Co-ops

Doorman strike epilogue: How did the union get your email address?

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By Teri Karush Rogers  |
April 21, 2010 - 7:15AM
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As we predicted, a deal was reached to avoid a doorman strike in the wee hours of the morning.  

Far from making concessions, building workers walked away with a somewhat better deal than last time: They won a 10 percent pay raise over four years and no important cuts in benefits, only a promise to trim healthcare costs by $70 million annually.  (NY Times; NY Daily News; Wall Street Journal)

It was a sweet victory for the union, whose aggressive PR and social media effort helped swing public opinion--and political firepower--over to its side.

But some apartment dwellers are wondering if their privacy was invaded along the way.

On Saturday morning, they received an e-blast from Local 32BJ president Mike Fishman entitled “Urgent update about workers in your building.”

The email urged recipients to support a “fair contract” for workers and linked to a page on the 32BJ website that enabled them to file an easy electronic protest to the Realty Advisory Board representing building owners.

Several co-op owners have since contacted BrickUnderground with concerns over how the union had obtained their email addresses.

“Our building has a notebook at the desk with a page for each apartment and list of information on who lives there, their phone numbers, their emails, etc.,” said one Upper East Side co-op resident who received her e-blast at work. 

“I would not be surprised to learn that this where the union got their info," she said. "I think one of our doormen, who is a shop steward, copied everyone’s info, because my husband never got the email and his address was never written into this contact book.”

Further downtown, another co-op owner suspected she’d been tricked out of her email address.

“When we had to fill out forms that I thought were from our managing agent, they collected our email addresses for updates,” she told BrickUnderground. “I got an email from the union guy urging support of them and kind of thought that was inappropriate use of info.”

BrickUnderground direct-tweeted @32BJNY this weekend about the source of the email addresses but didn't receive a response.

Did the union ask or indirectly encourage members to collect personal information about residents for its own use?    

We’d like to know.

More BrickUnderground 2010 Strike Coverage:

Threat of doorman strike diminishing

'91 strike wasn't that bad

Insider's guide to the de-doormanned life

Doorman march on Park Avenue marked by kids, whistles, smiles

Predicting a doorman strike: Why this time is different

Don't look for me on the picket line

Paying rent in a strike

Going rogue: Hitting the panic button in a strike

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

In case of strike, hold onto your gas cap

See all strike coverage here.

 

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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