Doorman strike epilogue: How did the union get your email address?
As we predicted, a deal was reached to avoid a doorman strike in the wee hours of the morning.
Far from making concessions, building workers walked away with a somewhat better deal than last time: They won a 10 percent pay raise over four years and no important cuts in benefits, only a promise to trim healthcare costs by $70 million annually. (NY Times; NY Daily News; Wall Street Journal)
It was a sweet victory for the union, whose aggressive PR and social media effort helped swing public opinion--and political firepower--over to its side.
But some apartment dwellers are wondering if their privacy was invaded along the way.
On Saturday morning, they received an e-blast from Local 32BJ president Mike Fishman entitled “Urgent update about workers in your building.”
The email urged recipients to support a “fair contract” for workers and linked to a page on the 32BJ website that enabled them to file an easy electronic protest to the Realty Advisory Board representing building owners.
Several co-op owners have since contacted BrickUnderground with concerns over how the union had obtained their email addresses.
“Our building has a notebook at the desk with a page for each apartment and list of information on who lives there, their phone numbers, their emails, etc.,” said one Upper East Side co-op resident who received her e-blast at work.
“I would not be surprised to learn that this where the union got their info," she said. "I think one of our doormen, who is a shop steward, copied everyone’s info, because my husband never got the email and his address was never written into this contact book.”
Further downtown, another co-op owner suspected she’d been tricked out of her email address.
“When we had to fill out forms that I thought were from our managing agent, they collected our email addresses for updates,” she told BrickUnderground. “I got an email from the union guy urging support of them and kind of thought that was inappropriate use of info.”
BrickUnderground direct-tweeted @32BJNY this weekend about the source of the email addresses but didn't receive a response.
Did the union ask or indirectly encourage members to collect personal information about residents for its own use?
We’d like to know.
More BrickUnderground 2010 Strike Coverage:
Threat of doorman strike diminishing
Insider's guide to the de-doormanned life
Doorman march on Park Avenue marked by kids, whistles, smiles
Predicting a doorman strike: Why this time is different
Don't look for me on the picket line
Going rogue: Hitting the panic button in a strike
Relax, N.Y.: Doorman strike vote is just part of the dance
In case of strike, hold onto your gas cap
See all strike coverage here.
