The Janitors Deserve More

Los Angeles’ striking janitors have pounded steadily on their central message, that they want enough pay to rise out of poverty. The army of unseen workers who vacuum and scrub nightly in many of the city’s gleaming office towers should earn enough to support families, says the union, and it’s an argument with great moral weight. The janitors’ current monthly wage averages about $1,250; figure rent for a cheap apartment costs a family $700, deduct Social Security and other taxes, and what’s left for utilities, food, clothes, school supplies, everything else? Not nearly enough.

The argument seems to be gaining some headway, though hopes of an early settlement stalled Tuesday with both sides still far apart. The janitors, however, have gained the support of L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan, county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, among others.

The building management companies that employ the janitors argue that health and other benefits earned a few years ago in the last rounds of bargaining were worth $2 an hour, on top of a wage hike, and that the companies are still swallowing that cost. But the janitors, who want a wage boost of $3 an hour over three years, counter that the current L.A. average for unionized janitors, $7.20, keeps a family of four under the federal poverty line of $16,700 a year.

The management companies have offered a $1.30 increase over three years for downtown workers, but only 80 cents for those in the “suburbs,” including Beverly Hills. They argue that bigger increases would leave them vulnerable to nonunion firms paying minimum wage. But as one maintenance company spokesman noted to The Times last week, the issue could also be alleviated by raising the minimum wage, currently $5.75 an hour statewide, to keep unionized companies more competitive. And as the union has calculated it, the cost of the three-year increase translates to just a penny on each dollar of building rent.

The union proposal would still keep Los Angeles janitorial salaries far below those in San Francisco, Philadelphia and New York, all highly unionized cities. In part that is because an abundance of new-immigrant labor depresses L.A.’s entry-level salaries. The union leaders are facing this fact in not asking for more.

The city, the county and the school district will be bargaining this year with police, teachers and county workers. But these public employees well understand the difference between themselves and a janitor making $15,000 a year. Arguments for across-the-board percentage raises based on what the janitors achieve certainly wouldn’t fly with the public.

California is enjoying a time of plenty, and the janitors union has shown some willingness to budge on its demands. The janitors, who do hard work at rotten hours, deep into the night, ought to get a better deal. It’s affordable to building owners and the right thing to do.