Workers World April 20, 2000: Striking L.A. janitors demand justice

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------------------------- Via Workers World News Service Reprinted from the April 20, 2000 issue of Workers World newspaper -------------------------

Striking L.A. janitors demand justice

By Magda M. Miller

Los Angeles

On April 7, some 3,000 striking janitors and their supporters marched for 10 miles from downtown Los Angeles to Century City. It was the biggest in a series of strike marches that have clogged traffic and drawn the city's attention to the struggle of these super-exploited workers.
Janitors who earn an average of $11,000 a year marched outside an office tower occupied by three Los Angeles billionaires.
The janitors, represented by Service Employees Local 1877, went out on strike April 3. Negotiations with the cleaning companies are at a deadlock, but solidarity and support for the janitors continues to grow.
The most important support has come from other workers--like members of Operating Engineers Local 501, the Teamsters union, and the building-trades unions, who refuse to cross the janitors' picket lines--and from hundreds of downtown workers. From the beginning, many have come out to cheer the janitors on as they march by in the thousands.
The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor is publicly demanding that those politicians who have benefited from union support in the past now make good on their promises and pressure the contractors to move quickly to meet the strikers' demands.
At the April 7 march, strikers were accompanied by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the president of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles city attorney, city controller and other local politicians.
"The mostly Latino immigrant janitors in Los Angeles face the same challenges as coal miners in Appalachia or sweatshop garment workers, all of whom are struggling to raise families on low-wage jobs," Jackson said. "If the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Cesar Chavez were alive, they would surely have joined their march."
"Instead of doing our job for less money, they should be out here with us so we can all get a raise," a striker told Workers World, walking a line that stretched for blocks through downtown Los Angeles. When marchers passed through the giant Arco Plaza, home of the giant petroleum consortium, he pointed up and said, "That is where I work," raising his sign up toward the building.
The striking janitors have disrupted business as usual. Some businesses, like 20th Century Fox Studios, have had to close early. The police are constantly on tactical alert.
The nation's biggest janitorial contractor, American Building Maintenance had sought a restraining order against striking workers who are preventing the scab workers from crossing picket lines. On April 7, a judge denied the bosses' request.
On April 4 Los Angeles County supervisors, who last year adopted a living-wage policy with a minimum $8.32 hourly wage, voted three to two to support the strikers. The board also urged building owners to settle the dispute with the janitors who earn an average $6.80 per hour. The Los Angeles City Council has passed a similar resolution.
This strike is very popular because everyone is aware of the hard work the janitors do every day. The strikers are mostly Latino. Many are in their 50s and 60s. They make such low wages that many have had to take on second jobs to make ends meet, depriving them of time with their families.
Then, when negotiation time comes around, janitors are treated like they are dispensable. The 18 contractors involved in negotiations offered workers a 50-cent hourly raise on the condition that wages be frozen the first year for others. Janitors are demanding a $1-per-hour raise each year for the next three years.
The labor movement in Los Angeles is growing in militancy and power. The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor recently refused to sign a "no-strike pledge" for the August Democratic National Convention to be held here. As part of what is called "Mobilization 2000," and with over 20 contracts expiring this year, unions are pledging to fight together for decent contracts, planning solidarity and coordinated struggles in the coming period.
On April 8, members of Service Employees Local 2028 in San Diego approved a janitors' walk-out in that city.

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