Issued October 08, 2009
Union contract upholds superior industry standards for more than 300 door attendants, handymen, janitors, and other residential workers
San Francisco, CA - On Thursday, October 8, more than 300 residential service workers announced that they have ratified a new three-year union contract with the owners of more than 50 San Francisco residential buildings. The contract will maintain superior residential industry standards for workers' wages and benefits including affordable family health insurance and a secure pension.
It is heartening to come to an agreement with residents and building owners that upholds the San Francisco values of respect, dignity and opportunity for all hardworking people," said Andrea Deheldorf, SEIU Local 1877 Vice President.
The contract is an agreement between residential workers' union, SEIU Local 1877 - United Service Workers West, and the "Condominium/Cooperative Employers Council of San Francisco," a group representing the owners of apartment and condominium buildings in the Nob Hill, Russian Hill, and other neighborhoods throughout San Francisco. Residential workers ratified the contract by an over 80 percent majority vote, and the Condominium/Cooperative Employers Council voted to approve the agreement on Wednesday, October 7. The contract is now effective between October 1, 2009 and September 30, 2012.
"For veteran residential workers like myself, this contract is a huge victory in upholding the standards we've built up in our industry over decades," said Emmanuel Eric, a door attendant and member of the Bargaining Committee. "The wage increases, maintenance of our current healthcare plan, and assurance of retirement security will allow our families to remain in the city and weather these difficult economic times."
Under the new contract, the Condominium/Cooperative Employers Council will continue to provide quality, affordable health insurance benefits for all San Francisco residential workers and their families. In negotiations, residential workers fought hard to maintain their current benefits, and were successful in avoiding a switch to a high deductible health plan. The new contract also maintains decent wages and ensures wage increases for the residential workers.
The new contract also maintains residential workers' pension, with employers agreeing to pay an additional surcharge for each employee hour worked under a "Trust Fund Improvement Plan" option to secure the pension fund despite the faltering stock market. Workers covered under the union pension plan are assured of their benefits despite ups and downs in the economy.
While the new contract will improve working conditions for the majority of San Francisco's residential workers, it will not impact workers at a few buildings whose owners sub-contract apartment service jobs to companies that pay low wages and offer diminished benefits. At one such building, 101 Lombard Street, janitors with between three and nineteen years of service were recently fired when their Homeowners Association hired a tiny, unknown contracting company called "Luis Janitorial," which offers poverty wages and no healthcare coverage to janitors. At 1001 California Street, building owners recently sub-contracted doormen to a contractor that pays lower wages and offers no affordable family health care or pension.
"We will continue to fight the unscrupulous building owners who bypassed the negotiation process and are implementing sub-standard working conditions for residential workers," said Vice President Dehlendorf. "This behavior is unacceptable and out-of-line in a city where the majority of residential buildings have agreed to respect workers' top-quality service."
SEIU Local 1877 is part of SEIU United Service Workers West (USWW), a union of more than 40,000 janitors, security officers, airport service workers, and other property service workers across California. Nationwide, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is the fastest growing labor union in the Americas with more than 2 million members.
For more information visit www.SEIU-USWW.org.
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