They hail cabs, carry groceries, but NYC doormen say pay must be livable

NYC doormen may strike April 21

NEW YORK — They collect the laundry and the mail, baby-sit, call 911 and, of course, open doors.

As ubiquitous on New York City sidewalks as yellow taxicabs on the streets, doormen are security guards, bellhops, personal assistants and neighbors to the thousands of New Yorkers who brush past them on their way to upscale high-rise homes.

“We rely on them for everything,” said Donna Saunders of Midtown Manhattan. “They make life easier.”

But the groceries and packages may pile up on Saunders’ door later this month when an April 21 deadline passes for some 30,000 doormen and other building workers. Their union authorized a walkout last week if a four-year contract agreement can’t be reached by then.

Willie Hawkins, a 30-year doorman who has worked for seven years at a residential tower of Wall Street professionals, says he’ll miss the families he feels he’s an honorary member of, especially the 40 kids who run through the halls.

“I know them from birth,” said Hawkins, 53, of the South Bronx. “It’s more than just a job. It’s a relationship.”

Tenants have come to rely on Hawkins as they would a friend or relative for much more than opening doors: Hawkins and others have chipped in to take care of child care problems, handle 911 emergencies, tote groceries and take out the trash.

Despite the Christmas bonuses that tenants dole out each year, Hawkins says he can barely make ends meet.

Apartment workers earn an average of about $40,000 a year, according to the Service Employees International Union, whose members authorized the city strike. The Realty Advisory Board, representing owners, say doormen make closer to $68,000 including health insurance, pensions, sick days and holidays.

Doormen haven’t been on strike since 1991, a walkout that lasted nearly two weeks where residents volunteered to man their own lobbies and open the door for arrivals. A deal was reached in 2006 during the last strike threat.

The two sides are debating wages, health benefits, sick days and overtime rules. The industry association cites the failing real estate market and declining property values as reasons the owners can’t pay as much as the union wants. The union says the industry is fundamentally strong and the recession is over.

Todd Saunders, 48, who runs his own printing business from his Midtown apartment a few days a week, said he relies on building workers for his livelihood, getting him packages that messengers deliver every day. Without the workers, “anything that comes through the front door” wouldn’t get to him, he said.

But other doormen say relations are less rosy between tenants and those who toil in their lobbies.

Edgar Correa, a bulldog of a doorman who has worked for more than 12 years at a building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, said residents “talk down” to him and hardly ever thank him.

“The people don’t appreciate what you do for them,” said Correa, 52. “They want things their way.”

But many speak of their role as so important their presence could mean life or death to their building’s residents.

Carlos Pellecier Jr., 50, has been a doorman at a building on Riverside Drive for 28 years. He said he once helped an elderly tenant who had suffered a stroke.

Pellecier said the man buzzed him in the lobby, and he ran upstairs to the man’s apartment, managing to get inside with an extra key.

“If I wasn’t on duty, it wouldn’t have been a good outcome for him,” he said.

Associated Press writer Ula Ilnytzky contributed to this story.