The nation’s largest building service workers union is denouncing what they say is the ‘mis-development of Jersey City.”
The union 32BJ SEIU represents over 15,000 workers in New Jersey, including 1,500 in Jersey City.
The union says that since 2017, 59 residential towers have been built in the city. They claim that because those buildings can charge high prices, workers aren’t seeing a benefit.
"When you talk to these tenants, they'll say that, ‘Porter Jose helped me out when I was delivering a baby,’ ‘He's the one who got a cab for me,’ or ‘He's the one who called the paramedics,’ but that worker is not getting that equal share,” says Ana Maria Hill, state director of 32BJ SEIU.
"In a city like Jersey City or New York where there is a tenant development, you're going to have good actors and bad actors. We do our best to police the bad actors,” says Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop.
Fulop says the city will consider the union's recommendations.