Janitors Strike Night Shift at UM Coral Gables Campus; (Univ of Miami Pres Donna Shalala)

Yahoo Business News ^ | February 28, 2006

[bd476]

MIAMI, Feb. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Night shift janitors at the Coral Gables Campus of the University of Miami walked off the job tonight in the first wave of an escalating strike to protest unfair labor practices committed by UNICCO.

PHOTO OP: Janitors will be walking the picket line across the Ponce de Leon and Stanford entrance to the University starting at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. At 11:30 striking janitors will attend a mass at the St. Augustine Catholic Church, 1400 Miller Road in Coral Gables.

"We'd rather not be here. We want to be treated with respect and dignity. That's why we want a union. But as soon as we started to form a union UNICCO came down against us, so we are doing what we must for our families and our community," said Feliciano Hernandez.

Janitors at the campus are engaged in a campaign to form a union to secure living wages and affordable health insurance. A growing and formidable coalition of clergy, faculty, students, political leaders, unions, and community supporters has rallied around the janitors' efforts.

The teamsters have pledged not to cross picket lines tomorrow at the University, which could disrupt UPS service to the campus. In addition many faculty members have pledged to move their classes off campus so that students do not have to cross picket lines.

Background:

Janitors at the campus earn as little as $6.40 an hour and are not provided with health insurance. University President Donna Shalala has come under fire by a growing coalition of students, faculty, religious leaders, and community activists for not doing more to head off the strike by ensuring that UNICCO respects workers' right to organize for a living wage and affordable health insurance, free from intimidation.

Janitors at the University of Miami, most of whom are immigrants from Cuba, Haiti and South America, earn some of the lowest wages for campus janitors in the country. Unionized janitors who work for the same company in other cities earn higher wages and are provided health insurance.

At Harvard University in Boston, UNICCO janitors earn between $13 and $14 an hour and have fully paid health insurance. But they didn't always. Janitors won the higher wages and benefits as the result of a two-year campaign on their behalf by students, the community, and SEIU.

As Miami-Dade's largest single employer, the University of Miami has a special obligation to be a leader in the fight against poverty. Yet, the university's policies have actually increased Miami-Dade's poverty rate. In an already poor city, janitors at the University of Miami are some of the poorest, earning as little as $13,104 a year, less than half the county median.

Wages are low, and benefits almost nonexistent for campus janitors, because cleaning contractors have to bid the work. Responsible contractors who pay higher wages and provide affordable health benefits cannot possibly compete for work with contractors who do not. That is why university presidents around the country have made it a priority to only hire responsible contractors for their campuses.

The result has been for contractors to bid on the quality of their work, rather than driving wages and benefits down.

University President Donna Shalala has been unwilling to commit the university to funding higher wages and affordable health insurance for the UNICCO janitors.

UNICCO embarked on a vicious anti-union campaign including threats and interrogation after janitors on the campus started organizing with Local 11 for better wages, benefits, and respect on the job.

[bd476]

"...University President Donna Shalala has come under fire by a growing coalition of students, faculty, religious leaders, and community activists for not doing more to head off the strike by ensuring that UNICCO respects workers' right to organize for a living wage and affordable health insurance, free from intimidation..."

"...Yet, the university's policies have actually increased Miami-Dade's poverty rate..."

"...In an already poor city, janitors at the University of Miami are some of the poorest, earning as little as $13,104 a year, less than half the county median..."

"...University President Donna Shalala has been unwilling to commit the university to funding higher wages and affordable health insurance for the UNICCO janitors..."

[ncountylee]

Another filthy Clintonista looking out for the little people.

[bd476]

Donna Shalala University of Miami President and UNICCO and the Teamters:

Janitors walked out last night.

[bd476]

ncountylee wrote: Another filthy Clintonista looking out for the little people."




At least she won't have to worry about the tall poppy syndrome.

[NewHampshireDuo]

The Boston Globe yesterday put Donna Shalala on a short list of recommended women to be next president of Harvard.

[bd476]

NewHampshireDuo wrote: "The Boston Globe yesterday put Donna Shalala on a short list of recommended women to be next president of Harvard."

Here I was feeling a little low for coming up short when I made reference to Dr. Shalala's diminutive stature and then the Boston Globe tops it. *\*

It will be interesting to see if her current situation with the striking janitors will affect her chances for the Harvard job.

[dfwgator]

Methinks Donna would be happier posing with the cheerleaders, if you know what I mean.

[dfwgator]

The Boston Globe yesterday put Donna Shalala on a short list of recommended women to be next president of Harvard.

Well, let's just say, women of Shalala's stature are in "short" supply.

[bd476]

LOL!

[AmishDude]

Unskilled laborers should beware of striking on a college campus. Can you say "work study"?

[dfwgator]

For most of the UM football players, this is their future.

[bd476]

dfwgator wrote: "Well, let's just say, women of Shalala's stature are in "short" supply."



This is probably her most flattering photo, and here's a larger copy.

I'm thinking it's confirmation enough that the Napoleon complex is thriving in politics and university administration.

[bd476]

That's a good idea.

[Calvin Locke]

How could any responsible trustee think of hiring Shalala after her intolerance of free speech at the U of Wisconsin?

Her views and methods are an anathema to the concept of higher education.

And the idiots ("overseers") at Harvard want to compound the mess they've allowed to be created?

WFB, Jr's

"I would rather live in a society governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone directory than in one governed by the 2,000 members of the Harvard faculty."

applies today as it did in the mid-1960s.

Trustees/Overseers and not faculty? The Faculty of Arts and Sciences seems be calling the shots.

[operation clinton cleanup]

At Harvard University in Boston, UNICCO janitors earn between $13 and $14 an hour and have fully paid health insurance.

Methinks Harvard has a slightly larger operating budget than U of M.

[BurbankKarl]

well, if the UPBP arrested 400,000 illegals the first 60 days of 2006, I would say there are plenty of prospective janitors out there.

[bd476]

operation clinton cleanup wrote:

" 'At Harvard University in Boston, UNICCO janitors earn between $13 and $14 an hour and have fully paid health insurance.'

Methinks Harvard has a slightly larger operating budget than U of M."


Yes, Harvard's budget including grants, donations and tuition fees has more available for its operating budget.

The University of Miami is not considered the least expensive university in the State of Florida.

Here's more :

Shalala under fire

Shalala …just raised … $1 billion … at UM. ... She … was ... in an … article in the New York Times this month. … discusses her 9,000-square-foot presidential residence on the waterfront -- where her dog has the choice of four beds, and … her 29-foot motorboat..."

Read more here: Fired University of Miami janitor leads strike over benefits

[bd476]

The pay and benefits might be better in California. Remember the downtown office cleaners who went on strike? As I recall, their Union negotiated more benefits and a large increase in wages.

More: Fired University of Miami janitor leads strike over benefits

[BurbankKarl]

of course they have it better here...their protectors are running the State! But the City of LA has a $250 million budget shortfall this year.....

Katie bar the door!

[Buffettfan]

Donna Shalala was the one that was robbed at an ATM in Georgetown by some homies a few years ago. The antique media hushed that one up pretty quick. It got very little coverage.

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/03/07/shalala.robbery/