Janitors Stage Protest Against Cleaning Firm
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An estimated 400 union janitors marched through downtown Thursday on their way to demonstrate against a maintenance firm that replaced union employees with workers receiving minimum wage.
Workers of the Service Employees International Union, Local 1877 awarded their annual “Top Trash” award to T & M Maintenance, the janitorial service company that took over cleaning duties at the Pacific Bell building in February and released seven of the eight union workers, according to union organizers. The eighth janitor, desperate for work, took the $5-an-hour, no-benefit job that T & M offered. The union jobs had paid $7.10 an hour plus health benefits, union representatives said.
Phone calls to T & M management seeking comment were not returned.
“There is a saying in Spanish, ‘An injury to one is an injury to all,’ and that is why all these janitors are out in support of the seven who lost their jobs,” said union organizer Triana Silton.
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