Developers not paying workers as promised

From the Daily News:

Real estate developers who are getting massive tax breaks to set aside a portion of their housing units for low- and moderate-income tenants are gypping their employees at those sites out of pay and benefits, the workers’ union is charging.

The Bloomberg administration’s little-known tax-abatement program has been used by developers to build housing in the city while taking advantage of an incentive that saves them millions of dollars in taxes.

To reap the benefit, the developers have agreed to set aside 20% of the housing units in a given project for affordable housing.

The program also requires building owners to pay their employees a prevailing wage comparable to workers at similar projects.

But the established pay scales are being ignored by many deep-pocketed developers, charge officials from 32BJ SEIU, the union that represents office cleaners, security officers, apartment building workers and others.

In Park Slope, six building employees at 150 Fourth Ave. were fired in February after they complained about working for $10.50 an hour without benefits, far lower than the estimated prevailing rate of $21 an hour.

The majority of the 92 sites that qualified for so-called 421-a benefits have been luxury developments in Manhattan, but 26 Brooklyn projects also have taken advantage of the tax break.
In 2011, the program cost the city more than $900 million in lost revenue, according to the Independent Budget Office.