Page 11 - NJ Cooperator Summer 2020

NJCOOPERATOR.COM THE NEW JERSEY COOPERATOR — SUMMER 2020 11 With locations in Northern and Central NJ Visit us on the web at www.WilkinGrp.com | 201.560.0900 Wilkin Management Group, Inc. 30 Years of History Wilkin Management Group, Inc.ilkin Management Group, Inc. Visit us on the web at www.WilkinGrp.com | 201.560.0900 W For over 30 years, Wilkin Management Group has held to an unshakeable corporate philosophy of Creating Value for Our Clients. Our People, Process and Performance demonstrates an un-wavering commitment to do so. Chip Hoever has joined forces with Matrix Property Management Group—now Matrix can serve you from TWO locations— North Jersey: Central Jersey: 50-C Main Street 1215 Livingston Ave Succasunna, NJ 07876 North Brunswick, NJ 08902 908-852-0064 732-228-8200 Samantha Regner, CMCA Chip Hoever CMCA, AMS, PCAM VISIT OUR WEBSITE www.matrixpmgroup.com Matrix provides full service property Management from A to Z… • Maintaining homeowner accounts • Receiving and posting all fees—bank reconciliations • Answering homeowner calls—issuing work order if necessary • Supervising maintenance projects • Watching over contractors working on the site • Periodic site inspections, including nights and weekends Please visit our booth—311—at the cooperator show on May 6th which represents building workers through- out the Mid-Atlantic. “Th ey can inspect a employer that devoted an entire fl oor of one condo if there is a history of accidents there, of their buildings to erect a mock-up of a or if an employee fi les a complaint regarding boiler to serve as part of their employee use lack of training or if a hazardous condition and safety training on boiler operations. Full- exists.” 32BJ According to James Barry, Senior Man- ager of Program Development for the 32BJ Safety for Residential Buildings, CPR/AED, Training Fund, the union has more than Air Pollution Control, and Electricity Basics. 175,000 members, making it the largest prop- erty workers’ union in the United States. Th e state area this past spring, 32BJ launched a re- New York metropolitan area accounts for source bank on its website, www.seiu32bj.org 80,000 of those members; add in New Jersey, covering everything from prevention mea- Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vir- ginia, and Washington, D.C., and the number to the legal ramifi cations of the situation for swells to more than 100,000. Union members essential frontline workers, including those include cleaners, doormen, porters, main- tenance workers, window cleaners, security guards, superintendents, and theater and sta- dium workers. In addition to the healthcare benefi ts, serving the real estate industry in Northern retirement plan- ning, wage negotia- tions, and collective advocacy that the union provides its members, 32BJ of- fers more than 200 educational courses and certifi cations through its jointly administered mul- tiemployer Train- ing Fund—many of which have a strong safety-related com- ponent. To be quali- fi ed as a window cleaner, for example, a candidate must pass a series of train- ing courses certifying them to carry out dif- ferent aspects of the job, such as suspend- ed scaff old safety and rope skills. Robert Sparer, partner at the labor and unions via their collective bargaining agree- employment law fi rm Clift on Budd & De- Maria, LLP in New York City, explains that and employers about new or updated safety “Safety is something that is such a tremen- dously important factor in any operation be rolled out. Depending on the update, this that the unions will be involved in it to a information might also come through a dedi- great deal.” Ferranti agrees, adding that “All cated OSHA consultant, or through the man- staff members and property managers can aging agent/employer themselves, who will benefi t from health and safety training to advise on the best training methods based avoid accidents, and any such training plans on their staff structure and the nature of the are determined by the individual residential topic—whether that be more meetings, for- buildings. If the employees are participants mal training sessions, a pamphlet, or on-site in the 32BJ Training Fund, there are classes instruction. that include signifi cant content on training, including Industrial Training.” 32BJ courses are off ered free of charge at tions, regulations, and protections, in real life various locations throughout the jurisdic- tions of its membership, as well as online. that employees do sometimes compromise Th e Training Fund will even set up remote their own safety by cutting corners when locations for training if the circumstances warrant it. For example, Sparer cites a large length courses run for 11 weeks and are of- fered quarterly. Some of the most popular in the New York metropolitan area include Fire With the arrival of COVID-19 to the tri- sures for employers and individual workers in building and association operations. RAB Th e Realty Advisory Board on Labor Re- lations (RAB) is a multiemployer association New Jersey, New York City, Long Island, Westches- ter, and Con- necticut. RAB negotiates on behalf of prop- erty owners and operators in col- lective bargain- ing agreements with the unions that represent their mainte- nance and oper- ating employees. Th ey also advise and represent members in mat- ters involving personnel and human resource administration. Usually RAB is involved in establishing safety committees for smaller ments. Th e association will also advise unions regulations or practices and how they should IRL Of course, even with all these organiza- (IRL) accidents do still happen. Sparer says “I strongly recommend that you conduct a risk as- sessment of your buildings, determine what risks ex- ist, decide whether there are methods available to reduce those risks, and then take ap- propriate steps to implement those methods when it is rea- sonable to do so under the circumstances.” —Jay L. Hack continued on page 18