The janitors who quietly dust and vacuum Chicago’s office buildings made some noise Thursday afternoon.
Wielding brooms, feather dusters and plungers like battle gear, about 400 members of Local 25 of the Service Employees International Union marched to the Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago, 135 S. LaSalle St., to deliver a surprise:
Garbage. Bags and bags and bags of it heaped high in front of the association’s building.
“We’re going to be returning the dirt BOMA’s been heaping on us back to BOMA,” said union spokeswoman Ana Tenision.
The union and the association–the group responsible for overseeing about 85 percent of the janitors at the city’s largest buildings–have been in contract negotiations since January, Tenision said.
One bargaining session is set for Friday morning before the union’s contract expires Sunday. If the groups can’t reach an agreement, union members said, they will go on strike.
“Either we extend the contract or we go on strike,” Tenision said. “Our hope is that they come to their senses over the weekend.”
And if no agreement is reached?
“It means their buildings are going to get pretty dirty,” she said.
Union members are seeking wage increases, paid sick days, safer working conditions and decreased workloads.
Association officials declined to comment on the union’s allegations.
“We’re in negotiations,” said Ilani O’Connor, the association’s executive vice president. “And we think an agreeable conclusion will be reached”
Men in button-down shirts and ties craned their necks to look out the association’s windows as the union crowd spilled out on the sidewalk and across the street.
Shouting “Union, yes; BOMA, no,” the protesters lobbed bags of symbolic garbage (actually shredded paper) at the building’s front doors, unintentionally hitting a few of the police officers stationed out front.
One Chicago woman, who asked that her name not be used, said she has worked for 30 years cleaning a downtown office building on LaSalle Street.
She said she’s working harder for less compensation than when she started. With her retired husband dependent on expensive medications, her $11.50 an hour barely covers her cost of living, she said.
“We want to make the people in these buildings think with their hearts, not with their pocketbooks,” she said, waving her broom.
Speakers addressed the diverse crowd of janitors in Polish, Spanish and English at the State of Illinois Building plaza, 100 W. Randolph St., before the march.
“BOMA says no sick days. BOMA says no pension increases. BOMA says no to everything, but they say yes to higher workloads,” Local 25’s Executive Director Rob Schuler said. “The union says go to hell, BOMA.”
Janitors are critical to the workings of a big city like Chicago, said Dino Pigoni , Service Employees International Union international vice president and president of Chicago’s Local 1.
“You are part of what makes this city work,” Pigoni said, his words accompanied by the whistles and cheers of union members. “Every night you come in and clean these offices. When the people come to work in the morning they find a clean building. You are an asset to this city and you earn every penny you make. And you deserve more.”
