"Justice For Janitors" Day Marked In DC

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

At a rally commemorating the 21st annual Justice for Janitors Day, dozens of DC area office cleaners were joined by labor and community allies - including Maryland State Senator Victor Ramirez - in McPherson Square in downtown DC last night to "ramp up efforts to secure fair wages, family health care, and full-time work" for the men and women who clean DC-area landmarks like the World Bank and the National Press Club, reports SEIU 32BJ. “The thousands of men and women with back-breaking jobs cleaning our offices in the DC-area are an invisible work force that deserves our respect,” said Jaime Contreras, Capital Area Director of 32BJ SEIU. “We’re still working to improve standards until every worker receives the livable wages and benefits they need to support a family.” Justice for Janitors Day was established to defend the rights of low-income workers across the country. In the mid 1990s the Justice for Janitors campaign organized thousands of cleaners in the metro Washington area. The cleaners made history when they blocked the 14th Street bridge to demand living wages, employer-paid benefits and respect in the workplace. The janitors won their union and better wages, benefits and a voice on the job for the more than 5,000 members of SEIU 32BJ who clean commercial office buildings throughout the city, Montgomery County and Northern Virginia. - photo by Adam Wright