20,000 building workers ‘meet in the
streets’
Twenty thousand chanting building service workers and
their supporters flooded the streets the Upper East Side on
April 12. The "Meet in the Streets" rally was a stunning show
of strength and unity in one of New York City's richest and
most prestigious neighborhoods.
The contract between Local 32B-J's 55,000 members and New
York's rich building owners is about to expire and the
landlords are demanding give-backs. But the unionists are in
no mood to see their standard of living eroded. Not with the
boom on Wall Street that's brought unprecedented prosperity
to the already filthy rich real estate barons. Against this
backdrop, the workers are demanding economic justice and are
ready to strike, if necessary.
Representatives from other unions joined the huge protest
and pledged support should there be a walkout. This latest
street mobilization reflects the new mood of militant
struggle that was ushered in when Gus Bevona was forced to
resign as head of the union because of the local's dwindling
membership and other charges. The local was placed into
trusteeship under the Service Employees International
Union.
The demonstration is part of a national struggle to win
economic justice for janitors and other building service
workers that has erupted across the country recently.
--Pat Chin
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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