Doorman Strike

One of the hot topics here in New York is the "Doorman Strike," which is formally known as the building worker's strike, or something like that. The building worker's union and the realty board are in negotiations for the new contract, but if a deal is not struck by midnight, the strike is scheduled to begin at 7 am tomorrow. The big joke is that people with doormen won't be able to open their own doors. Being lucky enough to live in a building with doormen, I would like to clarify that that is NOT the problem I am most concerned with.

First of all, the doormen rarely actually open the door for me, or anyone in the building, as they only do that when there are two of them on duty and there isn't a crush of people at the desk. Our doormen provide a great deal of security, they are familiar with the delivery people who come to the building and know the residents (all 50 floors of us) by name if not by sight. If you happen to lock yourself out of your apartment, you can check out the spare key from the desk. Since we have lived here, I have never been concerned about the people who are in our halls, because our doormen keep such a close eye on the guests.

Among the people who will strike are the people who take care of the trash. At buildings with as many residents as ours, staff processes the trash that comes down the trash chute, puts it through the compactor, and re-bags it in sturdy garbage bags. Some of the people on my floor cannot manage to use bags that close, much less get them all the way in the chute - what is going to happen when residents are supposed to bag and put their own trash on the curb? Grossness, that's what. Trash that is normally stacked in straight lines is going to form mountains that will break and spew trash, which means rats and roaches will come. Eww. Eww.

Hopefully, the two sides will come to a resolution - despite the fact that the union has threatened to strike 5-6 times since, there has not been a strike since 1991. Let's hope the streak holds. :)