Open your own doors? NYC building workers vote whether to authorize strike.

""It's very tough out here right now," said Torres, who lives in Lodi, New Jersey. "It's tough to manage, but this is something that we have to do.""

""Under our administration, New York is, and always will be, a union town," Mamdani said in a statement ahead of a planned rally Wednesday."

"A walkout would leave an estimated 1.5 million residents to mind their own doors, take out their own trash, accept package deliveries and otherwise tend to their own building needs."

Israel Torres, a doorman since 1995, reports stagnant wages despite inflation, earning about $30 an hour, equivalent to his initial pay. Rising costs of essentials like milk and gas have strained his budget. Torres is among 34,000 building service workers voting on a potential strike if contract negotiations fail. A strike could affect 1.5 million residents, leaving them to manage their own building needs. Mayor Zohran Mamdani supports the workers, emphasizing New York's commitment to union rights amid rising affordability concerns.

Read at Gothamist