‘What would happen if they walked off their jobs and left everything like it was the night before?’ : Janitors Get Attention With Rally

Last May, Arturo Garcia and Genaro Sarabia were among three dozen janitors forced to run for their lives during the massive First Interstate Bank Tower blaze.

On Friday, the pair were among more than 200 janitors who marched through the streets of downtown Los Angeles in a rush-hour rally for livable wages.

“We’re all united here and we all want what is fair,” asserted Garcia, 43, a 19-year janitor and father of three, who said he earns $6.63 an hour. “I’m also fighting for janitors in other buildings that are non-union.”

Gets Attention

The colorful demonstration, which snaked its way along financial district sidewalks and through office tower lobbies, was the latest in a series of attention-getting job actions sponsored by the “Justice for Janitors” campaign of the Service Employees International Union.

Waving picket signs and broom handles while chanting union slogans in Spanish, the janitors drew honks of encouragement from passing motorists--and more than a few quizzical stares from bewildered pedestrians.

“I thought they were filming a movie out here,” said Renee Dionisio, an office manager in Wells Fargo Plaza, as she pondered the crush of demonstrators garbed in red satin jackets festooned with “Justice for Janitors” patches.

Herb Jackson, a downtown banker, was also struck by the jackets. “What is this? A San Francisco 49ers rally?,” he asked a reporter.

‘They Deserve More Pay’

Others, including paralegal Sal Aleem, have become aware of the wage battle through previous noontime rallies. “I think they deserve more pay,” Aleem said, as the block-long procession passed him on Flower Street. “What would happen if they walked off their jobs and left everything like it was the night before?”

The union, which currently represents about half of the 1,500 janitors who work for cleaning companies that contract with major downtown office towers, is demanding a $5.50-per-hour minimum wage, a $1-an-hour pay increase for all janitors and guaranteed health insurance coverage. The next round of bargaining talks is scheduled for Wednesday.

The union has also filed a federal court action against one of the city’s largest unionized cleaning contractors, Western Cleaning Contractors, charging that it also operates under a second name in an attempt to avoid paying union wages and benefits. The next hearing in that case is scheduled for Monday.

Officials of Western Cleaning Contractors did not return calls Friday afternoon for comment on the pending lawsuit. In the past, William Wall, president of the firm, has denied any connection with Century Cleaning Contractors--the company the union charges is the “alter ego” of unionized Western.

Friday’s noisy but peaceful march ended in the lobby of a 21-story office tower at 888 Figueroa St. whose management contracts with Century. Cecile Richards, union organizing director, said Century pays the 19 janitors at the building an average of $4.35 an hour. Century officials could not be reached.

The whistle-blowing demonstrators refused to leave until a building management representative agreed to address them.

Kurt Hysen of Cushman Realty Corp., who came down to the lobby after an hour-long sit-in, told the crowd that his firm is currently reviewing bids for janitorial services from several union and non-union cleaning companies. A decision on a new contract will be made within a couple weeks, he said.

“In two weeks, we will be back either for a celebration because this building is finally using a company that pays decent wages and benefits or we’ll be here for another demonstration with twice as many people--and we won’t leave that time,” Richards said to cheers from the demonstrators.