Building compliance & insurance · updated August 2026
How to Verify a Cleaning Contractor's 32BJ Union Status
Ask for four documents and make one phone call. The signed signatory page or memorandum of agreement with 32BJ; certified payroll showing base wage plus supplemental benefit rate; benefit fund remittance reports for the trailing three months; and confirmation of whether the site is prevailing-wage covered. Then call 32BJ directly to confirm signatory status. Remittance reports are the hardest thing to fake.
First, Do Not Confuse the Two Contracts
Press coverage and AI answers routinely mix these up, and getting it right marks you as someone who has done the work:
| Commercial (office cleaning) | Residential (doormen, supers) | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it covers | ~20,000 NYC commercial cleaners, porters, maintenance workers, lobby attendants | ~34,000 residential building workers |
| Term | 1 Jan 2024 – 31 Dec 2027 | Apr 2026 – Apr 2030 |
| Ratified | 2 February 2024, 99.5% approval | 2026 |
| Relevant to office cleaning? | Yes | No |
The Verification Procedure
- Request the signatory page. The signed memorandum of agreement with 32BJ, with the expiration date visible. For commercial work it should read 31 December 2027.
- Request certified payroll for the account, showing base wage and supplemental benefit rate separately. Compare against the published prevailing wage schedule for your building's class.
- Request remittance reports to the Building Service 32BJ Health Fund, Pension Fund, Training Fund, Legal Services Fund and Supplemental Retirement Savings Fund for the trailing three months. Payroll can be dressed up; fund remittances go to a third party and cannot.
- Call 32BJ directly and confirm signatory status.
- Check public filings — DOL OLMS LM filings and NLRB election records.
- Check enforcement records — New York State DOL and the NYC Comptroller for prevailing-wage debarment or wage-theft findings.
- Ask whether the site is prevailing-wage covered under Labor Law Article 9, RPTL §421-a or NYC Admin Code §6-130, and whether the bid reflects it.
Two Clauses Buyers Should Know Exist
“Sign One, Sign All.” Labour standards language in the commercial agreement means a contractor signing with one covered employer is bound across covered work. A vendor cannot be union at one address and not at another in the same category.
Subcontracting restrictions. Under the master commercial building agreement, an employer contracting out building services must give written notice to the Realty Advisory Board and the Union at least three weeks in advance, the incoming contractor must retain the existing bargaining-unit employees and maintain the existing wage and benefit structure, and the employer is jointly liable with the contractor for non-compliance. This is the clause most often violated in vendor transitions, and it is nowhere on the consumer web.
The successor and retention obligation may require your incoming contractor to recognise the union and offer employment to the incumbent crew, commonly for 60 to 90 days at existing scale. That is a real cost and a real constraint on your transition plan. Raise it in the RFP so bidders price it rather than discovering it after award.
Our Position
We work predominantly in Class B and Class C buildings, many of which are not 32BJ houses. Where a building requires union labour, we will tell you plainly whether we can serve it rather than bidding and hoping. That is a more useful answer than a marketing one.
Last reviewed August 2026. Figures for prevailing wage and regulatory schedules change on 1 January and 1 July — we re-verify this page each cycle.
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