450-4th-avenue-arias-brooklyn-120611Trouble is brewing at the Arias Park Slope at 150 4th Avenue after management fired two concierges there “in retaliation for trying to organize their workplace,” according to a release put out today by service workers union 32BJ SEIU. More than a hundred workers, supporters and elected officials plan to protest there tonight at 6:30 against luxury buildings that get tax exemptions but don’t live up to their obligation to provide affordable housing and prevailing wages and benefits, according to the group. They are also asking Arias management to rehire the two concierges. Council members Brad Lander and Stephen Levin and New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio plan to attend. “A 32BJ SEI investigation has found buildings in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan in clear violation of the rule in the 421-a program that employers provide the prevailing wage and paid benefits,” said the release. “A further survey of more buildings receiving the tax exemptions, which cost New York City more than $1 billion in annual tax revenues, showed the violations to be widespread and systemic.”


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