Hudson Valley janitors authorize strike if contract remains unsettled after Dec. 31
The vote took place at a rally in White Plains on Tuesday night. The marchers said they want a fair contract first and foremost.
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Hudson Valley janitors from 32BJ SEIU voted to authorize a strike after Dec. 31 if a fair contract isn’t reached between them and their commercial contractors.
The vote took place at a rally in White Plains on Tuesday night. Marchers, like Claudia Rodriguez, said they want a fair contract first and foremost.
"We take the garbage from their building[s], [but] we are not garbage [ourselves],” Rodriguez said.
According to Rodriguez and other building cleaners, a fair contract includes securing pay raises that keep up with inflation, maintaining employer-paid health care benefits, expanding work protections and ensuring that there isn't a reduction in the workforce without notice and bargaining with the union.
“Every worker deserves to have wages where they can take care of their families, put a roof over their head, deal with skyrocketing prices that all of us are experiencing. They should be able to live in Westchester,” Shirley Aldebol, a representative from the union, said.
According to a news release, union says it has “combined the agreements covering cleaners in New Jersey, the Hudson Valleyand Long Island, NY and Fairfield County, CT into a tri-state contract” that covers 15,000 workers.
“Cleaners in Long Island, New Jersey and Fairfield County Connecticut are also taking strike votes,” the release states.
