Landlord, Tenants To Negotiate Across State Lines

Recently formed tenants unions in New Haven and Detroit have scheduled a joint Zoom meeting with their landlord to demand improvements to their respective buildings’ maintenance and management.

U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy along with U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro have also signed a letter urging that landlord to negotiate in good faith with the Connecticut Tenants Union to resolve ​“all outstanding issues” — including unreliable heat, deferred maintenance, and inadequate building security — at Park Ridge Apartments in West Hills.

That’s the latest with efforts by New Haven’s Park Ridge Tenants Union and Detroit’s River Pointe Tower Tenants Union to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with their shared landlord, the New York-based Capital Realty Group.

The Blumenthal-Murphy-DeLauro letter is dated Aug. 14. The Zoom meeting between the tenants unions and Capital Realty Group is slated to take place on Wednesday.

The Park Ridge Tenants Union, comprised of the elderly and disabled residents of the federally subsidized 72-unit complex at 10 Hard St., was formally announced on Aug. 6 outside their West Hills apartment building. They’ve called on Capital Realty to address a faulty boiler, security concerns in the parking lot, slow response times to maintenance requests, dirty carpets in common spaces, an extra rental charge for live-in aides, and unreasonable rules for how residents use their apartments.

Thirteen days later, seniors at another subsidized building, River Pointe Tower on Detroit’s east side, formed their own union to push Capital Realty to provide better pest control, fair leases, a centralized system for reporting maintenance concerns, and increased building security.

While the tenants unions sent emails and made calls over the last three weeks demanding a collective bargaining process, members and advocates said that Capital Realty has, until now, not responded to their requests. During a press conference with U.S. Sen. Blumenthal on Aug. 14, Park Ridge tenants claimed Capital Realty employees went as far as to hide from them when they drove to the company’s offices in Spring Valley, New York. 

During a phone interview with the Independent on Tuesday, Connecticut Tenants Union Vice President Luke Melonakos said that after the Aug. 14 press conference, Blumenthal, Murphy, and DeLauro sent a joint letter to Capital Realty urging good faith negotiations. See below for a full copy of that letter.

On Aug. 19, the day the River Pointe Tower Tenants Union formed in Detroit, Melonakos said the building’s property manager requested a meeting with the tenants union for the next day.

The tenants union agreed to the conversation but ultimately walked out, after the property manager made clear they wouldn’t be able to set up a meeting between the tenants and their landlord. 

Meanwhile, said Melonakos, Moshe Eichler, the president and primary owner of Capital Realty, was outside the Detroit building when the meeting was taking place.

Detroit union organizers, after leaving, spoke to Eichler directly and scheduled Wednesday’s Zoom call. Since then, they’ve communicated with Eichler and Capital Realty’s general counsel over email, said Melonakos. 

Capital Realty did not respond to the Independent’s requests for comment by the publication time of this article. 

Melonakos was in the process of completing the groups’ collective bargaining proposal when he spoke with the Independent on Tuesday. He said the first section lists shared concerns, especially related to union recognition, general maintenance standards, and property management practices. 

“Both unions very much share in common the feeling that the property management staff does not treat them with respect,” said Melonakos. ​“There seems to be a culture of disrespect and belittling of people.”

The union members want their feedback on staff to be incorporated into hiring decisions, said Melonakos, and for management to undergo trainings for de-escalating conflict and improving communication. 

The sections following are specific to each apartment complex. Melonakos listed off examples for Park Ridge, like ​“the boiler has to be replaced by X date,” ​“the pipes have to be inspected and repaired by X date,” and ​“paperwork from management needs to be provided in Spanish and Russian by X date.” He also emphasized that the proposals include ​“really tangible commitments and timelines.” 

The group is also proposing ongoing standards, such as requiring maintenance emergencies to be resolved with 24 hours. 

Melonakos expects there to be eight to ten union members at Wednesday’s meeting, representing at least three languages: English, Spanish, and Russian. The rest of the Park Ridge union will be listening from the complex’s community room. 

They’ve also set another meeting, in-person, for the week of Sept. 8. 

In an email press release sent out by the Connecticut Tenants Union on Monday afternoon, they described the upcoming Zoom meeting with Park Ridge, River Pointe, and Capital Realty representatives as ​“the first example in recent history of tenant unions engaging in collective bargaining across state lines.”