Los Angeles janitor strike
extends to New York City
■ Janitors across the country are demonstrating, asking
for more money and greater job security
By Gary Gentile
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Hoisting
brooms and mops, thousands of
low-income workers are walking
picket lines and gearing up for
demonstrations across the coun
try to demand higher wages, bet
ter job security and “justice for
janitors.”
The pressure started building
last week when hundreds of jani
tors went on strike in Los Ange
les, leaving the companies that
clean 70 percent of the county's
commercial office space scram
bling to find replacements. And
the janitors’ union says that was
just the beginning.
On Sunday, a small group of
janitors staged a noisy demon
stration in San Diego, shouting
“Mucho trabajo, poco dinero” —
“Lots of work, little money.”
This week, the campaign
spreads to New York City, where
doormen, porters and mainte
nance workers plan to march up
Park Avenue to promote their de
mands for contract talks with
owners of 3,000 residential
buildings. Their strike deadline
is April 20.
“It’s been the combined disre
spect at the workplace and the
bargaining table that led us to do
this,” said Mary Grillo, executive
director of Service Employees In
ternational Union Local 2028 in
San Diego.
Throughout the next few
months, maintenance workers,
maids and other SEIU members
plan demonstrations in Chicago,
Cleveland, Seattle and other ma
jor cities where contracts expire
this year.
In Chicago, 125 janitors
planned to begin a hunger strike
Monday to protest their lack of
health benefits. The contract for
janitors in Chicago suburbs ex
pired Sunday; the contract for
janitors in the city will expire on
Saturday.
The timing is no coincidence.
The SEIU set out five years ago to
negotiate contracts around the
country that would expire with
in months of each other to com
bine the clout of more than
100,000 workers.
That kind of thinking, com
bined with some of the most ag
gressive bargaining and recruit
ing tactics in organized labor, has
made the 1.3 million-member
union one of the fastest-growing
and powerful in the country.
In 1985, the then-struggling
union started a program called
“Justice for Janitors” under the
leadership of John Sweeney, who
later became president of the
AFL-CIO. Organizing efforts
were aimed at the hinges of the
work force. It spent more money
than most unions on organizing,
absorbed independent unions,
and staged demonstrations to
draw public attention and rally
union loyalists.
“Their organizing tends to be
among marginalized workers,”
said Gary Chaison, a professor of
industrial relations at Clark Uni
versity in Worcester, Mass.
“They also tend to emphasize
justice, dignity and respect. In
stead of saying, 'We’re going to
get you tremendous wage in
creases,’ they say, ’We’re going to
get you bargaining agreements
that will give you your fair share
of economic prosperity.’”
That message has attracted
thousands of workers.
In the cities where it has lo
cals, the union says it represents
up to 90 percent of all service
workers. In Washington, D.C.,
union membership went from 40
percent to 77 percent over the
past five years. Over an 18
month period in 1988, the union
targeted the Denver suburbs and
went from no presence to repre
senting more than 75 percent of
the area’s service workers, ac
cording to union figures.
Workers in Washington
blocked the Roosevelt Bridge
over the Potomac River in 1996
to call for higher wages for custo
dial workers.
In Los Angeles, the union be
came a major force in 1990,
when its attempt to organize jan
itors in the Century City district
turned into a bloody confronta
tion with police. About two
dozen demonstrators were in
jured and 40 were arrested. Soon
after, the union won the right to
represent workers. June 15 is
now celebrated as “Justice for
Janitors Day.”
The city has about 8,500 jani
tors who work for 18 cleaning
contractors handling most of the
commercial properties in Los
Angeles. The union wants $l-an
hour raises for the next three
years — the average hourly wage
is now $6.90. Contractors offered
a one-year wage freeze, then 40
cent-an-hour raises for two years.
*37 years of Quality Service*
Mercedes • BMW • Volkswagen • Audi
German Auto Service
342-2912 • 2025 Franklin Blvd.
Eugene, Oregon, 97402
The Oregon Humanities Center presents.
The Thirteenth Annual
Colin Ruagh Thomas O'Fallon Memorial Lecture
in Law and American Culture
Barbara Allen
Babcock
Judge John Crown Professor of Law
Stanford Law School
in a lecture entitled
Inventing the Public Defender
tMonday, STpriClO, 2000
7:30 p.m. 175‘Knight Lauf Center
Barbara Allen Babcock, Judge John Crown Professor of
Law, Stanford Law School, will present this year's O'Fallon
lecture. She was the first woman appointed to the Stanford
Law School faculty in 1972. She was one of the founders
of Equal Rights Advocates, a women's rights law firm.
She also co-authored the landmark text on sex discrimi
nation law. Currently she is teaching women's legal
history and is writing a biography of Clara Shortridge
Foltz, the first woman lawyer on the Pacific coast and one
of the first in the nation.
Lecture is free and open to the public. Reception will
follow. For more information or disability accommodations,
call (541)346-3934.
Give Another
Couple the Joy
of Parenthood
Consider being
an Egg Donor
Limited Time
Commitment
Compensation
Provided $2,500
Call: OHSU (503) 418-5333
OllSlf is an equal opportunity,
ajjirmatitv action institution
Healthy Women
21-32 years of age
UO BOOKSTORE ANNUAL MEETING
Thursday, April 13th at 3:30 P.M.
Wesley Center Fellowship Hall, 1236 Kincaid, (behind the Bookstore)
Open to all current UO students, faculty and staff members.
IF Nominations for new Bookstore board members
I" Recommendations or proposals from membership
y Drawings for Bookstore gift certificates
Accepting Nominations for the Following Bookstore Board Positions:
2 Sophomore Positions each for a 2-year term
1 Freshman Position* for a 1 -year term
*Fulfills the second half of a two year term. Person must
currently be of SOPHOMORE standing at the University of Oregon
1 Faculty-at-Large Position for a 2-year term
1 Classified Staff or Officer of Administration Position for a 2-year term
1 Graduate Position for a 2-year term
1 Student-at-Large Position for a 2- year term
Your Comer store since 1920. All books are 10% off EVERYDAY for current UO students, faculty and staff.