NSU janitorial and maintenance workers with SEIU 32BJ, an affiliate of the Service Employees International Union, protested the new wage contracts from their contractors at a rally on April 6 at the University Park Plaza.
“Up with the union, down with exploitation,” the workers chanted in Spanish, as they handed out flyers detailing their complaints.
According to the union, contractors TCB Systems, Planned Building Services, Excel and Green Source offered workers a wage increase of 68 cents over three years of employment during new contract negotiations. The union said workers are currently paid an average of $10.75 an hour and are not provided with vision and dental insurance. Their previous contract ended in March.
“Essentially, the contractors need to come back to the negotiating table with a fair offer,” said Ana Tinsly, communications director for SEIU 32BJ. “The purpose of the rally is to bring awareness of the issue to the community, the contractors and the university.”
The workers met outside the TCB Systems office, which is located in the University Park Plaza and was closed at the time of the protest for unknown reasons. TCB subcontracts Planned Building Services, Excel and Green Source.
Lilia Rodriguez, district field coordinator for SEIU 32BJ, said that the workers want to bargain with the contractors, but in real numbers.
“We don’t have a bad relationship with the contractors or the university, but at the bargaining table we’re not coming to agreement about the remuneration of workers here,” she said.
According to Peter Sampo, legal representative for the four contractors, the contractors and the union have bargained three times since the contracts ended in March. He said that during the last session on March 23, the union said they weren’t prepared to negotiate further that day and that they would contact Sampo with some additional days for negotiation, but Sampo never heard back from the union.
“Part of our proposal was that we want to raise wages,” Sampo said. “There are differences between us and the union about what those wages should be, but the contractors want to negotiate. From my perspective, I think that’s where everyone’s energies should be focused.”
Sampo said that the flyers were not a fair representation of the economic situation of the workers, and that wages range from $10 to $13 an hour.
Tinsly said that there’s an issue in terms of the workers being able to make ends meet.
“$10.75 an hour just isn’t enough,” she said. “Especially when you consider all that goes into keeping the university campus clean.”
According to Sampo, the workers receive free health insurance, and, if they have worked for the contractor for over three years, they receive more than four weeks of paid time off per year. He also said that during negotiations, contractors proposed vision and dental care as part of a group package that employees would pay for, as well as an additional day off.
Tinsly said that many of the janitorial and maintenance workers are older women with children.
Julia Jaynes, who works in the Don Taft University Center food court, said that the workers deserve a fair wage for the work that they do.
“I work very hard,” she said. “I’m a single mother of two children and it’s very difficult. I get up every day and make sure everything’s clean and safe for the students.”
According to Jaynes, it’s not fair that the economy is changing but workers’ wages aren’t.
“We need a raise because our work is not paid adequately,” she said.
Sampo said that the current demands from the union are not practical for the contractors to agree to.
“In the course of negotiations, I think we could reach a reasonable deal,” he said.
Earlier in the day, SEIU BJ32 met with NSU President George Hanbury to inform him of the situation.
“We wanted him to know that the folks that he hires and has a relationship with need to be aware that their attitude toward the workers is not respectful,” Rodriguez said.
Jessica Brumley, vice president of facilities management for NSU said, “At NSU we have a genuine concern for the wellbeing of every student, staff, faculty member and visitor to our campus. In this particular case, this is an issue between the SEIU and TCB, a vendor of NSU.”
Tinsly said that while the contractors are the ones responsible for negotiating wages, it’s the university’s responsibility to pressure the contractors to negotiate fairly.
According to Sampo, the contractors provided services to NSU for over five years.
“We’d like to negotiate a successful contract and keep providing services to NSU in a way that’s acceptable and that the workers are happy with,” he said. “We’d like to strike the right balance.”
Photo Credit: G. Ducanis
