By Michael Ventura
DNAinfo Senior Editor
MANHATTAN — With little progress made this weekend on contract talks to avoid a strike that could see more than 30,000 doormen walk off the job midnight Wednesday, Manhattanites in posh buildings were bracing — and training — for life without them.
The Realty Advisory Board on Labor Relations, which represents building owners in the negotiations, has distributed manuals to building owners advising residents on how to handle building operations if a strike happens.
"We are working hard to reach a new contract," the Board wrote in a memo to building owners.
"They're going to have to do a lot of stuff," Shon Isic, a doorman at 145 E. 74th St., told DNAinfo about the work residents would have to do if he and his colleagues walk. "It's going to be a hard time for tenants."
Many buildings have posted sign-up sheets for residents to volunteer to take over doormen duties.
Doormen make roughly $40,000 a year, and they want increased medical insurance and other benefits. The building owners have balked, saying in the current economy, they can't afford to pay increased benefits, which would increase overall compensation to $70,000 per doorman, the memo said.
In anticipation of the strike, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio set up a Web site listing services available to tenants.
Fresh Direct, the grocery delivery service, also sent a notice to customers last week saying that food orders could be delayed by the strike.
