In the middle of an impending strike, New England janitors’ unions and contractors reached a tentative agreement for a new contract early Monday morning after the janitors’ former contract expired at midnight.
“The deadline was midnight last night — that deadline passed,” said MassUniting Communications Director Jason Stephany. “They were still negotiating, and the tentative agreement was reached a little before 2 a.m. That is a tentative agreement — basically, that’s an outline of what the contract will look like.”
Stephany said Service Employees International Union Local 615, a union representing 14,000 janitors in New England, and the Maintenance Contractors of New England had been discussing a contract for weeks.
“They had been at the table, physically at the table sitting across from one another for weeks,” he said.
Janitors voted Sept. 22 to authorize a strike if an agreement were not reached, according to a SEIU Local 615 press release distributed Sunday.
Community members and janitors held a candlelight vigil Sunday night before the former contract expired in support of the union.
“There were definitely several hundred, I would say upward of 500 [people attending],” Stephany said. “Folks braved the rain to stand out and speak out on behalf of their fellow workers.”
Janitors went into negotiations with specific goals about hours, wages and health care, among others, according to a SEIU Local 615 press release distributed Monday.
“Cleaning contractors agreed to convert a minimum of 680 jobs to fulltime positions over four years,” the release stated. “For janitors who work in the Metro Boston area, wages will increase to $17.85 by 2016 — an 11.9-percent increase.”
Wages for workers in other markets will increase from 12.4 percent to 13 percent over the length of the contract, according to the release.
The tentative contract also ensures contractors will provide health care, vision and dental benefits and creates a new minimum shift of four hours for all janitors working in commercial office buildings of more than 100,000 square feet, the release stated.
Stephany said the tentative contract must still be ratified, and will last four years if ratified.
He said the contract is a victory for unions and janitors in New England.
“The workers would be very proud to say they have won on numerous fronts,” Stephany said. “This is a breakthrough agreement that will improve the lives of 14,000 New England janitors.”
Stephany said the negotiation was a long process with difficulties, but he is pleased with the result.
“There were some speaking points between the contractors and janitors on many issues,” he said. “They wanted to come to an agreement that would help improve their quality of life and get to a contract that would be good for the janitors, for the contractors, for the industry and for all of New England, and I think that’s what this result represents.”
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“For janitors who work in the Metro Boston area, wages will increase to $17.85 by 2016 — an 11.9-percent increase.”
WOW. Why did I go to college to make less in 60 hours when all I could do was join a union and pick ip a mop? This is the problem with unions…they only benefit 10% of workers. The rest of us are on our own, and we accept it…why?
Gary,
These workers have struggled for years to gain respect on the job and in their paychecks. Their work is more than “just picking up a mop’; it is an important contribution to a clean and healthy workplace for people like you and me.
The “problem” is not that the Janitors have a union, the problem is that you do not! You do not need to be on your own. You and your co-workers should look into forming a union where you work.