MIAMI, Feb. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- The janitors at the University of Miami
will vote to decide whether to authorize a strike over unfair labor practices
committed by UNICCO -- the company hired by the university to manage the
janitors who clean the campus -- Sunday, Feb. 26, at 12:45 PM. A strike on
campus could come anytime after the vote.
Janitors at the campus earn as little as $6.40 an hour and are not
provided with health insurance. University President Donna Shalala has come
under fire by a growing coalition of students, faculty, religious leaders, and
community activists for not doing more to head off a strike and ensure UNICCO
respects workers' right to organize for a living wage and affordable health
insurance free from intimidation.
WHO: Janitors
WHEN: Sunday, Feb. 26, 12:45 PM
WHAT: Strike Vote
Where: Episcopal Church
1150 Stanford Drive, Coral Gables
Visual: Hundreds of janitors, chanting, cheering. The vote is open to the
media. If you would like an opportunity to schedule an interview with a leader
of the campaign prior to the vote, please call Renee Asher at 786-252-2369.
BACKGROUND ON CAMPAIGN:
Maritza Paz is one of the janitors who may vote to strike. For the last 11
years she has worked as a janitor for UNICCO at the University of Miami, and
managed to raise two kids on poverty wages. On the wages she earns cleaning,
saving for retirement and quality health care are just a dream. Instead, Paz,
like hundreds of other janitors at the University of Miami, must scramble to
pay for medicine, doctor's visits, food, and rent. Often her salary doesn't
cover all the basic necessities and when that happens she and her family must
simply do without.
Janitors at the University of Miami, most of whom are immigrants from
Cuba, Haiti and South America, earn some of the lowest wages for campus
janitors in the country. Unionized janitors who work for the same company in
other cities earn higher wages and are provided health insurance. At Harvard
University in Boston, UNICCO janitors earn between $13 and $14 an hour and
have fully paid health insurance. But they didn't always. Janitors won the
higher wages and benefits as the result of a two-year campaign on their behalf
by students, the community, and SEIU.
As Miami-Dade's largest single employer, the University of Miami has a
special obligation to be a leader in the fight against poverty. Yet, the
university's policies have actually increased Miami-Dade's poverty rate. In an
already poor city, janitors at the University of Miami are some of the
poorest, earning as little as $13,104 a year, less than half the county
median.
Wages are low, and benefits almost nonexistent for campus janitors,
because cleaning contractors have to bid the work. Responsible contractors who
pay higher wages and provide affordable health benefits can not possibly
compete for work with contractors who do not. That is why university
presidents around the country have made it a priority to only hire responsible
contractors for their campuses. The result has been for contractors to bid on
the quality of their work, rather than driving wages and benefits down.
University President Donna Shalala has been unwilling to commit the university
to funding higher wages and affordable health insurance for the UNICCO
janitors. UNICCO embarked on a vicious anti-union campaign including threats
and interrogation after janitors on the campus started organizing with Local
11 for better wages, benefits, and respect on the job.
SOURCE Service Employees International Union
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Related links:
http://www.seiu.org
CONTACT:
Renee Asher of Service Employees
International Union, +1-786-252-2369, asherr@seiu.org
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