Essex County Tenants, Workers Plan Protest On Tuesday: Union Leaders

Irvington Housing Authority (IHA) tenants and local union workers plan to hold a protest at noon on Tuesday, April 5, according to labor leaders.

The event will take place in front of 101 Union Avenue, one of the principal IHA buildings, labor leaders with the SEIU NJ State Council said.

According to SEIU representatives, Irvington Housing Authority Executive Director David Brown plans to eliminate the agency’s maintenance department and a clerical employee, more than half of its full-time workers.

All 12 employees are members of Local 617 Workers United, SEIU, union leaders stated.

The workers’ last day of employment is slated for April 20, according to labor leaders.

The planned protest comes in the wake of the Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD) actions against the IHA for allegedly overpaying its executives more than $58,000.

According to the IHA website, the agency was originally incorporated in 1949 in order to “develop, maintain, manage and provide decent, safe, affordable rental housing for eligible, low-income senior and family tenant households.”

The site consists of 670 rental units, as well as administrative offices and resident facilities, located on a city block, in fourteen low–rise and high-rise buildings. The IHA also administers more than 600 Section 8 vouchers, including portables.

“The situation for tenants and workers at the Irvington Housing Authority is becoming more outrageous with each passing day,” said Wilfredo Larancuent, Co-Manager of the Laundry, Distribution and Food Service Joint Board, Workers United, and president of SEIU New Jersey State Council.

According to union leaders:

• Residents have received letters from the Housing Authority in recent days with allegedly inaccurate “threats and bills”
• An alleged “lack of investment in building infrastructure and steep reductions in maintenance employees have resulted in crumbling facilities, such as the men's bathroom off the community room in the main building at 624 Nye Street”

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