Port District Fires Airport Janitorial Firm

A controversial maintenance company hired to clean Lindbergh Field was fired Tuesday after one month on the job by the Board of Port Commissioners, which blasted company officials for exploiting workers and failing to live up to their contract.

World Services Inc. was given the ax after the company created a controversy by firing 55 of 70 union janitors and refusing to negotiate with Service Employees International Union, Local 102, which represents the workers. Some of the fired workers had worked at the airport for more than a decade.

The firings and refusal to bargain with the union led to three protests at the airport by union pickets, several of whom were arrested. However, Commissioner Lynn Schenk said the company’s labor problems did not play a role in its dismissal, and that janitorial firms are not required by the San Diego Unified Port District to bargain with the union.

“These (fired workers) are people who have the least control over their lives,” Schenk said Wednesday. “To have a contractor come in and, with total disregard for human dislocation, to not hire them or give them the courtesy of a personal interview, was in my view unconscionable. We don’t want to be doing business with people like that.”

Schenk added that commissioners received additional information about World Services’ performance at Los Angeles and San Francisco airports, where they also came under fire.

“They were essentially barred from working at the San Francisco airport because they were found to be discriminatory, exploited their workers and didn’t pay their workers prevailing wages. . . . They have a clear pattern of treating their employees in a disgraceful manner,” she said.

World Services will be allowed to continue working at the airport until Nov. 1. Meanwhile, the Port District will decide whether to negotiate a contract with a new company or put the contract up for bid, Schenk said.

World Services officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Schenk added that an audit of the company’s books showed it also failed to pay a 5% hourly premium to its employees as required by its contract with the port.

“The contract required them to pay employees a set wage plus a 5% premium. They didn’t pay the additional 5% premium, claiming it was an oversight and accounting error,” she said.

Jorge Rivera, a Local 102 field representative, praised the board’s “courageous action.”

“We’ve been fighting real hard to get these people benefits and decent wages. All of a sudden, this out-of-town company destroyed everything the workers had,” Rivera said. “We thank the board and are satisfied with their decision. We think it was the right decision.”

Although Rivera said the fired workers “are looking forward to getting their jobs back,” Schenk warned that the board will not dictate to the new company “who to hire.”

However, she added that the Port District also “wants smooth labor relations” at Lindbergh Field.

“We don’t want any disruptions at the airport and want (workers) to be given a fair shake. World never gave us a good reason why (fired workers) were not hired,” Schenk said. “There were only two reasons why they could possibly have been rejected. Either the company didn’t like the way they looked, or because they knew they were union members and activists.”

Airport janitors were organized by Local 102 in 1987, after a bitter dispute. From 1979 to 1987, the janitors’ wages were frozen at $5.30 an hour, without benefits. The workers were earning $5.66 an hour when World Services was awarded the contract, a union official said.