The New York Observer » 32BJ

Walking the REBNY Ballroom: Hungry Brokers, Angry Lapidus

Speeches were casually ignored, drinks were spilled and bonds were formed at last Thursday’s 116th annual Real Estate Board of New York Gala, which this year drew an estimated 2,000 brokers, owners, advertising buyers and real estate reporters to the New York Hilton for an evening of conviviality, honorifics and hushed deal making. Among the fray was Commercial Observer staff writer Daniel Geiger, who during the course of the evening saw his stenopad tossed by an irate real estate broker and who unabashedly accosted Studley’s Woody Heller in the hotel’s bathroom, all for the sake of the story. Below, a timeline of gala comings and goings, from the innocuous gossip down to the downright obnoxious. Read More

Building Workers Union Signs 245K-Foot Lease at 620 Sixth

The union that nearly brought a doorman strike last month is planning a move to a new headquarters.
The Service Employees International Union 32BJ announced Monday that it has signed a 245,000-square-foot, 20-year lease at 620 Avenue of the Americas, at 18th Street. The building, bought by the Chetrit Group in 2005 for $289 million, houses Read More

Unofficial Results: Liu and de Blasio Get More Votes Than Bloomberg

The person who got the most votes in yesterday’s election?
No, not Michael Bloomberg. It’s Comptroller-elect John Liu.
According to unofficial results, Liu got 696,330 votes, with 652,511 on the Democratic line, and 43,819 on the WFP line.
The second-highest total belonged to Bill de Blasio, in the public advocate’s race. He got 672,383 votes. 627,390 came Read More

Aborn May Have the W.F.P., But Vance Gets 1199 and 32BJ

Cy Vance’s campaign announced endorsements today from 1199, the health care workers union, and 32BJ, the city’s largest private union.
They’re major unions with well-proven Get Out the Vote operations. It’s also worth noting that they are part of the labor coalition that runs the Working Families Party which, as an umbrella organization, backed another Read More

Paterson Will Meet With Union Heads

CHESTERTOWN—As he works to shore up his relationship with the state's largest unions, David Paterson will meet with the heads of several key labor organizations before tackling a mid-year budget deficit in September.

"It's not Yalta," said a labor source, but "the conversation from Kingston will continue."

The heads of 32BJ, 1199, RWDSU, Read More

Paterson’s Tricky Dance With Unions

ALBANY—After a gripe session at the end of last month in Kingston, David Paterson has been working to shore up ties with labor groups. But it's a tough sell at a tough time.

"I don't have any trouble getting through, I have trouble convincing them," said Alan Lubin, executive vice president for the New Read More

State Unions Train Their Fire on a Republican in Erie

ALBANY—While they're pushing for legislative action in Albany, the coalition of unions advocating a bill that would require higher wages at publicly financed construction projects is fighting a side battle in Erie County.

The labor groups, led by SEIU 32BJ, are targeting Erie County Executive Chris Collins.
At the beginning of the month, Collins, a Read More

At Kingston Meeting, Labor and Dems Work to Get on Same Page

ALBANY—Labor leaders told Democratic Party officials of concerns they are being overlooked during a meeting today in Kingston.

"It was more a general opportunity to put on the table people's frustrations and feelings that they're, in a sense, taken for granted. I have to say I was somewhat surprised by some of the points Read More

Unions, ACORN Push Council for Coney Island Concessions as Clock Ticks

Seems like the Bloomberg administration has yet to win over unions and housing advocacy group ACORN on its Coney Island plan.
I was forwarded a letter on Friday night addressed to members of the City Council from a number of important unions and ACORN that urges the members to withhold support of the plan—a multibillion-dollar redevelopment Read More

Endorsements! A Union for Bloomberg, a Kennedy for Vance

There’s been a deluge of endorsement announcements today that well-meaning flacks are (constantly) reminding me of. Here are a few:
Planned Parenthood’s Action Fund endorsed Senator Kirsten Gillibrand for re-election. This comes just days before Representative Carolyn Maloney is expected to enter the race.
Robert Kennedy Jr. endorsed Cy Vance for Manhattan D.A. They entered Read More

With Budget Passed, New Lobbying Fronts

ALBANY—Just last week, lobbying was focused on the state budget, and wrangling some extra thousands for a local hospital or school district. How quickly it's shifted. The union representing transit workers is putting its focus on the M.T.A., lobbying legislators to take action to bridge the authority's deficit. And SEIU 32BJ is continuing to lobby Read More

With Budget Passed, New Lobbying Fronts

ALBANY—Just last week, lobbying was focused on the state budget, and wrangling some extra thousands for a local hospital or school district.

How quickly it's shifted.

The union representing transit workers is putting its focus on the M.T.A., lobbying legislators to take action to bridge the authority's deficit. And SEIU 32BJ is continuing Read More

David Valesky, Perpetual Target

ALBANY—State Senator David Valesky is being singled out once again. Union 32BJ is on the air with various versions of a radio ad targeting individual senators—including Valesky—for not signing on to a bill to tighten up restrictions on industrial development authorities, a union official confirmed. The version below, which relates a fictional conversation between two Read More

David Valesky, Perpetual Target

ALBANY—State Senator David Valesky is being singled out once again.

Union 32BJ is on the air with various versions of a radio ad targeting individual senators—including Valesky—for not signing on to a bill to tighten up restrictions on industrial development authorities, a union official confirmed. The version below, which relates a fictional conversation Read More

A Labor Ad for Ferreras

Here's an ad for City Council candidate Julissa Ferreras, paid for by one of New York's major unions, 32BJ. It's appearing in some local papers in Queens.
The contact number goes to a 32BJ political office, whose people seem to be on the Ferreras bandwagon too.