Chicago, IL – En las dos últimas semanas de abril, trabajadores de limpieza de los suburbios de Chicago tomaron un paso histórico para su sindicato, e hicieron un modelo para todos trabajadores “ilegales” con bajos salarios en todas partes.

Los miembros de la Service Employees International Union, Local 1, ratificaron un nuevo contrato el 28 de abril-10 días después de haber comenzado la huelga, la cual trajo mejoramientos importantes en los salarios, las prestaciones y el respeto para casi 4,000 trabajadores de limpieza de los suburbios. La mayoría de ellos son mujeres, y casi todos son inmigrantes de Latinoamérica, Polonia y el país conocido como Jugoslavia.

La victoria de los trabajadores de limpieza demuestra que los trabajadores que ganan salarios bajos, que hablan muy poco o nada del inglés, pueden vencer a los jefes por medio de una lucha agresiva que se enfrenta a las compañias en una campaña pública para la justicia.

Por muchos años, los trabajadores de limpieza del centro de Chicago ganaban dos veces más (en sueldos y prestaciones) que sus compañeros en los suburbios. Esta diferencia en salarios y beneficios resultaba de la inacción de un presidente corrupto e indiferente del Local, que por muchos años rehusaba organizar a los trabajadores no sindicalizados en los suburbios. Las compañias sindicalizadas empezaron a bajar los sueldos que pagaban para poder competir con las compañias no sindicalizadas, cuya parte del mercado iba creciendo. El sindicato no hizo absolutamente nada para defender los intereses de los miembros en contra de este proceso.

En 1996, el liderazgo del sindicato fue sacado por el sindicato internacional en Washington, D.C., y una gran campaña de “Justice for Janitors,” (Justicia para los Trabajadores de Limpieza) comenzó a desarrollarse. Los trabajadores-cansados de esa situación-se prepararon para una larga batalla para cerrar la diferencia entre el centro y los suburbios.

En los tres años desde entonces, se preparaba la batalla del contrato del 2000, con entrenamientos de liderazgo, manifestaciones, y arrestos de trabajadores por perturbar las calles, ocupaciones de edificios no sindicalizados, y repartición de información, incluso en la propiedad privada. Todas estas actividades llamaron la atención a la situación de los trabajadores sin seguro y con bajos salarios a la luz pública. Además, la batalla por seguro médico para la familia y un salario digno fue mostrada a los medios de comunicación y a los grupos comunitarios como un ejemplo de la extensa crisis social en cuanto al seguro médico y en salarios por los trabajadores pobres en los Estados Unidos.

La victoria del contrato fue el resultado de la unidad y organización de los trabajadores. Cuando el contrato viejo llegó a la fecha de expiración, la propuesta de las compañias por un contrato para trabajadores en los suburbios mostró lo mismo: nada del seguro médico para la familia, y solamente 90 miserables centavos de aumento en 4 años. Las compañias de limpieza no creían que los trabajadores iban a salir en huelga, aún cuando los trabajadores de Los Angeles ya estaban en huelga durante el mismo momento al otro lado del país. Ellos dijeron que los trabajadores estaban muy desorganizados y tenían miedo de problemas con la migra para librar una batalla.

Luego, el 18 de abril, los trabajadores de los edificios de los suburbios comenzaron una huelga que creció en todas direcciones por las proximas dos semanas. Se realizaron varias marchas en los suburbios ricos, y miles de trabajadores pararon el trafico durante muchas horas. Más de cien trabajadores estuvieron en huelga de hambre por 48 horas, y un grupo grande de niños, hijos de los trabajadores, visitaron el lujoso edificio de un dueño de los edificios en Chicago, para preguntarle si los hijos suyos tenían seguro médico. Se arrestaron los trabajadores por parar trocas de rompahuelgas y impedir que entraran. Una trabajadora sufrió un accidente cuando una de las trocas de rompahuelgas rodó en su pie.

