Justice+for+Janitors

=History=

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1994 - Tufts contracts out cleaning services
By contracting with UNICCO, Tufts stops directly employing the staff who clean campus buildings.



1997 - OneSource takes over
Tufts switches cleaning contractors from UNICCO to OneSource, and the new contractor fires 110 janitorial employees. Community and student activists picket and stage rallies.



2001 - Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM)
Over the summer and continuing into the fall semester, SLAM is formed and works with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 254 during contract negotiations between the union and OneSource, the cleaning contractor hired by Tufts. Led primarily by senior Iris Halpern, the campaign's goals are improved wages and benefits for janitors at Tufts.

Student actions take many forms, including rallies outside of Ballou Hall and a teach-in that featured members of the Tufts faculty as well as Someville Mayor Dorothy Kelly-Gay and other local community leaders. Despite pressure from students, university administration maintained a position that this was an issue that concerned only the janitors and OneSource, not the university itself.

During Parents Weekend, October 13-14, SLAM staged a number of events including a large petition drive at various places on campus. However, the main focus of the weekend was a silent protest at the event welcoming parents to the weekend. During the initial speeches, SLAM members distributed themselves throughout the audience and sat quietly. As Provost Sol Gittelman was introduced to deliver the key-note speech, SLAM members stood up, took off their jackets to reveal white T-shirts with "SLAM" stenciled on the front of the shirts, and stood in the aisles with their backs to the speaker. Other SLAM members handed out literature on the campaign to parents who were in attendance. As Gittelman's speech closed, SLAM members left the auditorium and met parents with petitions as they left the event. Besides the usual campus media coverage, SLAM received national attention from an unlikely source. SportsIllustrated.com columnist Peter King was in attendance at the welcome event and wrote about it in his column that week: > -- //Peter King, Monday Morning Quarterback, 10/15/2001// ||
 * > My wife and I visited daughter Laura at Tufts, just outside of Boston, this weekend. Three things I noticed. One: It's a great time to be a student. As the university provost keynoted the Saturday morning festivities, a group of students protesting pay and benefits for janitorial workers stood with their backs to the speaker for a half-hour, in silence, blocking the view of some of the audience. As some of the parents shook their heads and tsk-tsked the protestors, I thought about how proud their parents should be of them. Dissent is part of this country. Good for them. And the vitality of campus life is so great.

Following the events of Parents Weekend, SLAM and the Tufts community continued to put pressure on the administration with further rallies and events in support of the janitors. On Thursday, November 8, the union and OneSource settled their contract, guaranteeing wage and benefit increases over the next three years.


 * > Boston Janitors Begin Climb Out of Poverty at Tufts University

> CONTRACT VICTORY INCLUDES WAGE INCREASE, EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK, FULL TIME WORK OPPORTUNITIES & FAMILY HEALTH INSURANCE

> Boston, MA - Janitors who are paid near poverty wages convinced Tufts' cleaning contractor to provide them with higher wages, equal pay for all workers, more fulltime work opportunities and family health insurance for fulltimers. The agreement reached today follows a several month call by janitors, student and community supporters for Tufts to ensure better working conditions on campus.

> "With this new contract, I will have the extra money to pay the doctor's bill when my kids get sick," said Irlanda Jimenez, a janitor at Tufts University since 1997 and bargaining committee member. "With family health insurance my kids will get the proper care they need." Tufts' cleaning contractor agreed to a three-year contract with the Service Employees International Union Local 254, which represents janitors at Tufts and other institutions of higher learning such as Harvard.

> Janitors at Tufts, whose wages and benefits have been systematically cut since the University began outsourcing its maintenance work in 1994, will see their pay rise as of January of 2002. Tufts janitors are currently paid as little as $8.00 an hour. Both parttime and fulltime janitors will earn $11.45 per hour by January of 2004.

> Fulltime janitors will be offered family health insurance by the end of the contract.

> "The victory at Tufts shows that more area universities are recognizing their responsibility to ensure fair working conditions for janitors in our communities," said Rocio Saenz, deputy trustee of SEIU Local 254. "The contract won by Tufts' janitors is the first step toward winning better wages and working conditions for janitors throughout Massachusetts."

> The three-year contract covers approximately 200 janitors at Tufts University.

> SEIU Local 254 represents 14,000 building service workers, including janitors throughout the Boston area.

> Visit www.justiceforjanitors.org for more information. ||



2003/4 - SLAM II: The Wrath of Ariana...
This section needs updating!

