Holding signs such as “Ciudado de Salud por Todos [Healthcare for All],” more than 500 union advocates and members, including Boston University custodians, rallied for better wages, more fulltime jobs and access to health coverage on Monday at Boston Common.
“If you work hard for a living, you ought to be able to work one job, support your family and expect that your children are going to do better than you,” said Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union.
The SEIU local chapter 615 sponsored the rally, with representatives from Local Union 26, SEIU local chapter 888, New England United for Justice and the Chinese Progressive Association, among others.
The Local 615 represents 14,000 New England janitors who intend to negotiate a better contract with their employers once it expires on Sept. 30.
The union argues that many cleaning contractors offer many janitors only part-time work, which means they do not have to offer health insurance, according to a press release.
Massachusetts Lieutenant Gov. Timothy Murray said he and Gov. Deval Patrick are committed to the cause of improved worker rights and wages.
“We want companies to do well. We want leaders of companies to do well,” Murray said. “But people that work and make those companies successful deserve a fair wage and they deserve healthcare.”
SEIU leader Antonia Cordova, a former office cleaner at Russia Wharf, introduced Fourth Congressional District candidate Joe Kennedy III.
Kennedy spoke in Spanish and English to the crowd and said a strong middle class is necessary for the vivacity of America.
“To continue to be that country, we all have to contribute,” Kennedy said. “We want to protect that middle class and the worker protections and rights that each and every one of you have fought for so long to make this country what it is.”
The rally was conducted mainly in Spanish and included a translator for Spanish speakers.
“We, 16 million workers strong across this country, demand justice [and] demand equality,” said Adrian Ventura, a worker at the New Bedford Worker Center. “Arriba la union!”
David Soper, a BU custodian and Local 615 member who has worked at the university for more than 30 years, said he came to the rally to voice support for a new, comprehensive contract for janitors.
“They need more full-timers and better wages,” Soper said.
The janitorial contract with BU still has more than a year before expiration, Soper said.
“At BU we have had to fight very hard, but we have a decent contract,” Soper said. “We have a lot of benefits that a lot of people here don’t have today. Of course, we always want more full-timers instead of part-timers.”
Soper said about 16 years ago, BU only employed full-time custodians. Still, he said, BU and the custodians always compromise on a fair contract.
BU School of Education sophomore Zoi Zaldivar said she attended the rally after she heard a SEIU speaker when she worked at the First-Year Student Outreach Project over the summer.
Zaldivar, whose FYSOP group painted banners for the Labor Day rally, said it is important to keep workers’ wages at a constant rate.
“A lot of these people are immigrants who are new to this country who really need the strong foundation of a decent wage to support their families and make a living,” she said, “and without that, it’s really hard for them to have hope in that American dream ideal.”
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