Overnight cleaners who have worked decades at Brooklyn Law School were told last month the school has a new contractor that won’t honor union contracts. On the first day of the contract, the school changed its mind.
Denis Johnston, 32BJ Executive Vice President and Director of the Commercial Division gave an update on the situation: pic.twitter.com/ASoTyD7ies
— 32BJ SEIU /// #UnionStrong ??????? (@32BJSEIU) June 30, 2022
The Brooklyn Reader reports
An overnight cleaner who has worked scrubbing, mopping and disinfecting the halls and classrooms of Brooklyn Law School for 36 years is fighting the school, after being given only three weeks notice that he was losing his union contract and health benefits, and having his hourly wage almost cut in half.
Luis Pacheco, 54, has worked as an overnight cleaner at Brooklyn Law School since 1986, taking over from his father. His father worked there from 1969, only stepping down due to struggles with diabetes that saw him lose his kidneys.
On June 6, Pacheco was told the school had changed the cleaning contractor from Triangle Services to Advantage Cleaning, and that to keep their jobs, he and six colleagues would have to sign new, non-union contracts starting today, July 1.
The new contract will see him lose his health benefits, vacation and sick days, and have his hourly wage cut from $30 to $17 per hour, he told BK Reader.
Since then, Pacheco—who also suffers from diabetes—has been scrambling to fight the sudden changes.
“I feel so bad. Me and my wife work in the same building. We will both lose our benefits, and how will we pay the mortgage?
“I can’t sleep, only two or three hours, and then I show up to try to protest the decision. I’ve never felt this bad in my life,” he said.
Throughout his decades of work at the Brooklyn Law School, Pacheco—who has been the overnight cleaning foreman for 20 years—has seen several different cleaning companies take over the overnight contract, but they have all honored the workers’ 32BJ SEIU union contracts.
At a rally outside Brooklyn Law School Thursday, 32BJ SEIU Executive Vice President and Director of the Commercial Division Denis Johnston said some of the workers would see their annuals salaries drop from around $60,000 to $35,000 per year, as well as losing their employer-paid Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield healthcare coverage.
“When [Advantage] comes in tomorrow they’re going to have to bargain with 32BJ and we’re going to continue this fight with them until they agree that they’ll maintain what you guys have had all these years of working here,” he said.
The workers were told they would have 30 days to fill their prescriptions before they were uninsured.
For Pacheco, this means scrambling to get supplies to manage him and his wife’s diabetes. The medication price will spike from $40 co-pay per month to $300 per month, he said.
Pacheco also has ligament damage due to the heavy duty scrubbing and washing he does every week on the job. Three years ago, the union healthcare paid for the $22,000 surgery he needed in his right arm. Now the problem is in his left arm, and he doesn’t know how he would pay for surgery, he said.
“But I don’t stop working because I love my job,” he said. “We are hardworking people.”
The company has also asked him and other employees to download a company app. In it, they have to upload a photo of what they’re doing every 20 minutes, Pacheco said.
Read More
