
"We're just asking the companies who employ our workers to share the prosperity," said Rocio Saenz, president of Service Employees International Union Local 615, which represents more than 16,000 janitors and security officers in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire.
"Nobody wants to strike, but today we are sending a clear message that we are prepared to do so if we are not offered a living wage and full-time jobs with health benefits," she said, just after finishing the mile-long march along Newbury and several other downtown streets.
The union's current contract with the Building Maintenance Contractors Association, a group of about 30 maintenance companies, will expire Friday, and although negotiations have been underway since June, the two sides are apparently deadlocked over the union's demand that workers get full-time status and a "livable" wage.
In 2002, the union went on strike for a month before agreeing to a five-year contract, Saenz said. The vote yesterday gives the union's board the authority to call another strike if no agreement is reached on a new contract.
Currently, unionized janitors in Boston make $12.95 an hour, and those outside a 15 mile-radius from the city make $9.84. Most of the workers combine part-time jobs and don't get health insurance.
The contractors provide cleaning and other janitorial services to stores and business and government offices. About 1,000 jobs involve cleaning state property.
Local 615 endorsed Governor Deval Patrick when he campaigned for office last year, and Patrick has said that he supports the union's quest for higher pay and better benefits.
State Senator Dianne Wilkerson spoke during a premarch rally at Arlington Street Church. She told the crowd that many state lawmakers support the union.
"Every day I go to work in the State House and some of our friends are part of the janitorial staff who keep that building spotless, so we take it personally," she said.
Wilkerson said the companies had offered 30 cents more per hour to workers in Boston and 10 cents outside Boston.
"That's insulting, and we have to shame them into doing the right thing," she said.
The association could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Many of the workers who marched said they came from countries such as the Dominican Republic and Cape Verde, and some spoke of having to work two or three part-time jobs. "It's a difficult life; I work three jobs," said Selida Pol, who lives in Boston and sends money to her family in the Dominican Republic.
Rafael Morrobel, also an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, said he makes about $400 a week cleaning offices. He heads to work just before 6 a.m. and returns home about 10 p.m.
"I wish the situation would change. That's why I'm here," he said.
(boston.com)