L.A., Orange janitors OK contract but NorCal ones may strike

By Associated Press | Saturday, May 17, 2008 11:00 PM PDT ∞

LOS ANGELES ---- Janitors in Los Angeles and Orange counties ratified a new contract Saturday that will provide a pay raise and better health care for some 6,700 workers, but their colleagues in the Silicon Valley voted to allow a strike that could leave dirty floors at high-tech corporations such as Google.

In Southern California, an "overwhelming majority" of about 1,000 voters approved a tentative contract for members of the Service Employees International Union Local 1877, organizer Raphael Lieb said.

He did not have specific figures.

They ratified a four-year contract with cleaning contractors who provide service to office buildings and malls in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

"This is really a historic victory for janitors in California" because for the first time, janitors in the two counties will be covered by a single pact, Lieb said.

The deal with cleaning contractors and building owners was tentatively approved by union leaders May 12. It would boost wages nearly $1,000 a year over the life of the contract. Lieb also said the contract will, for the first time, provide janitors with coverage for vision care.

Union President Mike Garcia said the single contract is a step toward closing a "wage gap" between Los Angeles County janitors and their lower-paid Orange County colleagues.

Janitors in downtown Los Angeles and Century City earned about $1.30 per hour more, on average, than those in other areas, union officials said.

"The cleaning contractors and their corporate clients, the building owners, are largely the same across both counties," Garcia said.

Some regional wage differences would remain in the new contract.

Janitors in downtown Los Angeles and Century City would see their annual salaries increase from about $24,960 to $29,328 over the course of the contract. Those in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Long Beach and the San Fernando Valley would see a jump from $22,256 to $26,728.

In Northern California, however, the same union prepared for a walkout ---- possibly within days ---- by 6,000 janitors in the San Francisco Bay Area counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Santa Clara and San Mateo.

About 1,000 members met Saturday and were virtually unanimous in voting to authorize a strike, Garcia said.

"We're making our strike signs," Garcia said. "It's going to hit next week."

The strike would be the first since Los Angeles janitors staged a three-week stoppage in 2000.

A call to Jim Beard, chief negotiator for the cleaning contractors, was not immediately returned.

The strike authorization vote had been expected since cleaning contractors submitted a final offer Friday that Garcia said fell "way short" of the deal offered to janitors in other parts of the state.

The high-tech valley in San Francisco's Bay Area is known for its high incomes and pricey real estate. But the union said janitors there make far less, on average, than those in cities such as San Francisco, New York and Chicago.

Garcia said about half the janitors lack family health insurance.

"I want to be able to imagine a better life for my children, but right now it's hard to think about the future when I'm struggling to pay rent and put food on the table," Roselia Mora, who cleans the Hewlett-Packard headquarters, said in a statement released by the union.

The union said Mora has been a janitor for 12 years and brings home less than $350 a week after taxes.

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