SEIU 32BJ: Luxury Developer Placed on Santa's Naughty List

- Santa Warns TF Cornerstone About Substandard Conditions for Workers at Some of its Luxury Residential Buildings -

NEW YORK, Dec. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Santa and his helpers today visited the Park Avenue South headquarters of TF Cornerstone, one of the fastest-growing real estate developers in the city, to warn the company's owners of its landing on this year's "Naughty" list for undercutting area standards for New York's working people. Standing outside Cornerstone's headquarters at 387 Park Avenue South, a costumed Santa and his helpers held aloft a poster-sized sign showing Cornerstone on this year's "Naughty" list.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121220/DC33484)

"Cornerstone charges $5,000 for two-bedroom apartments," said Larry Engelstein, Executive Vice President of 32BJ SEIU, which represents 70,000 building service workers in New York. "It can afford to provide its service workers safety training, retirement security and advancement opportunities that are up to industry standards. That's what's expected in our city, that's what responsible landlords have been paying for decades."

Cornerstone would have to pay just $2 per hour more for its service workers to have the same opportunities, training and retirement security as other building service workers in the city, said Alex Vargas, an organizer for 32BJ.

"That's all, just $2 per hour per worker, and Cornerstone could stop this destructive race to the bottom that is hurting our city's working families," Vargas said.

With 125,000 members in eight states and Washington, D.C., including 70,000 in New York, 32BJ SEIU is the largest union of property service workers in the country and the largest private sector union in the states. 

SOURCE SEIU Local 32BJ