Partial Victory
for Boston Janitors
by Joe Auciello
Better pay. Health
insurance. Respect. Nearly 2,000 janitors in Boston, represented by the Service
Employees International Union (SEIU), organized, marched, and won a nearly four-week-long
strike against the largest cleaning service companies in the region. The
five-year contract offered by the employers association, Maintenance
Contractors of New England, extends benefits that have never been granted here
before to part-time workers.
Although only about
2,000 went on strike, there are 10,700 janitors in SEIU Local 254,
predominantly Latino immigrants. Approximately 8,000 of these workers hold only
part-time jobs (less than 29 hours per week), sometimes stitching together two
or three part-time jobs to earn a living. These workers, about three-fourths of
the union, had no health care benefits, no sick days, and a salary of only
$9.95 an hour in one of the most expensive cities in the USA.
Health care has been a
central issue in the strike. As the SEIU pointed out, “Without health
insurance, the cost of health care is prohibitively expensive. A visit to a
doctor in the Boston area costs $79, two days’ pay for a janitor. A
prescription for antibiotics alone costs an entire day’s wage.” Even full-time
workers find it difficult or impossible to purchase health care coverage for
family members.
A Boston Globe
report (Oct. 17, 2002) highlighted the story of Manuel Perez, who has a
full-time job but cannot afford the $20 weekly premium that would be charged
for family coverage. As a result, “His wife, Michelle Perez, hasn’t seen a
doctor or gynecologist in nearly two years…”
The newly won
agreement will give fully funded health insurance to 1,000 part-time janitors
who work in Boston’s largest downtown offices. Most janitors will receive a pay
raise of $3 per hour, or $12.95 for most workers. Two paid sick days a year
were also added to the accord.
SEIU leader Rocio
Saenz said, “This is a tremendous victory. We have for the first time part-time
janitors with health care, which means if janitors get sick, they can go to the
doctor and they can pay for their medicine” (Boston Globe, Oct. 24,
2002). Although 1,000 part-timers won health care, it was not clear that their
families would be covered.
The Globe
quoted union member Mynea Cea, a 35-year-old Salvadoran and a part-time worker.
She said the janitors won “dignity and respect… We’re very happy. We can
return to our jobs with our heads held high.”
The
Contract’s
Limitations
Nonetheless, the
union’s victory was partial and incomplete. The janitors will not all receive
an equal share of the gains. Wage hikes will be greatest for workers in the
Boston area, while workers in outlying cities and suburbs will earn about
one-third less than their brothers and sisters in Boston. Wage raises are less
than what the SEIU won for their members in Los Angeles two years ago.
Some gains will not be
seen for years. Fully funded health care, for instance, will only become
available in the third year of the contract. And, as we have said, about 8,000
part-time janitors still have no health benefits.
Several of the union’s
demands were left on the bargaining table. The cleaning service companies will
not be required to offer full-time jobs to any portion of their part-time
workers. Nor will sympathy strikes be allowed in the contract. SEIU had wanted
janitors in Boston to be able to support any similar strikes in other cities.
Still, despite its
limitations, the janitors’ contract is a victory. The management association
was forced to make concessions they had vowed not to make. The resulting
contract also puts the union in a position to build on its gains in future
negotiations. The director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern
University, Andrew Sum, correctly noted that “public recognition of the right
and need to organize may well be the long-run, favorable payoff from the
strike” (Boston Globe, Oct. 25, 2002).
Support in the
Streets
While the negotiations
took place in the Parkman House, the official city residence on Beacon Hill,
the real power was shown in the streets. Without determined and sustained
action by union workers and a broad range of supporters, especially Jobs with
Justice members (see www.massjwj.net) and
the Student Labor Action Project (see www.bostonslap.org),
who rallied, marched, raised money, and maintained picket lines, the union leaders
could never have wielded what leverage they did have. The agreement was reached
just before a massive support rally, with buses coming into Boston from all
over Massachusetts and other states.
From the beginning,
the janitors’ strike gained popular support. Reflecting this, a Boston Globe
editorial on Sept. 28 argued in favor of the union’s “legitimate demands” and
called on the owners of Boston’s buildings to pressure the cleaning contractors
“to accept union demands for decent salaries and benefits.”
Student groups, church
groups, labor activist groups like Jobs with Justice, and even local
politicians supported the strike. The Republican governor threatened to end a
$1.9 million State House cleaning contract unless the city’s largest cleaning company
settled favorably with the SEIU. The state’s Democratic senators and mayor also
pressured the companies to reach an accord with the union.
Janitors are poorly
paid and live paycheck to paycheck, like so many U.S. workers. A strike for
them is costly and dangerous. Nevertheless, the janitors waged a strike that
hit about 100 buildings and forced the companies to make concessions. The
janitors’ morale and militancy were strong enough to win partial victories.
That strength and unity will be needed to maintain and extend this victory.
Contract Not
Yet Ratified
The Boston Globe
reported on Oct. 30 that many janitors felt the proposed contract “fell far
short of what they had expected.”
Carlos Melera, 45, a
Salvadoran who earns $10.20 an hour cleaning at Northeastern University, said:
“The majority of janitors don’t agree with the settlement—we fought for more
than they gave us.”
The staff director of
the SEIU local, Jill Hurst, was quoted as saying: “Janitors should have an
honest debate about whether it’s the settlement they want, and if it’s not,
we’ll have to figure out where to go from here.”
One striker, Manuel
Hernandez, 27, a Salvadoran who works part-time at One Federal Street, said:
“There just aren’t enough benefits after striking for so long.”
One of the contract
negotiators, Alex Muñoz, 26, who was also a picket line captain and a union
steward in Wilmington, Massachusetts, predicted that the janitors would ratify
the contract despite its shortcomings. He said: “A lot of people aren’t happy
about the pay and there has been a lot of miscommunication between the
negotiators and janitors, but we look at this as opening the door. We can’t
expect the companies to pay everything up front. We have to be realistic—it
takes time.”
Voting on the contract
was scheduled for the week of Nov. 4–8.