En los últimos días de la huelga los trabajadores de los suburbios trajeron su batalla al centro, estableciendo una linea masiva de paro a los trabajadores del centro, que rehusaron cruzar en frente de uno de los edificios más costosos en Chicago. Luego, durante la hora de máximo tráfico de la mañana del 28 de abril, 51 trabajadores y miembros del Local 1 fueron arrestados después de haber tomado una de las intersecciones más utilizadas en los suburbios de Chicago por mas de 2 horas, mientras 300 de sus compañeros los apoyaban. Esa noche, la huelga de los trabajadores llegó al momento de triunfo: las compañias cedieron y ofrecieron un contrato de tres años garantizando a los trabajadores el seguro médico completo para la familia y un aumento salarial de $1.35.

La batalla de los trabajadores no fue fácil. Los aumentos y beneficios en el contrato nuevo dejan mucho que desear, porque los miembros trabajan tanto y realmente se merecen por su trabajo pesado. Sin embargo, la huelga fue una victoria porque mucha gente dijo que nunca pasaría. Los jefes, reporteros, y aún alguna gente del sindicato creían que estos trabajadores inmigrantes nunca ganarían una huelga en contra de las compañias de limpieza tan ricas y poderosas. Ellos dijeron que los trabajadores “sin profesión” eran muy fácil de remplazar y no iban a unirse. Pero ellos estaban equivocados. Los trabajadores sí se unieron, los edificios permanecieron sucios durante la huelga, y los trabajadores reconocieron que una batalla exitosa no depende de la habilidad, el idioma, la raza o el género de los trabajadores-sino depende del sacrificio, las tacticas creativas y, sobre todo, la solidaridad.

#ChicagoIL #ImmigrantRights #News #WomensMovement #SEIU #seiuLocal1 #huelga #trabajadoresDeLimpieza

Chicago, IL – In the final two weeks of April, suburban Chicago janitors made history, setting an example for low-wage “illegal” workers everywhere.

On April 28, ten days after the start of their strike, members of Service Employees International Union, Local 1, ratified a new contract that will bring important improvements in wages, benefits and respect for about 4,000 workers. Most of the strikers were women, and all of them were immigrants from Latin America, Poland and the former Yugoslavia.

The janitors' victory shows that low-wage workers who speak little or no English can beat the bosses with sacrifice, hard work, and an aggressive fight that challenges companies in a public campaign for justice.

For years, downtown Chicago janitors have made more than twice as much money and benefits as their suburban co-workers. This difference in wages and benefits between downtown and the suburbs was the work of a corrupt and lazy union president who, for many years, refused to organize non-union workers in the suburbs. Union companies began to pay lower and lower wages in order to compete with the growing non-union companies, and the union did nothing to protect its members against this process.

In 1996, the union leadership was removed from office by the International union, and a suburbs-wide “Justice for Janitors” campaign began to develop a core of militant and committed workers to prepare for a long-term struggle to bridge the gap between downtown and the suburbs.

The three years leading up to the 2000 contract fight were filled with leadership trainings, rallies and demonstrations, and arrests of workers for blocking streets, occupying non-union buildings, and passing out information on private property. All of these activities brought the situation of the uninsured, underpaid janitors to public attention. In addition, the fight for family health insurance and decent wages was shown to the media and community groups as an example of the wider social crisis in health care and pay for the working poor in the United States.

The contract victory was the result of unity and militancy. As the old contract expiration date came and went, the cleaning companies' proposal for the suburban contract remained the same: no family health insurance, and only a $.90 pay raise over four years. The companies did not believe that janitors would really go on strike, even though the Los Angeles janitors were striking at that very moment on the other side of the country. They said that the workers were too disorganized and afraid of problems with immigration agents to put up any fight at all.

Then, on April 18, janitors in suburban office buildings began a strike that grew in all directions over the two weeks that followed. Marches were organized in the wealthy Chicago suburbs, and thousands of janitors blocked traffic for hours. One hundred janitors went on a hunger strike for 48 hours, and a large group of janitors' children visited the largest building owner in Chicago to ask him if his children had health insurance. Janitors were arrested for blocking scab vans from entering their buildings. One janitor had her foot run over by a scab van.

