Janitors Make Plea for Raise

It pains Guillermo Trejo that he must work 75 hours a week to feed and shelter his wife and three children. He rarely gets to spend time with them. The children have grown too quickly.

But it is even more excruciating to walk in the door and see them tucked inside the sparse little bedroom that also serves as dining room, laundry room and children’s play area.

“We came to America looking for a better life,” said Trejo, 30, of Santa Ana, who came to Orange County two years ago from Mexico. “I work two jobs. That’s OK with me. But when I come home, I see my family crowded and locked in a room because the children can’t make noises.”

Trejo choked back tears Saturday as he described his living conditions to an audience of about 400 packed inside St. Joseph’s Justice Center in Orange.

The public forum was organized by the Service Employees International Union Local 1877 to help seek higher wages and health benefits for nearly 3,000 Orange County janitors who clean buildings and high-rises.

Janitors have tried to unionize with four of the county’s contractors. So far, they have gained support from the largest contractor, One Source, which handles about 25% of the office buildings in the county. Union representatives also hope to gain the support of American Building Maintenance, which contracts with small businesses.

“Is it too hard to understand that if you have a healthy employee, we’ll be working harder, more loyal and we’ll be satisfied?” asked America Bracho, executive director of Latino Health Access. “We need to face the fact that health impacts in other ways too. We’re facing mental and emotional health, not just physical.”

Two out of five janitors rely on home remedies instead of seeking care from a hospital or doctor, according to the union’s report that surveyed janitors’ working and living conditions.

And low wages have forced nearly one of every five janitors and their families to live in a rented bedroom, garage or trailer, said Allen Baldwin, executive director of Orange County Community Housing Corp. To rent a two-bedroom apartment, which in Orange County costs an average of $1,000 a month, a janitor must make $19 an hour, Baldwin said.

Janitors, however, are fighting to raise their average pay of $6 an hour to $8, closer to the average wage of janitors in Los Angeles County.

“We did not come to this country to meet Mickey Mouse,” Trejo said. “We came to work and raise our children so they don’t clean houses like we do.”

The energized crowd cheered and chanted, “Yes we can!” and “Fight for your rights!” in Spanish. Many wore red T-shirts emblazoned with “Justice for Janitors!”

Lorena Villareal has worked for $5.75 an hour for three years, cleaning an Irvine building. She said she and her husband barely make enough money to feed their six children after paying $650 a month in rent.

“It’s very difficult,” she said. “I have asthma, and if I have to go to the hospital, I wouldn’t know what to do. I can’t afford it.”

Trejo understands. His family does not have health insurance, either.

Trejo makes $6 an hour as a machinist at his morning job and recently saved enough money to buy a car. He gets up at 5 a.m. to take his wife and two friends who work as janitors to their jobs.

His night job is working as a janitor at a Newport Beach office building, where he vacuums, takes out the trash and cleans desks on four of the six floors. In the janitorial jobs, he and his wife make $5.75 an hour.

He hopes to move his family into their own apartment so the children can have some space to play and his wife can prepare food. Now, they share a bathroom with another family and take turns in the kitchen. He sleeps on the floor while his wife shares a bed with their three children, Alexis, 5; Heraldo, 2 1/2; and Guillermo, 1.

“With the salary that I earn, it’s not to live but to survive,” Trejo said. “I want to give my family a better future, but it’s so hard.”