Heciel Nieves Bonilla, News Editor
Andrew Kerley, Executive Editor
Service workers represented by chapter 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union began a public effort to ensure a fair negotiation as their contract is set to expire on June 30.
The workers held a rally in Monroe Park on April 24, which featured words from custodial and maintenance workers and local legislators.
Angela Arrington, a lead housekeeper at VCU and 32BJ union member, said she attended the rally because Compass — the third-party umbrella corporation which contracts her and other housekeepers’ work at VCU — has avoided coming to negotiation on the workers’ demands.
“We don’t want a sliver of the pie, we want a slice of the pie,” Arrington said.
Arrington described grievances with Compass over her need to use vacation days for doctor’s visits so she can afford to do so, and over Compass’ pay structure for events.
“I work from 7 to 3:30, if they have an event within that time, I don’t get paid [overtime],” Arrington said. “Compass is getting paid. First of all for them to have the event. Secondly, if they request a porter, they get all of that money in my eight hour period.”
Arrington asks that the company engage in a “community conversation” with its workers and potentially find a happy medium on a new contract.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Arrington said. “It’s negotiation time, this contract is about to run out. We need to be on the same page.”
Three years ago, the workers’ first union contract with SSC, the education facilities-focused subsidiary of Compass Group, netted them a 35% pay increase from $12 an hour to $16 an hour among other benefits, according to VPM.
Del. Charlie Schmidt, D-Richmond, was in attendance both as a legislator and a member of a different SEIU chapter and supports what he said can be tumultuous negotiations with employers.
“I think that it’s sort of two sides of the same coin,” Schmidt said. “There’s the argument that these should not be jobs that are outsourced to contractors that just skim off the top, but at the same time, if we are going to have contractors handling these private sector jobs for these public institutions [then] we need to stand in support of the workers that have every right to unionize and bargain collectively and enforce their contract.”
Sen. Mike Jones and Del. Rae Cousins also attended in support of the union. The latter stated she supports the legislation to expand collective bargaining to public employees that is currently in a state budget limbo.
“I was proud to stand with SEIU 32BJ members at last week’s rally as they begin the collective bargaining process for their second contract,” Cousins stated. “When workers have a seat at the negotiating table, they can advocate for the kind of benefits and wages that improve their lives.”
Housekeeping and some maintenance workers, along with dining workers through UNITE HERE, are among few workers at VCU who are able to sign collective bargaining agreements, because they do so with third party companies and not the university.
A bill to expand collective bargaining to many public employees in Virginia, including other maintenance workers at VCU, is currently in limbo as the legislature rejected the governor’s proposed changes over claims they weaken the bill. It is one of several bills awaiting final budget decisions, according to a report by The CT.