Unhappy Janitors Carry a Heartfelt Message to Sony

The janitors came to Sony bearing a plastic foam heart covered in shiny red wrapping paper. The message, however, was anything but sweet.

“We wanted to give them a heart because they are heartless,” said Rocio Saenz, a union organizer for Local 399 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents about 6,000 janitors in Los Angeles County.

On Valentine’s Day, about 100 people marched on Sony Pictures in Culver City, part of an aggressive, six-year campaign waged by Justice for Janitors to gain better wages and working conditions for maintenance workers.

The protest marked the latest in a series carried out by union activists, whose demonstrations in Century City in 1990 and El Segundo last year resulted in several arrests for disorderly conduct. There were no arrests at Monday’s protest.

The group is calling for Sony to investigate complaints that Diversified Maintenance Services, which provides non-union janitorial services to the studio, has treated workers unfairly.

“They (Diversified Maintenance) don’t pay the janitors for overtime, they are trained without being paid, and the janitors don’t get health benefits,” said Saenz, who suggested that Sony hire a contractor with union workers. The union organizer said Sony has not responded to the group’s complaints.

“We’ve tried to talk to them for two months,” Saenz said. “So we decided to come here and make noise.”

Sony spokesman Don DeMesquita declined to comment.

Richard Dotts, president of Diversified Maintenance Services, denied the janitors are underpaid, saying wages vary by city. Workers in upscale Century City, for instance, tend to be paid more than those in Culver City.

He said it would be too expensive for the company to provide the workers with health insurance.

Dressed in green and red T-shirts, the janitors--one banging a drum--chanted “Union, yes; DMS, no” as they marched along the perimeter of the studio.

The demonstrators included Jesus Garcia, who said he earns $4.75 an hour as a Diversified Maintenance janitor in a Santa Monica office building. Garcia said the pay is not enough to support a wife and a toddler, who marched alongside him. Not having medical insurance, he said, is his biggest worry.

“(Sony) knows people are angry and will do whatever they have to do to get better wages,” he said.

Saenz said the group will continue to march on Sony. “We tried it the civil way,” she said. “We’re going to keep coming here until they listen to us.”