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Unionized building workers, including many immigrant office cleaners, marched through downtown D.C. streets during the Monday evening rush to draw attention to labor negotiations and their demand for higher wages.
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A four-year labor contract that covers more than 9,000 commercial office cleaners in the region is set to expire Oct. 15. As hundreds gathered in Franklin Park, 32BJ Executive Vice President Jaime Contreras asked if they were prepared to strike, if necessary. The crowd cheered and began chanting “huelga! huelga!” indicating in Spanish that they were ready to strike.
The workers, who help maintain about 1,500 office buildings in the D.C. region, are demanding higher wages that reflect the sacrifices they made to work throughout the height of the coronavirus pandemic and keep up with record levels of inflation.
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Grechsy Sandino, who works overnight cleaning an office building in downtown Washington, said “the little bit that we earn with a lot of effort” has made it difficult to pay rent and afford groceries. This has been especially upsetting, she said, following all the work she did during the pandemic.
“It was very scary. I left the house healthy and I just didn’t know if I was going to bring that virus home with me,” Sandino, 33, who lives in Hyattsville with her husband, 4-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son, said in Spanish through an interpreter. “We haven’t forgotten that we are essential workers and we need more because of that.”
They clean D.C.’s buildings, but they struggle to make ends meet
The current hourly wage rate for members of Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union is $15 in Northern Virginia, $12.50 in Loudoun, $14 in Prince George’s County, a little more than $17 in Baltimore and Montgomery County and $18.60 in the District, according to Julie Karant, an SEIU spokeswoman. Contract negotiations began June 22.
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Throughout the week, Northern Virginia and Maryland workers also will vote on whether to authorize a strike if the Washington Service Contractors Association, which represents the area’s major commercial cleaning companies, does not meet their demands, Karant said.
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“No one wants to strike, but we are ready to strike if employers keep pushing cuts that cleaners can’t afford,” 32BJ Executive Vice President Jaime Contreras said in a statement. “These workers were considered essential during the pandemic, but the industry is treating them like they’re disposable when they are key to downtown’s recovery.”
Peter Chatilovicz, chief negotiator for the Washington Service Contractors Association, said the association values the work the cleaners did during the pandemic and plans to offer higher wages. However, both the union and association say the two sides are far apart on what that wage increase should look like.
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“We very much appreciate and respect what the workers did during covid,” Chatilovicz said. “There is no question they want higher wages, and there’s no question we’re going to grant higher wages. It is just going to be a question of a meeting of the minds.”
The marchers on Monday were pushing back on what they say is the Washington Service Contractors Association’s proposal of cutting five-hour shifts by an hour, amounting to what the union estimates is a 20 percent pay cut of about $100 a week for a third of the workforce, according to a news release. Chatilovicz said this proposal would not affect current workers and would only apply as an option for new hires in a limited number of buildings.
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) and council members Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) and Kenyan R. McDuffie (I-At Large) all spoke at the rally, supporting the workers demanding higher wages and emphasizing that a revitalization of downtown is not possible without them.
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“Everybody wants to see the comeback in D.C., right?” McDuffie said to cheers. “But guess what? There is no comeback without 32BJ and the work that you all do downtown in these office buildings every single day and every single night.”
One of the Marchers was Ruth Parada , who said her wages as a worker in a commercial office building in downtown Washington are not enough to support her family. She is a single mother living in Northwest Washington with her 76-year-old mother and 11-year-old daughter. She also has two adult children. If the association does not meet the union’s demand for higher wages, the 52-year-old said she is ready to strike.
“I don’t feel like they really value what we did during the pandemic,” Parada said in Spanish through an interpreter. “And it’s not just the pandemic. Right now, everything is expensive — and we need to get by.”
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