In the final days of the strike, suburban janitors brought the fight downtown, putting up a massive picket line, which downtown workers refused to cross, in front of one of Chicago's largest and most expensive buildings. Then, during the morning rush hour of April 28, fifty-one janitors and Local 1 staff were arrested after having blocked one of the busiest intersections in the Chicago suburbs for over two hours, while 300 supporters cheered them on. That evening, the janitors' strike became the janitors' victory: the companies gave up, and offered a new three-year contract guaranteeing the janitors full family health insurance and $1.35 in raises.

The janitors' fight was not easy. The raises and benefits in the new contract are much less than what the hardworking janitors truly deserve for their backbreaking work. However, the strike was a victory because so many people said it couldn't happen. The bosses, reporters, and even some people in the union believed that these immigrant workers would never win a strike against the rich and powerful cleaning companies. They said that workers with “no skills” were too easy to replace, and too scared to stand together. They were wrong. The janitors struck, the buildings stayed dirty, and workers everywhere saw that a successful fight does not depend on the skills, language, race or sex of working people, it depends on sacrifice, radical tactics, and solidarity.

#ChicagoIL #ImmigrantRights #News #WomensMovement #SEIU #JanitorStrike #seiuLocal1

Sellouts Gone

Workers at S & G, a retail bag manufacturer mainly owned by multinational paper giant Smurfit-Stone, had been represented by SEIU Local 25 for many years. Like many other Local 25 members, the S & G workers were not pleased with their union. Local 25 officers were removed from office for misuse of dues money and known for poor representation of the members.

According to Mike Torres, “The last contract was a total sellout. We voted to strike three times. The third time, the ballots mysteriously disappeared, and the Local 25 union representative told the company that the contract was ratified!”

In January of 1998, S & G and other Local 25 units were merged into SEIU Local 1. “For the first time, we felt like the union was with us instead of with the company!” said S & G worker, Kathy Williams.

S & G = Stingy & Greedy

As SEIU Local 1 members, the S & G workers were able to build a united and strong contract campaign. They had regular mass meetings and rallies in front of the plant. Members used buttons and stickers to get their point across: “S & G = Stingy & Greedy,” “I'm ready to strike.” They launched an inside campaign that included an overtime ban. Although not promoted or sanctioned by the union, there were some mysterious disappearances of machine parts from time to time. Local 1 members were encouraged to do their jobs very carefully and take as much extra time as they might need.

The company came into contract negotiations with a bunch of proposed takeaways and a disrespectful attitude. They tried to split off the skilled Maintenance workers at the beginning by offering them a major pay upgrade. But S & G screwed up. They proposed big raises for all the Maintenance guys except one, the Latino who had more seniority than anyone else. These tactics backfired and getting an upgrade for Raymundo became one of the main strike issues!

S & G workers voted a strike authorization and kept up the inside pressure. The company started making some moves at the bargaining table. But it wasn't enough. S & G didn't want to give a decent raise or limit the amount of extreme forced overtime.

“You could be on your way to the time clock to punch out and find a supervisor running behind you to tell you that you had to stay another four hours,” said Debbie Miller. “We have to work 12 hour days three to five days a week, plus Saturdays. You can forget having a social life or seeing your family.”

Strike!

On April 30th, the S & G workers held a one-shift strike, hoping that it would push the company to come up with a decent contract offer. After two weeks and no change from S & G, the SEIU Local 1 members were forced to go out and stay out. “I liked the strike,” said Bounsy Thongsawath, one of the picket captains. “People brought food and helped build a shelter. It was a chance to get to know people, especially from other shifts.”

After four weeks, S & G gave in. They came up with an offer that included moves on all the outstanding issues. Members voted to accept the offer. The settlement includes improvements in pension, disability pay, shift premiums, and vacation. S & G agreed to work with Local 1 to come up with systems to limit forced overtime and to provide upgrades for machine operators and printer/adjusters. Members get a dental plan, the right to have input into health insurance changes, training pay, and a 3% raise. Raymundo got his upgrade!

“We know the fight isn't over,” says Steve Bill. “We have to keep the pressure up if we want the upgrades and a fair overtime system.” Local 1 SEIU members will also have to work hard to enforce the new contract when the bosses violate it.

#PlainfieldIL #News #SEIU #strike #seiuLocal25 #seiuLocal1 #sellout