As Silicon Valley, Bay Area Janitors Strike Continues Into Second Week... Striking Silicon Valley Janitors to Take Their Struggle for Justice to the 2 Million-Member SEIU Convention
SILICON VALLEY, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
Striking Silicon Valley janitors announced today they will send a
delegation of janitors who clean Cisco Systems, Yahoo, Oracle and
Stanford University to address the leadership of the 2 million-member
Service Employees International Union convention next week in Puerto
Rico. There, Silicon Valley janitors will meet with national leaders
to talk about the disparity of wealth in Silicon Valley and what they
are doing about it.
Silicon Valley janitors will strategize with national union
leaders, elected officials and clergy and community groups in order to
generate a national strategy to help win justice in Silicon Valley.
Many of these leaders have fought and won victories similar to those
the Silicon Valley janitors are seeking; decent wages and improved
access to family healthcare. Silicon Valley janitors will meet with
janitors active in the national "Justice for Janitors" movement that,
over the last twenty years, has helped thousands of janitors in more
than 30 U.S. cities win better wages and healthcare.
In other cities across the country, including Houston and Miami in
2006, Boston in 2002, and Los Angeles and Chicago in 2000, janitors
and their allies have led strike-related activities including massive
public marches, picket lines outside major office buildings, prayer
vigils, hunger fasts, and other forms of non-violent protest.
Rafael Ramos cleans Stanford University, but because janitorial
services are subcontracted, janitors earn more than $2 less per hour
than the "living wage" standards that apply to direct employees of the
University. Rafael wants to be able to afford decent housing for his
wife and 9-month-old daughter, but right now they live with Rafael's
brother and his family in a two-bedroom apartment; six people total.
"I want to be able to save money, to put my daughter in a good college
so she can be something other than a janitor, I want her to be a
professional."
Maria Lopez cleans the offices of high-tech industry giant Cisco
Systems, but earns just $11.04 an hour, not nearly enough to care for
her four sons. Maria and her family must share housing with two other
families, just to be able to afford the rent. She feeds her family
with food donations from her church every week. "My salary is so low
we can't even think of saving money for the future. We worry just
about the day to day."
Eloisa Gonzales cleans offices at Oracle. With two young children
at home -- Alejandro, 5-years-old, and Selena, 18-months-old -- Eloisa
and her husband work very hard and make sacrifices, such as working
different shifts to save money. Though Eloisa only sleeps four hours a
night, she makes sure to encourage her children to work hard and go
after their dreams. "My son tells me he will work hard so that I don't
have to work the night shift anymore."
Hard-working Silicon Valley janitors earn $23,000 a year -- less
than one third of what the Center for Economic Policy reports it takes
to survive in California. Yet they live in the nation's most affluent
enclave. Santa Clara County has just surpassed Manhattan as the area
of the United States with the highest median income, $1,585/week. It
takes Bay Area janitors nearly a month to earn this much. Meanwhile,
state figures show that five Bay Area counties - Santa Clara, San
Mateo, Contra Costa, Alameda and Marin lead the state in median
incomes.
More than 800 Silicon Valley, Bay Area janitors have been on
strike since May 20. Contract talks for more than 6,000 janitors
collapsed on Thursday, May 15 when the Bay Area's largest cleaning
companies refused, after months of negotiations, to propose even
modest pay and benefit improvements to janitors. In addition, the
cleaning companies are facing an investigation by the federal labor
board over charges they illegally attempted to silence and intimidated
janitors who have been speaking out for justice.
For more info about SEIU Local 1877 Justice for Janitors visit:
www.seiu-usww.org.
SEIU Local 1877
Gina Bowers, 213-926-6993
Copyright Business Wire 2008
