The transcript below is from a OneSource employee who works at the Tufts School of Medicine. She requested to remain anonymous due to job security concerns. It has been translated from Spanish by the interviewer.
"We enter at 10:30 at night. If we arrive before the time the shift starts, the supervisor makes us work. Sometimes we start working almost two hours before the time. They don't pay us more than the 40 hours a week.
"I work another job at a cafeteria until 12 p.m. All other workers have at least two jobs, some have three. There are no workers who have only one job.
"After I come home, I have to eat, at two in the afternoon. At the most I get four to five hours of sleep a night.
"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.
"They never told me how I should do it - I have to clean it all. Sometimes I will find a used needle that they used to inject something. 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.
"At break time, people eat, and would also like to sleep. If the supervisor finds you, he'll wake you up. You have to stay sitting up. This happens among all the cleaning workers in Boston.
"The job only covers individual health insurance. My son doesn't have health insurance. It's $19 every week for the family plan.
"I studied at the university in my country in the work of socio-economic situations. We had to change countries to the United States and I couldn't continue studying because there wasn't enough time to work two jobs and study. They don't tell us about any opportunities for scholarships because the supervisors are themselves uneducated.
"There is nothing for us, we are garbage. To them, we are machines; we are vacuum cleaners in the hand of a supervisor. I have a son; he is 16. He is an A+ student. But he can't attend Tufts at a reduced price.
"We all are afraid of losing our job. Everyone keeps their mouths shut. We don't use our rights. Most people don't know what the union is for. They know it takes money out of their paycheck, but they don't know why or for what purpose.
"I am cleaning the place where the future executives are. I am using my whole body. I make sure their environment is clean. They use a pen, a white shirt, a computer, a cigarette. They don't have to get their hands dirty."
- Transcribed and translated by Kat Schmidt