=Jumbo Janitor Alliance= Fall 2007: Seeing a need to overcome language and cultural barriers between students and janitors at Tufts in order to build a stronger community, junior Kevin Dillon founds the Jumbo Janitor Alliance. Dillon and sophomore Emma Mayerson, the first co-chairs of JJA, along with sophomore Max Goldman as secretary and treasurer, being intensive recruitment to build a successful, long-lasting student group. From the start, JJA focuses on community-building initiatives, aiming to be inclusive of the entire Tufts community, including the janitors' employer, One Source, and the Tufts Adminstration.

Winter 2007: JJA has successfully hosted a number of community events, such as Dorm Clean-Ups, holiday get-togethers between studens and janitors, and holiday card writing events from students to janitors. The group now has a dedicated core of at least 10 people showing up to meetings, with another 300 receiving email updates about the group.

February/March 2008: JJA decides to become involved in the janitors upcoming contract negotiations that summer and begin dialogue with Service Employees International Union local 615. The Alliance reorganizes into to main divisions: a community-buildling sector and a contract campaign sector.

March/April 2008: The community-building component of JJA kicks off the first Keep It Clean contest, in which the cleanliness of every Tufts dorm is tracked for 2 weeks, and the dorm with the cleanest evaluation wins a free pizza party. The group hopes that the event will help raise awareness and personal responsibility among Tufts students for the way they conduct themselves in their dorms, specifically in regards to tidiness.

April 2008: The contract campaign sector of JJA begins ramping up efforts to buildin on-campus support for the janitors as they prepare to fight for just wages and dignitiy at the workplace. Freshmen Phil Bene, Will Merrow, and Emily Lad play play a pivotal role in circulating a petition of support among the Tufts student body. By the time the petition is delivered to president Bacow's office, 1300 students, or over 25% of the Tufts student body, has signed it. The JJA organizes multiple demonstrations on campus to build support and raise awareness of the upcoming negotiations. State Senator Pat Jehlen speaks at one of the rallies, along with SEIU local 615 organizers and Tufts janitors. A group of 30-40 students walk through campus, chanting slogans of support for the hard-working custodial staff at Tufts. The university newspaper, the Tufts Daily, runs numerous articles on contract campaign, helping to inform students about what's at stake. JJA also reached out to TPAN, who helped circulate the message of solidary with Tufts janitors among its almuni network.

Summer 2008: Goldman and Dillon remain at Tufts over the summer, providing assistance to SEIU local 615 during the actual negotiations. The two meet with Somerville City Councilwoman Rebekah Gerwitz and attend Somerville City Council meetings. All but three of the council sign on to a letter to Tufts University President Bacow calling on him and the Tufts administration to take the appropriate steps to ensure that Tufts janitors receive a just and fair contract. Goldman and Dillon meet repeatedly with Tufts University Vice President of Operations John Roberto to disucss Tufts role and its responsibilities in the contract negotiations. Community rallies are held both in downtown Boston, at Tufts Medical School, and in Davis Square, garnering coverage in local papers. The two Tufts students start an online blog to keep people up to date on the campaign: justicefortuftsjanitors.blogspot.com. Goldman and Dillon meet with community organizations in the area, such as Centro Presente, Save Our Somerville, Community Action Agency of Somerville, and Somerville Community Corporation, to build more community support for Tufts janitors during the negotiations. The two also circulate a letter among Tufts faculty, explaining the Tufts administration's crucial role in the negotiation process and why Tufts janitors deserve a better contract.

August 2008: SEIU local 615 and American Building Maintenance Industries (the new cleaning contractor at Tufts) reach an agreement on a contract that will last for the next 5 years. Some highlights of the new contract are: $0.80/hr wage increases each year (with a $1/hr wage increase in the fifth year), a 300% increase in the number of sick days that Tufts janitors receive each year by the end of the contract (from 3 to 9) and these days off are now labeled "personal days" and can be taken for whatever reason a worker deams necessary, the workers contribution to their healthcare is capped at $100/month for the next 5 years (while ABM foots the rest of the bill), and the percentage full-time janitors in the custodial workforce at Tufts will increase from 65% to 90% by the end of the contract.

Happy with their victory, JJA, SEIU local 615, and Tufts janitors host a celebration at the begging of Fall semester.

Fall 2008: Juniors Jeffrey Kimm and Hillary Rosen takeover as co-chairs of the group, with sophomore Alison Moore as treasurer and sophomore Stephanie Tsuji as secretary.

 =Personal Memories= Those who participated in these events are encouraged to contribute their personal stories and memories, see the discussion page (link in the upper right) for the preferred format.