Janitors Claim Cleaning Companies Mistreat Them

It took Edwin Osorio two months to find a job when he came to Los Angeles from El Salvador this summer. The trouble was, he says, the job didn’t pay anything. It was a training program: 40 hours of janitorial work a week for five weeks, at the end of which he was supposed to be hired as a regular janitor.

When his supervisor demanded $150 out of his first paycheck to continue in the job, Osorio said he couldn’t afford it and refused. He was fired, he said.

He went to Justice for Janitors, a national union organizing group, which Thursday organized a protest demonstration in front of the building where Osorio said he worked.

About 15 janitors chanted, in Spanish: “What do we want? Justice! When do we want it? Now!” as they marched in circles in front of the 27-story glass and marble building at 400 S. Hope St.

They demanded that the building manager sign a pledge to pay overtime, guarantee lunch breaks and tolerate union activity--all of which are required by law. The group says the non-union contractor that provides cleaning crews to the building violates all of these requirements; the manager said he had heard no such complaints before, but will investigate.

The contractor denied the allegations and called Osorio’s story false.

Osorio, who speaks no English, said he worked at the building under contract from Bradford Building Services for five weeks starting Oct. 3 without pay. Officials of Service Employees International Union Local 399, said they complained and met on Dec. 6 with Larry Smith, president of Bradford Building Services, who paid Osorio $1,173.

Smith denied any knowledge of the incident.

“That’s not our policy,” he said. “We pay our employees for hours worked.”

Calls Charges ‘Erroneous’

He also denied ever meeting with union officials and labeled all the charges “erroneous.” Smith refused to discuss the issue further over the telephone.

Jono Shaffer, an organizer for SEIU Local 399 showed copies of a check made out to Osorio from Bradford Building Services Inc. for $877.69 after deductions. The accompanying statement read, “Pay Adjustment covering 10.03.88 to 11.26.88.”

Osorio said he was promised work at another Bradford building at the meeting with Smith but was fired after the first day on the job.

Another protesting janitor, Luis Moreno said he was fired for supporting union organizing activities at the Hope Street building and was dismissed a week after wearing a “Justice for Janitors” T-shirt on the job. The declared cause for his firing was smoking on the job, but he denied that he had done that.

Shaffer also alleged that Bradford and some other non-union companies often under-staff their janitorial crews. They then require janitors who cannot complete their jobs to work overtime without pay, he alleged. Smith denied that any janitor was working without pay.

Shaffer said many janitors refuse to protest working conditions for fear of losing their jobs.