The groups that lobbied for custodian's rights throughout the semester say the contractual changes that raised wages for the University's custodial staff are a step in the right direction.
Wages will increase from an average of $8 per hour to $11.45 in January following the negotiations between Service Employees' International Union (SEIU) Local 254 and OneSource, the private custodial service that provides janitors to Tufts. Members of SEIU Local 254, the Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM), and the custodians themselves say they are pleased with the pay raise.
The three-year contract covers about 200 custodians at Tufts, according to SEIU Local 254. Workers will also receive more opportunities for full-time work and family health insurance.
While janitors are generally pleased with the outcome of the negotiations, some say the $3 pay increase will not change their lifestyles dramatically. "The extra pay is not going to make a large difference, but it will help," one full-time OneSource worker said. "The majority of the workers are in agreement with the contract," he said. "We were worried about asking for larger wage increases."
SLAM organizer Iris Halpern said the group was satisfied with the negotiations, but would have preferred quicker changes. "We're not happy about the timeline," she said. "It wasn't the epitome, but it was a good and decent start."
The deadline for contractual discussions with OneSource was pushed back numerous times throughout the negotiations. SLAM formed last summer, when it began to agitate for higher wages and increased benefits for Tufts workers.
SEIU Local 254, however, sees this victory as a step toward better working conditions for all custodians in the Boston area. According to union representatives, job security is an important concern for Boston's custodians, and will become an especially relevant issue next year when contracts for an estimated 10,000 university janitors expire.
Sylvia Panfil, a spokeswoman for SEIU Local 254, said an agreement has been reached with custodians at other area schools that assures workers at least the same contract conditions as their previous agreement in the event that the school hires a new company. "If a university chooses a new contractor, they will have to live up to this agreement and maintain previous standards," she said.
The University's contract with OneSource terminates in 2003. Tufts is likely to "continue the way we are, which is to continue with union labor," Facilities Director Richard Goulet said. "Then, the agreement would still be in place between the contractor and the union."
Because of the high cost associated with running a custodial service, the University will likely continue to outsource, according to Goulet. "We're at the mercy of market rates," he said.
University officials did not participate heavily in the negotiations. If the custodians had held a strike, Goulet said Tufts would have expected OneSource to provide custodial workers from elsewhere because of its agreement with the company. "We're glad that they were able to come to an agreement with the union," Goulet said.
SLAM lobbied for the contractual changes in the months preceding the final agreement, holding several campus rallies and later sending student representatives to the contract negotiation meetings. "The main thing we did was apply pressure on the University," Halpern said.
"SLAM participation was critical in making the University take action," Panfil said. But University officials said all along that they would simply oversee the negotiations.
According to Panfil, several of the custodians participated in the bargaining process. Serving as liaisons, they communicated with other custodians about the progress of negotiations and provided the workers with a sense of unity.
