Strike averted as both sides give.

With Passover looming and major differences resolved a year ago with the commercial settlement, the residential bargaining committee of the Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations (RAB) came to an agreement with Gus Bevona, president of Local 32B-32J of the Service Employees International Union and his bargaining committee several hours before a strike deadline.

The new three-year contract, which is effective as of April 21st, calls for an 8.3 percent pay raise for current employees and lesser wages for new and temporary replacement workers.

There are also other minor changes to benefits, including a new health care option for the 30,000 employees working in the 4,000 residential buildings [See Sidebar]. The agreement covers doorpersons, handy persons and certain superintendents in buildings where there are no more than five employees.

The pact was announced at a 5 p.m. press conference on Sunday attended by Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who had urged a settlement before the Jewish holiday. Negotiators had been meeting for several days prior to that, with most of the discussions lasting until 3 a.m. each night.

The full 37-member RAB unanimously approved the agreement the next day and it was also ratified by the union's 41 member negotiating committee.

At a meeting a couple of weeks ago, the union membership voted overwhelmingly to allow their president and his bargaining group to either conclude an agreement or conduct a strike. So no ratification of the contract was required by the union membership, explained Dennis Sheenan, a spokesperson for the local.

Nevertheless, the union has been conducting an opinion survey and as of late last week, found the members to be very happy with the new contract, which gives current members an immediate raise, an increase in overtime meal allowances and other benefit contributions.

Most building owners and boards are expected to come out even because they will be able to fund the increases out of savings garnered by paying the temps and new hires to the industry somewhat less than regular employees.

At the press conference, Bevona thanked his counsel, Jim Manning, and Ronald Raab, who had been participating from a hospital bed before undergoing back surgery.

D. Kenneth Patton, chairman of the RAB residential negotiating team, said during a phone call later, "My committee was excellent, but the professionals, Jim Berg [executive vice president of the RAB] and [counsel] Paul Salvatore of Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendolsolm, did the lion's share of the work."

This was Patton's second negotiation and he said the RAB team "tried to be fair and open, not truculent or emotional." They had all the issues on the table at once, he said, and did not try to settle one item before going on to the next.

Mary Ann Rothman, executive director of the Council of New York Cooperatives, said each of her six times as a member of the RAB negotiating team has been different than its predecessor. "This really was the easiest," she said. Fifteen years ago, her first experience was also Bevona's, "and there were lots of unknowns."

This time, she said, "We were very serious and cordial and professional on both sides. I was so gratified we had an agreement before midnight."

Before the negotiations even started, however, the different factions of the residential group - owners, managers, rentals, cooperatives and condominiums - took the time to understand each others' needs, and together prepared for a long strike. "Ken Patton and Jim Berg sounded people out and listened to their ideas and explained the goals and the diversity of the industry," said Rothman.

While the co-ops and condos do not represent the majority of the building members of the RAB, they do employ the majority of the workers.

"Together we achieved a broad consensus and highest state of readiness," Patton said. "I've always said if we're ready, we won't have it."

Patton holds the Silverstein Chair at the New York University Real Estate Institute where he teaches classes.

"I often say collective bargaining is an irrational procedure that produces a rational outcome. This time it was a logical outcome," he said.

Because the media also relayed the RAB issues to the public in what he felt was a fair way, Patton thinks the residents were able to got a clear picture of their position.

Of course, Patton added, the negotiations "stood on the shoulders of the outstanding efforts of the commercial people" a year ago, when after the 30-day strike, the same union finally took a major step by agreeing to lower wages for new and vacation replacement workers.

Beverly O'Reilly, communications chairperson of the Jaxboro co-op in Jackson Heights, said the details of the agreement seemed suitable. "They get a fair settlement and we get saved from garbage duty," she said.