Members of the CPUSA’s Baltimore Club joined SEIU 32BJ’s energetic Justice for Janitors rally and march in downtown Baltimore on Friday afternoon, June 16th. The event brought together rank and file workers, union staff, elected officials, and community supporters to advocate for fair wages and improved working conditions for janitors in preparation for regional contract negotiations beginning on June 22nd.
The gray clouds that had been hanging over the city on the morning of June 16th were just beginning to clear as the crowd of about fifty people coalesced in downtown Baltimore’s McKeldin Square for SEIU 32BJ’s Justice for Janitors rally and march on Friday afternoon. Horns honked and sirens buzzed by as attendees listened to a series of speakers addressing the crowd through a megaphone, including rank and file workers, union staff, and elected officials — all calling for fair wages and working conditions in the property service industry.
The union, which represents over 9,000 janitors in Maryland, Washington DC, and Virginia, organized the event to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the Justice for Janitors movement, which was founded on June 15th, 1990, in response to the low wages in the property service industry. In addition to honoring the 33rd anniversary of the Justice for Janitors movement, the event kicked off the union’s campaign for a new four-year contract with the Washington Service Contractors Association. The companies represented by the WSCA, a local association of employers in the property service industry, collectively employ hundreds of largely immigrant workers in Baltimore City and thousands more in the wider Baltimore-Washington DC metropolitan region.
Jaime Contreras, the Executive Vice President for SEIU 32BJ, opened Friday’s rally in McKeldin Square by drawing attention to the forthcoming contract negotiations, telling the crowd “Today, we are not only paying homage to the struggle of the janitors that came before us and fought to establish our standards, we are fighting to maintain our living wages, improve our working conditions and to maintain quality benefits in our next contract.” Contreras’ statement was followed by that of a rank-and-file worker, Isabel Bautista, who is a local janitor represented by SEIU 32BJ. The crowd inched in closer to hear her speak about her experience working in the industry and the difference that having a union has made in her career while Contreras translated her words to the huddled listeners: “Cuando no hay unión, siempre es más trabajo; no tienes feriados, ‘sick days,’ nada — y te ponen más trabajo.” (“When there is no union, it is always more work; you don’t have holidays, sick days, nothing — and they put more work on you.”)
Supporting the workers in their struggle for fair wages and better working conditions was city Comptroller, Bill Henry, telling the crowd “I stand proudly beside these hard-working janitors who are bargaining their contract for the next four years. Through these negotiations, 32BJ SEIU continues to set standards that help lift working families out of poverty in Baltimore and across the state.” Also at the rally was city councilmember Odette Ramos, who honored the anniversary of the Justice for Janitors movement in her statement, saying that she was “proud to stand here with all the hard-working janitors keeping Baltimore clean and safe for all our residents commemorating the 33rd anniversary of the Justice for Janitors movement.”
The rally culminated in a brief march circling around the 100 block of East Pratt Street in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor before returning to McKeldin Square. Janitors, their families, and their supporters carried signs demanding better salaries and working conditions as they marched alongside the busy afternoon traffic. Dozens of workers shouted “Huelga!” (“Strike!”) on the sidewalk in response to the speakers on the megaphone, demonstrating to employers their readiness to fight for a strong contract.
Battles like this form the frontlines of the class struggle. When immigrant workers organize to win better wages and working conditions from their employers, they are taking a proactive step in shifting the balance of forces in the United States toward the multiracial working class and away from the extreme-right section of the US ruling class that has been committed to an agenda that attacks the rights of workers, immigrants, women, people of color, voters, and the LGBTQ community for decades. Members of the CPUSA’s Baltimore Club were proud to demonstrate their solidarity with the janitors’ struggle by participating in this event and wish them success in their contract negotiations with the WSCA beginning later this month.
Baltimore CPUSA 