"Justice For Janitors" Day Marked In DC
Thursday, June 16, 2011(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)
At a rally commemorating the 21st annual Justice for Janitors
Day, dozens of DC area office cleaners were joined by labor and community allies
- including Maryland State Senator Victor Ramirez - in McPherson Square in
downtown DC last night to "ramp up efforts to secure fair wages, family health
care, and full-time work" for the men and women who clean DC-area landmarks
like the World Bank and the National Press Club, reports SEIU 32BJ.
“The thousands of men and women with back-breaking jobs cleaning our offices
in the DC-area are an invisible work force that deserves our respect,” said
Jaime Contreras, Capital Area Director of 32BJ SEIU. “We’re still
working to improve standards until every worker receives the livable wages and
benefits they need to support a family.” Justice for Janitors Day was
established to defend the rights of low-income workers across the country. In
the mid 1990s the Justice for Janitors campaign organized thousands of cleaners
in the metro Washington area. The cleaners made history when they blocked the
14th Street bridge to demand living wages, employer-paid benefits and respect in
the workplace. The janitors won their union and better wages, benefits and a
voice on the job for the more than 5,000 members of SEIU 32BJ who clean
commercial office buildings throughout the city, Montgomery County and Northern
Virginia. - photo by Adam Wright