Labor: Union Now Eyes
Suburban-Office Janitors
Some 300 unionized Downtown janitors are back on their jobs after unanimously ratifying a three-year contract that includes a health insurance plan for the first time.
“It’s definitely the best contract that we’ve ever seen in San Diego,” said Mary Grillo, executive director for the Service Employees International Union, Local 2028.
Grillo said the contract that ended a month-long strike at 21 Downtown office buildings has to be considered a winner, even though it was less than what the union was asking.
“You never get everything you ask for,” she said.
The agreement includes hourly wage hikes for the first two years of 50 cents and 40 cents, and the contribution by contractors of $171 monthly for each full-time worker in the final year.
Grillo estimated the total hourly package value at $1.90 over the former minimum wage of $7.05. SEIU was seeking a three-year hourly hike of $1.50, plus health insurance.
The breakthrough on the contract settlement came after 7 & #733; hours of negotiations May 6 between the parties who were located in separate rooms. Mayor Susan Golding intervened in the negotiations, meeting with both sides, and was instrumental in hammering out a settlement.
The union and the janitorial service companies agreed to use a Mexican health maintenance organization to provide health care on both sides of the U.S./ Mexican border. The HMO is Sistemas Medicos Nacionales, S.A. de C.V.
Many of the janitors are legal Mexican residents, and have families.
The agreement also included a promise to increase the work schedules for workers to at least 130 hours per month so they can qualify for the health coverage, Grillo said.
SEIU and other labor organizations rallied around the janitors after the strike was called April 9. The group also was supported by several local elected officials, some of whom joined Grillo and three other janitors in a 10-day hunger strike to dramatize the need for higher wages.
The janitors were also supported by several high-profile tenants of the affected buildings, including one of San Diego’s largest employers, Pacific Bell.
Next up for SEIU is negotiating a better contract for the some 900 janitors working in suburban San Diego. Workers in these buildings earn a minimum of $5.90 hourly without any health insurance.
