Tenants unions protest major New Haven landlord

Four tenants’ unions in New Haven are hoping their Wednesday evening protest will lure a prominent local landlord back to the ­­­bargaining table.

The unions have been seeking collective bargaining agreements with Ocean Management, to cover issues including housing conditions, rent stability and lease terms. Ocean owns hundreds of apartment units in New Haven.

Resident and union official Lauren Palulis calls the protest “an escalation of efforts to get the attention of Ocean, who have been ghosting negotiations and not responding to the tenants and the people in the unions who are trying to work on the negotiations.”

The Blake Street tenants’ union completed an agreement with Ocean earlier this year (although the union says the company has already violated its terms). The three other unions had been working on similar deals, until the company allegedly stopped responding.

Palulis, of the State Street union, says Ocean has been the subject of complaints contributing to the need for a collective bargaining agreement, saying, “They have been really not just inattentive landlords, but just absentee landlords. They don’t address problems, they ghost stuff, typically. They’re more than happy, though, to take our checks.”

Ocean Management did not respond to WTIC Radio’s request for comment.