Building employee strike possible as inflation rules.

The current commercial building agreement between the owners and managers of commercial buildings and Local 32BJ, Service Employees International Union, AFL-CIO, which was scheduled to expire at midnight on December 31--as it has every three years--will now expire three months earlier, on midnight September 30.

Due to serious, extenuating circumstances, the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, which represents owners and managers, and Local 32BJ have agreed to accelerate the expiration date by three months because of dramatic inflation in medical benefits and prescription drug costs that has caused a funding deficiency in the union's benefits funds that must be addressed.

The RAB and Local 32BJ have decided that it would be best to do so in the context of overall contract negotiations, which would have commenced later this fall, rather than tackling the difficult benefits issue separately. The 2002 contractors agreement between the RAB and Local 32BJ that covers employees of cleaning contractors throughout the city will similarly expire on September 30, instead of December 31.

Formal negotiations for new agreements will begin after Labor Day.

"What this means for the industry is that the strike planning and preparation that we usually encourage the industry to undertake in November and December, must be accomplished in September," RAB president James E Berg said.

"Preparation is imperative," he said, recalling that in January 1996 there was a month-long strike by building service employees in the commercial sector of the industry.

Edward Riguardi, of Jones Lang LaSalle, who co-chairs the RAB commercial negotiating committee, cautioned that "although the RAB will be working hard to secure a mutually satisfactory agreement before the September 30 deadline, a strike commencing on or around October 1 remains a possibility. That is the nature of labor relations."

With that in mind, the RAB will be providing essential information in the coming weeks, such as detailed steps that should be taken now to prepare for a strike and actions that can be taken during a strike to ease the burden on building operations. A Commercial Building Preparedness Manual will also be available, in hard copy and on the RAB's website (www.rabolr.com).

The RAB represents over 4,000 member buildings in collective bargaining with Local 32BJ and other unions. It also provides day-to-day advice to its members on the administration of these collective bargaining agreements and represents members at grievances and arbitrations over alleged breaches of the agreements.