Janitors who work for Los Angeles County and belong to the Service Employees
International Union (SEIU) Local 1877 are expected to vote this week on
whether or not to strike for a higher living wage and better healthcare
benefits.
SEIU 1877
spokesperson Elizabeth Brennan said a strike could come as early as
June 2 with a walkout possible by the end of this week. The janitors
want an increase in the living wage, a self-imposed minimum pay standard
that the county has established for its own workforce and employees
of contractors or vendors it hires. The county's living wage is currently
$8.32 for workers who receive healthcare benefits valued at least $1.12
an hour. The standard is $9.46 an hour for workers who receive no healthcare
benefits.
The janitors'
demands coincide with a recent study by the University of California
at Berkeley's Center for Labor Research and Education that points to
the rising costs being passed along to public institutions that provide
services to low-wage workers and the families. The report found that
half of the spending on public assistance in California in 2002, approximately
$10.1 billion, went to working-poor families. About half of all families
in which at least one member works full-time for at least 45 weeks a
year received some public assistance in 2002, according to the study.
Organizers
from the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and the UCLA Center
for Labor Research and Education joined the janitors for a rally before
the May 25 meeting of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. The
janitors reminded the five-member body that the county's living wage
has not been increased since it was established in 1999.
"What we're saying is that the living wage ordinance was first
developed in 1999 for [so that] workers [would not have] to rely on
public assistance,"Brennan said. "But five years later, workers
are forced to ask for public assistance again."
Stella
Anguiano, a janitor for the county-run High Desert Healthcare Systems
in Palmdale, said that her earnings of approximately $1,200 a month
were enough to pay for healthcare for her husband and herself, but not
for her four children.
"I
understand that the county is in a budget crisis, but without a true
living wage that allows for decent healthcare coverage, taxpayers will
end up with a much larger bill for health care," Anguiano said.
The county
has responded to workers' complaints by ordering a study of the living
wage and healthcare benefits. The county agreed this April that the
living wage must be increased, but its offer of a 1 percent increase
in contributions toward healthcare costs was viewed as lacking, according
to LAANE spokesperson Danny Feingold.
The SEIU's
Brennan said that the City of Los Angeles has increased its living wage
by roughly by 25 cents annually. The city's living wage will reach nearly
$10 an hour this year, she said.
Brennan
said the janitors are hoping the county will reconsider their requests
for a wage increase as a possible strike nears.
