3,000 San Francisco Janitors Prepare for a Strike

From Truth-out.org, by David Bacon

The national confrontation between janitors and some of the world's richest property owners has arrived in San Francisco where, on Wednesday, over two thousand building cleaners shut down the city's main artery, Market Street, in a huge march. Later, twenty-seven workers and supporters were arrested in a financial district intersection as they blocked it in an act of civil disobedience.

"At issue in San Francisco is the same sticking point in most union contract negotiations - health care costs and wages. San Francisco janitors are the second most highly paid in the country, after New York City, but the city's living costs are so high that few can afford to live there. Ismael was fortunate enough to find affordable housing in the city 20 years ago. But now, the contractors are demanding that workers pay $600 a month for family health care coverage and he has a wife and four children. They offer a raise of 50¢ an hour, which would total about $85, resulting in an effective wage cut of $515 a month".

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Published August 10th, 2012

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