The contract, which is being submitted to the membership for a vote, includes a 30 percent raise over five years for those working within 15 miles of downtown Boston and, for the first time, medical insurance paid for by the employers for 1,000 of the part-timers employed in the largest buildings. Also new will be two paid sick days per year.

"The important thing isn’t the settlement," commented a striking janitor, "the struggle as a whole was important. What we need is a strong union. This strengthened the base. We’ll be stronger next time."

Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 254 had targeted the largest of the companies, Unicco Service Co. Starting September 30 the union began calling out their workforce, adding more and more of the buildings they clean as the strike went on. In all, about 2,000 of the 10,700 in the bargaining unit walked out. Some 500-700 janitors picketed daily, with a number of them often marching, chanting and beating on bucket-bottoms, through the streets of Boston. The strikers won wide sympathy among working people and youth in the area. The Teamsters union, for example, refused to haul dumpsters from, or to deliver packages to, the struck skyscrapers.

The cleaners--80 percent of whom are part-timers and almost all of whom are immigrant workers--came under tremendous pressure from the employers. At some targeted buildings, the strike was solid, at others some workers crossed the picket lines in fear of losing their jobs or of being deported. Another source of pressure was from Boston mayor Thomas Menino, who presented himself as a "friend" of the janitors, but convinced the leadership of SEIU Local 254 to postpone the strike several times. When they did begin the walkout, he enjoined them from marching through the city streets, and finally insisted on a settlement within 24 hours to head off further union-planned protest actions.

Some janitors say the resulting agreement is weaker than it could have been. Most disappointed are those who work outside the metropolitan Boston area whose wages are already substantially lower. This contract would widen the gap, as their raises are smaller in both dollar and percentage terms. Others point to the fact that the medical insurance being provided to those part-timers who are eligible will not start for two years, and that the $3.00 raise for those working in Boston starts out with only 25 cents an hour in the first year.

This fight, however, has forced the employers "to take into account our dignity," commented one of the workers. "Before the strike, janitors were ignored."  
 
 
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