WHEN WORKERS RIGHTS ARE UNDER ATTACK, WHAT DO WE DO, STAND UP AND FIGHT BACK!!!!
Hand out December 8th, 2011 March in support of Local 32BJ.
And don’t let them fool you. They may be prettied all up, nice and handsome, smelling good, looking good in an expensive suit but they sure can make a mess in the restroom. They sure are a nasty lot. Looking good on the outside but rotten to the core on the inside. I know I have cleaned up after enough of them in my years as a janitor. One thing all of the cleaning ladies hate is when the little bits all down the ladder put their half emptied coffee cup or soda can in their waste paper basket. Dump the basket without knowing and coffee or soda goes all over the place, on the cleaner, on the rug, in the basket, might splash on the chair and desk. Lazy folks, who could walk a few feet to the rest room and dump out the coffee or soda. But no, someone will come behind me and clean up my mess that’s the motto in the office. “Oh it’s so nice to feel like I have a maid for a few hours a day. I can shit all over the floor, (some have) and don’t have to worry about smelling my own shit as someone else will do that for me. “Hope they don’t gag and then they will be not only cleaning up my shit but their vomit.” Those who rub their snot on the wall are the most nasty, ick. Tim just reminded me that when he cleaned restrooms that most folks wouldn’t get in the same elevator as him. Just in case their germs tried to jump back on them we gather.
Our friend Adora called me last night and said, “Hey you forgot to tell the folks that we are not stupid.” They want to make us invisible but they are not going to think I am a dumb person. Adora is right so Tim and I got our heads together and recalled the workers who we have known over the years and what some of them did before they came here to the promise land. In our cleaning years we have met, 2 architects, an anthropologist, a botanist, several nurses, a news reporter from Vietnam, quite a number of teachers, and Mirko who was studying to be a doctor in Bosnia and had to flee the country. One other thing that we have learned over the years is that many folks are learning English or have learnt English. I wonder how many officer workers or executives who look down their noses at the cleaners can say I can speak 2 languages?
The Hartford Courant owned and operated by the Tribune is kicking out the unionized janitorial staff and hiring in a non-union company. The corporate pigs have been trying to do this for years and over my working time with the union only saw it happen 2 other times. Funny too no matter what the economy is at any given year they always cry poor house. Cry poor house at the expense of the workers, those who have to clean up after all of us. As the details say the Hartford Courant will only be saving 100,000 dollars. So how will they be doing this. By hiring a non-union company in to do the dirty work. Hire them in at minimum wage of $8.25 per hour with no benefits, no health care, no paid holidays, no, no, no. At the whim of the boss, at the whim of Miss Jones who has it in for Spanish folks anyway and no protection as they would have with a union. This is a dirty war against the working poor plain and simple. The Tribune companies set the maximum bid for all contractors very low. This in turn shut out any company who has decent health benefits, wages and paid holidays via the union. In other words it effectively shut out any union contractors to the point where they would be operating at a loss in that facility.
On December 8th HOG or Hartford Organizing Group held a Jazz Funeral for workers rights. One of the first actions in a workers fight back against this corporate greed. Check out the wonderful video by Rev. Josh Pawelek of the Jazz Funeral and his commentary HERE.
Another good source of information about the event is over at Real Hartford. As always Kerri has done a great job in reporting about the event. Check out her report. Keri begins her piece, Mourning Job Loss with a statement by Eddie Williams an employee soon to lose his job.
“We been there all this time and they kicked us right out the door,” said Eddie Williams, a 20-year employee of Capitol Cleaners who has spent eighteen of those years working inside of the Hartford Courant building.”
But as always we who have been in the movement for many years follow the saying from the great troubadour of the IWW Joe Hill, Don’t Mourn Organize. And to that we add fight back!! One of my other all time favorite ideas from the days of the IWW was a statement made by Frank Little, Little who said, No War But Class War, and brothers and sister we had better realize it and get up and fight.
Mike with sign, Paul in the middle and Richard with the queer wreath from QU and Josh’s broom.
How you can help out:
Of course we have to end this with the song of workers, Solidarity Forever sung by Utah Phillips.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7NPuK_QhEk
All Photos by Alvin our in-house photographer.
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