A New York City-based union is fighting back against Great Neck realty company Namdar Realty Group over allegations it violated industry labor standards at a Manhattan office tower after workers’ wages were slashed and benefits revoked.
“This is a very, very substantive attack on our union and our 20,000 members,” 32BJ SEIU Executive Vice President Denis Johnston said. “The expression in the labor movement [is that] an injury to one is an injury to all.”
Namdar Realty Group, with its headquarters based in Great Neck, owns and manages a multitude of properties in the New York Metro area as well as in other states as far away as California and Texas. It is considered one of the largest retail landlords in the country with more than 70 million square feet of commercial real estate.
In its portfolio Namdar owns a 20-story office building at 529 Fifth Avenue that it bought with Empire Capital Holdings in 2023 for $105 million, according to the Commercial Observer, which was the target of a July strike and continued pushback.
The company was founded by Igal Namdar, who has been called a “bottom feeder” in multiple financial news stories.
A representative of Namdar Reality Group said the company declined to comment.
Johnston leads the New York Metro commercial and security divisions for the union 32BJ, which is the largest property service workers union in the country with more than 175,000 members. Members include cleaners, property maintenance workers, doormen, security officers, window cleaners, building engineers, and school and food service workers.
The union is based in the Northeast but stretches as far south as Florida.
The union has nearly a century of history, which Johnston said is highlighted by “fighting to establish the standards that exist for [its] office cleaners that allow them to have a chance at being in the middle class as a result of their hard work as building service workers.”
32BJ received a new four-year contract in December, achieved in tandem through bargaining with building owners, but Johnston said Namdar has not abided by that contract.
At Namdar’s property on 529 Fifth Ave., Johnston said a former contractor who worked with the union was removed by Namdar, who then hired a different one. The new contractor, L&J Janitorial, then cut worker wages in half and revoked medical benefits, Johnston said.
He said the cuts put workers at a poverty level of income.
“This is a very, very serious situation for our union and for our members and it was an assault on a standard that sets the prevailing wage and that establishes the wages and benefits package every four years for these 20,000 people who work in the commercial office sector and in universities and cultural landmarks,” Johnston said.
Workers had repeatedly struck against Namdar and its contractor, including Thursday afternoon when a dozen marched in front of the 529 Fifth Ave. property.
At two other buildings, Johnston said workers are employed under expired contracts with Namdar.
This includes 345 Seventh Ave., where Namdar directly employs union members. Johnston said this building is facing low occupancy and impending foreclosure within the next two weeks.
William Ramos has worked at 345 Seventh Ave. for three years and detailed the shortcomings and stressors of a limited staff.
“We’re short staffed,” building worker William Ramos said. “Since Namdar took over, a handyman left, then the original super left – so now the other porter has had to become the super, leaving me to pick up new responsibilities. This is a two porter building, but we just have one – me. It’s all a lot of work.
I have to clean two separate 27-floor stairwells, clean the sidewalk where people dump trash, along with everything else. Meanwhile I didn’t get my annual raise or the bonus that I would have gotten if we had our typical contract. We’re working under an expired contract – that’s scary. I feel in limbo here, like I don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow.”
Ramos, who is afraid of losing his paycheck and his health benefits, said: “I saw what happened at 529 Fifth Ave. – it’s scary, because we’re dealing with the same owners.”
Johnston said discussions to reach an agreement with Namdar and L&J Janitorial have been stalled, attributing delays to their unresponsiveness to negotiate.
He said their goals are to get Namdar to hire a “responsible” cleaning contractor at 529 Fifth Ave. that abides by the wages and benefits standard and Namdar itself to abide by those standards at other properties where they directly hire the union workers.
This story has been updated to correct errors. A previous version of this story stated the union was striking on Thursday, but union members were rallying. The story has been updated to reflect this.