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In case of strike, hold onto your gas cap

Teri Rogers Headshot - Floral
By Teri Karush Rogers  |
March 24, 2010 - 7:04AM
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The building workers’ contract expires April 20th, and although collective bargaining negotiations have produced no undue cause for alarm yet, the Council of New York Cooperatives & Condominiums is holding a strike-prep workshop tomorrow evening.

Two executives of the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations—which represents NYC buildings in the contract talks—will dispense advice.

RAB president Howard Rothschild gave BrickUnderground this five-point preview:

1.  If your building has doormen or lobby attendants, now is the time to line up security guards, which usually means paying one day’s wages payable in advance.

2.  Top off your building's fuel supply, and if your building has a streetside fuel cap, make sure it’s secured.  

“It hasn’t happened widely, but if there is a picket line on the sidewalk they could open the cap and put a contaminant in, like sugar,” says Rothschild, who notes that picketer-resident relations are usually fairly amiable.    

3.  Make sure everything works: Oil burners, roof tanks, HVAC, water pumps, video systems, etc.  

4.  Recruit volunteers to stand at the front door or sort mail if a building worker usually does this stuff. If your building has a manual elevator, a few residents should get advanced training or it’s stairsville for everyone.

5.  Vandalism is a possibility in any labor walk-out, so check to make sure your building’s insurance coverage is primed in advance.

BrickUnderground's Strike Coverage:

Threat of strike diminishing amid "significant progress"

Insider's guide to the un-doormanned life

'91 strike wasn't that bad

Predicting a strike: This time is different

NYC doormen to rally on UES tomorrow

Paying rent in a strike

Don't look for me on the picket line

Going rogue: Hitting the panic button in a strike 

Relax, N.Y.: Doorman strike vote is just part of the 'dance'

Doormen can't make ends meet, but the Mets tickets and golf outings are nice

Coming soon: A doorman and porter strike? 

Teri Rogers Headshot - Floral

Teri Karush Rogers

Founder & Publisher

Founder and publisher Teri Karush Rogers launched Brick Underground in 2009. As a freelance journalist, she had previously covered New York City real estate for The New York Times. Teri has been featured as an expert on New York City residential real estate by The New York Times, New York Daily News, amNew York, NBC Nightly News, The Real Deal, Business Insider, the Huffington Post, and NY1 News, among others. Teri earned a BA in journalism and a law degree from New York University.

Brick Underground articles occasionally include the expertise of, or information about, advertising partners when relevant to the story. We will never promote an advertiser's product without making the relationship clear to our readers.

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