Janitors to March Again for Higher Wages

More than a decade ago, Los Angeles janitors took to the streets and helped change the way unions organize. On Thursday, the Justice for Janitors campaign returns to those same streets, this time targeting commercial building owners as janitors demand wages that will lift them into the middle class. Organizers with the Service Employees International Union said more than 1,000 janitors and their supporters will march through Century City starting at noon in Roxbury Park, following the route that in 1990 led marchers to a violent confrontation with police. “Our goal is to set a standard in the cleaning industry and hold building owners accountable,” said SEIU spokeswoman Blanca Gallegos. “We want janitors to be able to own their own homes and send their children to college.”

The Justice for Janitors campaign started in 1987 and quickly gained national attention for its innovative tactics. Rather than focusing on the small contractors who often provide cleaning services, organizers went after the tenants of high-rise buildings where the janitors worked. On occasion, they dumped trash in front of nonunion buildings. The campaign spread from downtown Los Angeles and Century City to Burbank, Pasadena and the San Fernando Valley. At the campaign’s start, only about 20% of Los Angeles commercial buildings used unionized cleaning service. Now the rate is 70%. Average pay has increased from minimum wage to $6.80 an hour. And by next year, all unionized janitors will have full family health benefits, Gallegos said.