Gore’s Presence at Rally Boosts Janitors’ Spirits

With contract talks collapsed, janitors facing their third week on strike got a badly needed shot of energy Sunday from Vice President Al Gore, who cheered on about 1,500 demonstrators at a Santa Monica rally.

Negotiations ended abruptly Friday night after contractors said they had made their final offer, according to Mike Garcia, president of the Service Employees International Union, Local 1877.

“They told us it’s great that we’re building all this political support--the mayor, the cardinal, now even Al Gore,” Garcia told the crowd at Lincoln Park. “They said we could even bring in the pope and it wouldn’t make any difference, because the people who sign their checks are not going to budge.”

Garcia vowed to escalate the very public fight that janitors have waged for the past two weeks, saying they would march to the offices and even homes of building owners to persuade them to pay more.

Many in the crowd were clearly frustrated and angry, particularly about the issue of replacement workers. Veteran union leaders said the third week of a strike is potentially volatile, because the euphoria of the early days is over and workers are starting to feel the pinch of being without full paychecks.

Miguel Contreras, leader of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, promised to help strikers not only with food, but also with recruits for their nightly picket lines. “We want [members of other unions] to march with you at night. What’s most important is that the scabs don’t enter to clean your buildings,” he said. “We will do whatever it takes.”

Many saw Gore’s appearance as an important morale boost for the workers. Indeed, striker Maria Cano, a janitor for 17 years who earns $7.80 per hour cleaning a downtown high-rise, said: “He’s one of the most important people in the world. Of course, this means a lot.”

Gore, arriving 15 minutes late, bounded onto the stage with his wife, Tipper, and opened his remarks with a bit of Spanish: “Estoy con ustedes en su lucha.” (I am with you in your fight.) “Your cause is just,” he continued in English. “You are gaining the ears and the hearts of the people in this community.”

Gore spoke for only three minutes, and offered no specific support before descending to the crowd to shake hands with a long line of delighted demonstrators. He tossed a red strike T-shirt he’d been given to an aide, pointedly declining to wear it.

But union officials said his presence alone elevated the janitors’ cause. “It shows that this struggle is not just a local one,” said Fabian Nunez, political director for the county labor federation. “Gore is taking on the banner of the workers, and this calls on [George W.] Bush. Where does he stand when it comes to immigrant Latino workers?”

For Gore, who benefited from the early endorsement of the labor federation AFL-CIO, the appearance underscored two imperatives in the general election: support among organized labor, a potent electoral force in states like California and New York, and backing from Latinos, who compose the majority of the striking janitors.

The progress of the strike in Los Angeles, where the union represents 8,500 janitors, is being watched closely by unions around the country. Several hundred San Diego janitors walked off the job a week ago, and thousands of janitors in Chicago will vote today on whether to strike.

Janitors in Los Angeles, who earn $6.80 to $7.80 per hour with health benefits, were seeking a $3 per hour raise, spread evenly over the next three years. Contractors had offered 80 cents to $1.30 over the same period, depending on geographic area.

In negotiations Thursday and Friday, both sides moved, but Garcia of the union said janitors had made greater concessions. He said contractors “moved only three nickels over the three years.”

The spokesman for the 18 contractors involved in the master contract could not be reached for comment.

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who has spoken with several prominent building owners during the past week in an attempt to broker a deal, said: “The union has been willing to try anything, to come up with some creative solutions. But with the owners, there’s a disconnect between what they’re saying and getting any action. I’m beginning to get the sense that the owners just want to rub their noses in it.”

After Gore’s remarks, Catholic Bishop Gabino Zavala said a Palm Sunday Mass at St. Monica’s Catholic Church across the street. At the end of the Mass, Zavala conducted a “symbolic blessing of the implements of their work and labor,” a broom and a mop, the symbols of the janitors union.

Before the rally Sunday, the janitors marched from the shadows of the high-rise buildings at Wilshire Boulevard and Ocean Avenue, near the Third Street Promenade and along a residential neighborhood on California Avenue to Lincoln Park for an afternoon rally.

Along the way, the janitors were cheered by supporters.

Outside a bookstore on the Promenade, Mel and Barbara Liner of West Los Angeles watched as the janitors passed. “It’s wonderful,” Barbara Liner said. “These people deserve a living wage. It’s so expensive living in L.A.”

On California Avenue, Santa Monica attorney Christine Arden stood on the balcony of her condominium, clapping as the marchers passed. “I’m for them,” she said. “I think it’s great.”

Down the block, Kevin Downs, a mover for Delancy Street Movers, was hauling furniture into a truck when the janitors rolled by. “They are hard-working people,” he said of the janitors. “They deserve a raise.”

Times staff writer Cathleen Decker contributed to this story.