California Janitors to March in Silicon Valley to Demand Corporations Sitting on $520 Billion in Cash Stop Holding Back the 99 Percent

PALO ALTO & LOS ANGELES, CA - Thousands of janitors are expected to march through Silicon Valley and Century City Thursday afternoon, calling on the wealthiest 1 percent to stop holding back the 99 percent in this country, by sitting on record amounts of cash - some $2 trillion nationwide and more than $500 billion in California. The janitors, members of SEIU-United Servers Workers West, will vote to give their bargaining committee the power to call a strike when the janitors' contract expires at the end of the month. The strike authorization vote comes just days after janitors in Chicago and elsewhere throughout the Midwest took similar action, demonstrating the gravity of this issue.

SEIU-USWW janitors in California clean the buildings and office space of some of the state's richest corporations. But despite record levels of prosperity, these corporations continue to hold back the 99 percent, letting the average real wage for American workers fall flat over the last three decades. Recent analysis of publicly traded corporations headquartered in California reveals that collectively, they are sitting on more than $520 billion in cash, with a staggering $240 billion in Silicon Valley alone.

The strike authorization vote comes at a key moment as public protest over the disappearing middle class and rapidly increasing income inequality continues to grow. For decades, the wealthiest 1 percent has gained at the expense of the rest of the country; an analysis of IRS data reveals that through unchecked economic and political power, the 1 percent has taken $10,900 from the average working class family annually. According to a recent study from the California Budget Project, the average wages in the Bay Area are between 19 and 30 percent less than what is required to raise a family in Alameda, Santa Clara or San Mateo counties.

The janitors have made it very clear that any decision to authorize the bargaining committee to call a strike would be on the basis of promoting good business practices - the very practices that would have allowed to country to avoid the historic inequality we face today. The strike principles - which call upon the 1 percent to support affordable healthcare, regional industry standards, adequate staffing levels, job security and respect for the immigrant community - are a modest gain against the backdrop of $520 billion that California corporations are sitting on.

WHAT: Janitors, Community and Interfaith Leaders to march and rally in Palo Alto
WHEN: Thursday, April 5, 2012; March to start at 11 AM, rally to start at 12 PM
WHERE: March to start at El Camino Real and Page Mill Road in Palo Alto; Rally will be held at Lytton Plaza
WHO: Close to 1,000 janitors in Palo Alto and more than 2,000 in Century City

Nationwide, more than 100,000 property service workers united through the SEIU will be renegotiating their contracts with the janitorial and security companies that employ them this year. Collective bargaining contracts for janitors will expire in Chicago, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Denver and San Francisco through July 2012.

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