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Madison’s “Invisible” Workers

by Laura Salinger

For two years, Tina Campbell has been one of Madison’s "invisible" workers. After everyone has left their office for the day, she comes in and cleans up after them. They return to work the next morning to clean toilets, windows, and floors. Their mess has disappeared.

Many office workers take for granted that workers like Campbell make their lives easier. Campbell is tired of being one of Madison’s "invisible" workers and she, along with some of her co-workers, has decided it is time that Madison’s janitors have a voice in their workplace and in their community.

Campbell and some of her co-workers have joined a movement called "Justice for Janitors," a contract and organizing campaign for workers in the contract cleaning industry run by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). SEIU represents over 200,000 janitors, security officers, and maintenance staff in over 20 cities in the United States. SEIU Local 1, a local union based in the Midwest, represents over 40,000 building service workers in Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Madison.

Beginning in 1990, SEIU began a campaign to raise standards for the private janitorial industry. Justice for Janitors has been working for some time to unite janitors and help workers organize union efforts in cities across the nation. They hope to create better wages, basic benefits, and job security for janitors.

Justice for Janitors organizers have recently shifted their attention to Madison because they say janitors here work part-time with little or no option for full-time work, make poverty wages, and receive no benefits. According to SEIU organizer Arnaldo Fabela, zero percent of the Madison market is unionized.

"The wages in non-union markets are usually really, really low," Fabela said. "Most of the jobs are part-time, mostly so owners don’t have to pay benefits. Most people have to work two jobs to survive."

Fabela said that workplace conditions and job stability for janitors has declined nationwide with the rising trend that has building owners hiring cleaning contractors, rather than employing janitors themselves.

"Janitors used to be directly employed by building owners," Fabela said. "What has happened is that there has been a lot of middle men added to the process."

The focus of SEUI’s efforts in Madison is largely concentrated on Clean Power, the largest janitorial contractor in Madison which cleans approximately 44 percent of Madison office space. According to SEUI, Clean Power pays their workers an average of $7.50 an hour, maintains most of their employees on part-time status, and provides very limited or no access to affordable healthcare. SEUI Local 1 contends that Clean Power has recently begun employing tactics to dissuade workers from unionizing.

Fabela said that the Madison market pales in comparison to the Milwaukee market where 85 percent of janitors are represented by SEUI Local 1. In Milwaukee, janitors average $9/hr, receive single coverage medical insurance, and two sick days a year. Most importantly, Fabela said, they have a voice on the job. This is something that many janitors in Madison do not feel they have.

"I think the job owes us more than they give us," Campbell said. "I think we deserve to be treated better by the company. I think we deserve a voice."

Campbell, like many of her co-workers, works a three-hour shift for Clean Power from 5 to 8 p.m. She does general cleaning which includes emptying the trash, vacuuming, and cleaning the toilets. Campbell, who makes $7.50/hr at Clean Power, receives state support to supplement her income so she can stay home with her three-year-old son. She has not a received a raise since she began working for Clean Power two years ago.

"They don’t pay us enough money to do what we do," Campbell said. "It is hard to support myself and my little boy."

Campbell recently missed two months of work after undergoing pre-cancer treatment and surgery. At her last surgery, her uterus was removed. During her time off, Campbell struggled to make ends meet and provide for her son. Her hardship would have been much easier, she said, if she could’ve used some sick time or vacation time to supplement part of her time off. But at Clean Power, she does not have sick days or vacation days.

Campbell said she is working with union organizers in order to improve the working conditions for Madison janitors. Since SEIU Local 1 and Madison janitors have gone public, she has watched some of her fellow co-workers harassed or disciplined for their involvement with the union. She contends that a co-worker of hers, who recently became involved in the union, was suspended for a job performance issue which normally would have resulted in a simple reprimand. She has watched other workers go through similar treatment.

Campbell and other janitors hope to improve their working conditions and wages as union organizers turn the heat up in their campaign. It is hard to say what will happen for Madison’s janitors in the coming months, but Campbell hopes her voice is finally heard.

"Until we get the union in the company, we won’t have a voice," she said. "That’s why we are fighting for this."

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