• 2006.03.01: March 1, 2006: Headlines: Figures: COS - Iran: University Administration: Miami Herald: Ana Menendez says: While Shalala lives in luxury, janitors struggle  Wednesday, March 22, 2006 - 6:03 am [1]

Janitors at University of Miami ask Donna Shalala, a former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, to support their bid to unionize



'We are asking her to send a message to Unicco that this isn't tolerated on the UM campus,'' said Eric Brakken, organizing director of the Service Employees International Union Local 11, which is seeking to unionize the workers. ``The university can take some leadership in seeing that workers rise out of poverty.'' University of Miami President and former Clinton Cabinet member Donna Shalala served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran in the 1960's.

Janitors at University of Miami ask Donna Shalala, a former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, to support their bid to unionize

Janitors at University of Miami protest wages, no health benefits

Janitors and landscape workers gathered at the University of Miami to pressure their Boston-based employer to provide health benefits.

BY ANJALI ATHAVALEY

aathavaley@herald.com

About 25 workers gathered Thursday on the University of Miami campus to protest the wages and lack of health benefits with the company that does janitorial and landscaping work for the university.

''We need health insurance,'' said Maritza Paz, who makes $6.70 per hour as a janitor for the Boston-based Unicco Service Company. ``We need to be treated as human beings.''

The janitors are asking the school's president, Donna Shalala, a former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, to support their bid to unionize.

''We are asking her to send a message to Unicco that this isn't tolerated on the UM campus,'' said Eric Brakken, organizing director of the Service Employees International Union Local 11, which is seeking to unionize the workers. ``The university can take some leadership in seeing that workers rise out of poverty.''

But UM says it won't take sides on the issue, maintaining the matter is between the SEIU and Unicco.

STAYING NEUTRAL

''They are contract employees, not University of Miami employees,'' said Roosevelt Thomas, vice president of human resources at UM. ``The university is going to remain neutral throughout the process.''

Unicco's contract with UM began in 1996. About 400 janitors and landscapers are employed by Unicco at UM. Many earn little over $6 an hour and have no health insurance.

Unicco is open to negotiating wages and benefits in the future, said company spokesman Doug Bailey, but that would have to involve a change in its contract with UM.

''Our client is the university, so we would have to work that out with them as well,'' said Bailey. ``The university puts these things out to bid. Everybody comes in with a price. We were probably the most cost effective for them, and that resulted in the wages we pay.''

VOTE TO UNIONIZE

Organizing a union would require a majority vote by the janitors and landscapers who work at UM.

SEIU and Unicco employees at UM have discussed unionizing for the past few months. At a time when unions across the country are losing influence and membership, SEIU has managed to gain steam in South Florida, with 97 percent of employees at Pan American Hospital voting to unionize last year.

Unicco employees have fought for better salaries in the past. At Harvard University, Unicco janitors, with the support of students and faculty, won higher wages in 2002.

When this story was posted in October 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:




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