A small group of disgruntled subway custodians marched into the MBTA Board of Directors meeting yesterday to voice their concerns about cut hours, lost medical benefits and a 25-cent per hour wage reduction.
The group, dressed in purple and gold union T-shirts and carrying protest signs, spoke to the board on behalf of 47 union workers who recently fell victim to crippling demotions dealt by their contractor, Building One-Encompass. The contracting company supplies the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority with custodial personnel for the T’s orange and red lines.
“We’re here, and we’ll be here as many times as it takes to get our full-time jobs back,” said Service Employees International Union organizer Marion Traub-Werner, interpreting for custodian Victor Alfarro.
The janitors, all members of the SEIU Local 254, told the board that Building One-Encompass’ decision to cut hours jeopardized their medical benefits. Without full-time status, the employees earn $9.75 per hour — 25 cents less than before — and receive no medical coverage for themselves or their families.
“We came to this country to build a better life, to support our families and our children,” Traub-Werner said, interpreting for custodian Walter Amaya. “That is why we are here.”
Prior to the demotions, most of the workers cleaned the subway rails for over 40 hours a week. Building One-Encompass demoted 47 workers from full-time to part-time status, slashing their time sheets down to 28 hours a week. To be considered a full-time employee, a custodian must work a minimum of 29 hours a week.
Many of the janitors now work third shifts, cleaning the rails and stations in Roxbury and Cambridge from 1-5:30 a.m. The workers said the reduced hours have also left vacancies in staffing at larger stations, and sometimes a pair of workers must clean an entire station by themselves. According to Alfarro, in extreme cases, one janitor may handle the work usually assigned to three.
“We are professional cleaners,” Alfarro said. “But we cannot do a good job in some of the big stations with just two workers.”
The board of directors acknowledged Local 254’s concerns and said it would take “immediate, decisive steps” toward resolving its dilemma. The union’s collective bargaining contract expires in August.
“To allow a contractor to cut hours and cut medical benefits is absolutely unconscionable,” said MBTA Board of Directors member Janice Loux. “We have an ethical responsibility [to the workers].”
The board’s meetings regularly address problems and proposals pertaining to Massachusetts’ transportation system.
SEIU has a nationwide membership of 1.5 million, with 80,000 new members joining last year alone. In addition to janitors, the union represents hospital employees, home care workers, building service workers and probation and parole officers.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
