Washington, DC -- It’s always better when a strike is avoided so it is good news that Local 32BJ, representing 3,000 building workers throughout the Bronx, reached a tentative agreement with the Bronx Realty Advisory Board.

The agreement calls for a six percent raise over the four years of the contract and for these diligent workers to keep their family health care and pension benefits plans. The agreement still have to be approved by the membership, but for now the good news is that the 250,000 apartment dwellers serviced by these men and women will not be faced with a walkout.

I supported Local 32BJ in the past, in their current negotiations, and I will in the future. Unions are vital for working people to make decent wages. It was unions who made America a middle class country, which is why I am proud to have an almost perfect pro-labor voting record in Congress.

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