Fighting for our Families, Protecting our Future
Local 32BJ Secretary-Treasurer
Published: September 28, 2006
Times are tough for the American worker. Open a newspaper or turn on the TV these days and the news is mostly bad – employers are pushing health care costs onto workers and cutting pensions. Massive layoffs take place regularly. People are working longer and harder but have less economic security. The percentage of people classified as the working poor – those who work full time but aren’t able to make ends meet – is growing. Recent polls found workers are feeling more pessimistic than ever and that wages aren’t keeping up with inflation.
Right now the 1,500 hardworking men and women who maintain more than 500 residential buildings across Westchester County are fighting these disturbing trends in our negotiations for a new union contract.
We set three goals for this contract. First, we want to protect our employer-paid family health care. There is a major health care crisis in our country. Millions upon millions of people – unemployed and employed – don’t have health insurance at all. For the lucky ones who do have health care, costs are skyrocketing. Employers, frustrated by the system and faced with increasing rates, are forcing workers to pick up the costs.
However, we already pay for part of our health care in the form of co-pays at doctor and emergency room visits and for prescription drugs. Employers, government, unions and health care organizations must work together to find a solution, but until then, pushing costs onto workers – which cuts directly into wages and other benefits – is simply not a solution to the health care crisis that we can accept.
A new contract must also protect our retirement security. We cannot afford to risk losing our pensions, which we’ve earned on the job and help us support our families after we stop bringing home a paycheck.
Finally, we need to secure a fair wage increase. Westchester County is an expensive place to live, and the cost of living is always on the rise. We need an adequate raise in our pockets to help us continue providing for our families and keep up with the rising prices of gas, groceries and other basic necessities.
With just two days to go before the expiration of our contract, we remain far apart from the employers on an agreement. Their demands compromise our health care and retirement security and threaten good middle class jobs that keep our communities strong. Our proposal is fair and affordable.
Building service workers in Westchester have long set the standard for good jobs that help sustain healthy families and communities – and we are determined to keep these important standards in place for current and future jobs. Workers who earn good wages and have health care and retirement security are able to give back to their local community through spending and taxes, and have more time with their families. When job standards are chipped away bit-by-bit, working people are forced to work two and three low wage, no benefit jobs just to make ends meet.
We take pride in our jobs and work hard every day to ensure the safety and comfort of the tenants in our buildings. We want to work and keep Westchester’s buildings running smoothly. But make no mistake about it, if the employers leave us no choice but to strike, then that’s what we’ll have to do. We are ready and willing to fight to protect the standards that make our jobs the kind of good, decent jobs that you can raise a family on.
Tonight residential workers from across Westchester are coming together for a rally to take our message to the streets in White Plains: we’re fighting to protect our families and our future. Yes, this fight is for our contract, but it is also about the bigger picture – the trends facing American workers are just not acceptable. It’s time to draw a line in the sand. It’s time for working people to stand up, to stand together and to fight back.