Hundreds of building cleaners authorize strike

Members of a union of commercial building cleaners who serve hundreds of facilities across the state voted unanimously at meetings in Stamford, Hartford and New Haven Saturday to authorize a strike if cleaning contractors do not agree to improve wages and pension conditions.

The current contracts, which are renegotiated every four years, expire at the end of the month for over 4,000 janitors, said Franklin Soults, senior communications associate for the union, called 32BJ SEIU (Service Employees International Union).

If a satisfactory agreement isn’t reached, Saturday’s votes mean workers could go on strike any time after the New Year.

“The association is seeking a fair and reasonable agreement with the union for its employees and customers,” said Matt Ellis, spokesman for the contractors negotiating with the union. “The association is hopeful that it will reach an agreement before Dec. 31, 2019 through goodfaith collective bargaining negotiations with the union.”

Two groups of contractors are in negotiations, Ellis said. They include the Fairfield Westchester Building Contractors Association, which negotiates the contracts that impact Fairfield County workers, and the Connecticut Cleaning Contractors Association, which negotiates the contracts that affect Hartford and New Haven County workers.

Juan Hernandez, vice president of 32BJ SEIU, had his own thoughts on the negotiations.

“Their [the workers’] daily efforts are essential to the extraordinary prosperity of our entire state, helping corporate headquarters, major office buildings and commercial centers shine,” he said in a statement issued prior to the votes. “These men and women themselves, however, often remain invisible . ... But on Saturday they will raise their voices to let contractors and building owners know that they will not be shut out of the economic success they helped build.”

The last day of negotiations for the New Haven and Hartford group is scheduled for Wednesday, Soults said, adding that the Fairfield County group has its last negotiating day set for Dec. 23.

Though satisfied with the health insurance the contractors are offering, the union is seeking better wages and pensions, Vice President Hernandez said.

Hernandez could not be sure of how the negotiations would turn out—that much was up to the contractors, he said.

But he was optimistic about the power of the union members.

“If they want us to fight, we’re ready,” said Hernandez.

Over 450 workers came out to vote at the Central Baptist Church on Main Street in Hartford and some 35 came to the People’s Center in New Haven, Soults said, estimating at least another 400 present at the Stamford vote. Votes to authorize a strike were unanimous.

At the New Haven location, chants of “32BJ” filled the room.

The meeting was held mostly in Spanish. After one speaker finished, a woman in the crowd called out, “La union es la fuerza”—the union is the strength.

When Rosa, the union representative, called for yes votes, every attending worker raised a purple vote cards into the air.

She did not need to ask for no votes.

Meghan Friedmann / Hearst Connecticut Media Members of 32BJ SEIU, a union of Connecticut building cleaners, voted Saturday in New Haven to authorize a strike if their demands were not met in contract negotiations. Some 450 additional workers voted to authorize the strike at a separate meeting in Hartford, and a vote in Stamford was scheduled for later in the day.