Despite allegations from a medical school custodian of unsafe working conditions on the Tufts Medical School campus, workers on the Medford campus are satisfied with the safety of their jobs.
Concerns regarding wages and benefits still exist, however.
The issue of custodian satisfaction arises as their union, SEIU 615, is negotiating changes to its contract with OneSource, Tufts' outsourcing firm.
It is not clear when a decision will be reached, but the current contract expires at the end of June.
Identities of custodians have been withheld because of concerns about job security. Interviews were conducted in Spanish and translated by the writer.
One worker from the Tufts School of Medicine described working conditions that were both risky and dangerous. [For a full transcript of this conversation, see right.]
"I have to clean 65 sinks every night. They are very, very dirty. Many have blood in them, and sometimes a person will vomit. I don't have protection, only dentist gloves, they are very thin and soft. I can only put them on one hand because the company doesn't give me enough," the custodian said.
"Sometimes I will find a used needle that they used to inject something," the custodian said. "I know that a different company is supposed to clean and dispose of it. But the supervisor just says that the sink just needs to be clean."
Attempts were made to contact additional OneSource staff at the Med School, but none returned requests for interviews.
These safety concerns were raised in negotiations with OneSource earlier this year. OneSource said that they were uninformed about these problems, but that they would be taking steps to correct them.
Regarding the contract, union representative Dan Nicolai said, "There is already safety language in there, and there are really specific rules. The issue was raised and the issue is in the process of being resolved."
Vice President of Operations John Roberto also said he had not heard of any such safety concerns, but "they've raised [the matter]." The contract, he said, "requires that OneSource provide appropriate training in cleaning materials. [Tufts] also provides our own environmental health and safety program - which we make available for OneSource supervisors."
When similar problems where "employees feel as though they don't have appropriate training or materials" had arisen in the past, Roberto said, OneSource had satisfactorily corrected them.
Though many custodians find their benefits and wages inadequate, overall most find Tufts' Medford campus a stable and positive place to work.
Many custodians interviewed said the work environment has remained relatively stable in the years since OneSource arrived in 1997.
"Our supervisor is like our father, and we work like brothers," one custodian who works the night shift said. "We all respect each other."
He said that he would prefer to work during the day, but, "I've been working here eight years, and I wouldn't want to work at another university."
Another custodian who has worked the night shift in Paige Hall for two years rated her job as "nine out of ten."
But a few complained about the work atmosphere in Medford. "It's very bad," said another custodian who lives alone and has worked the night shift for six years. "The wages and benefits are very low. I take pills for my stomach, and they are very expensive."
Most, though not all, janitors say the wages and benefits are inadequate. Custodians at Tufts are paid $11.45 an hour, which is near the bottom of the wage scale for other universities in Boston. It is, however, on par with the non-university janitorial wages throughout the area.
Custodians also receive no sick days. OneSource provides money toward a health insurance plan, but it only covers an individual and not a family plan. Many custodians have also had trouble getting care with their health insurance plan.
Tufts' custodians also only work 37.5 hours per week instead of 40. "We have to go very quickly to get all of the work done," one custodian said, saying there is enough work at Tufts to fill the 40 hours.
Custodians praised the efforts of the Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM), which has gained visibility on campus this semester through marches, rallies, and protests to put pressure on the administration to increase wages and benefits for their workers. "It's a miracle," said one custodian who works the night shift.
SLAM members assert that Tufts must approve of the contract between the Union and OneSource, and therefore has substantial implicit leverage in the terms of the contract and could stipulate better wages and benefits.
Some believe that students will be able to change their situation. "The students have the ultimate power," because of the tuition they pay, one night-shift custodian said.
Since Tufts began outsourcing its custodial duties in 1994, there has been extensive activism on the part of students, faculty and political figures, but the administration has yet to adapt any of the activist reccomendations when deciding on its custodial management policy.
One custodian called this a reality of working at the school. "Tufts is not going to give $14 per hour," she said. "Tufts pays all of its workers very little."
While this custodian acknowledged the existing problems in the situation, the reality of stable employment for her outweighed any desire to come across as confrontational by engaging in protest action. "Yes, we'd like a raise, but we also really value our jobs," she said.
She maintained that jobs are very hard to find, and she knows many unemployed people with great difficulty finding work. She said that the union agreement prohibited her from participating in strikes or protests.
In actuality, however, the union only prohibits strikes, but not protest action, according to Nicolai. Some supervisors misinformed custodians that participation in protest could jeopardize their jobs.
