their colleagues to be able to live in the city and to worry about our safety and our buildings rather than how they will be able to pay for their families’ mounting costs of food and education. These men and women have worked hard these past four years and deserve a fair, judicious increase in their next contract.

We should always be thankful for these workers in our buildings; now is the time to support their efforts for a new contract that is fair and forward-looking.