News

14,000 SEIU Local 615 janitors in Boston, Massachusetts were prepared to go out on strike in commercial building across New England. The strike was averted last week when the parties reached a settlement with the multi-employer association of cleaning contractors throughout New England. This 4-year contract moves the janitors toward earning a living wage. Significantly, it also addresses the union’s biggest issue which involves the number of part-time workers who, because of their hours of work, are denied access to company healthcare benefits. Two-thirds of the janitors currently work part-time but they need to work at least 30 hours a week to be eligible for healthcare coverage.



The contract settlement guarantees that 680 part-time jobs in the Boston Metro Area will be converted to full-time jobs over the life of the collective bargaining agreement. This means that half the janitors will have access to healthcare benefits by 2016. This is good for workers and their families, good for the taxpayers in the State of Massachusetts who have had to subsidize the employers’ benefits package by picking up these costs through the public health plan, MassHealth, and it moves the hard-working janitors, who keep Boston’s commercial buildings clean and “fit for purpose,” closer to earning solid middle-class incomes.