Background
Prior to the 2006 strike at the University of Miami, UNICCO, now UGL, then a Boston-based company, [1] had already drawn negative attention for some of its business practices. From 1999-2001, four deaths and one serious injury of UNICCO employees were reported in separate incidents. In 2003, two employees died in an incident at a workplace in Boston. [2] Investigations of these incidents indicated that UNICCO was in violation of numerous workplace standards and resulted in the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health placing UNICCO on its "Workplace Health and Safety Dirty Dozen Report." [3] A salary survey for 1999-2000 conducted by The Chronicle of Higher Education found University of Miami custodial workers to be the second lowest in pay ($13,120/year) and the University of Miami to be one of only 12 universities among 195 surveyed whose custodial workers' wages did not exceed the U.S. federal poverty line. [4]
David Liberman, the senior vice president for business and finance at University of Miami at the time, stated, "we don't raise any questions about their business…[and] allow them to pay whatever they want to pay as long as they can recruit and retain workers, and still make a buck at the end of the day." [5]
In response to this report, the University of Miami Faculty Senate began addressing the issue in October 2001. In two separate resolutions, passed on October 24 and December 12 that year, the faculty senate recommended that University of Miami president Donna Shalala change its policies for companies that provided contracted labor to the university. But The Faculty Senate recommendations went unheeded. [6]
Campaign
Formal organization of the University of Miami janitorial workers by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) began in February 2005. SEIU had been a primary organizer of the "Justice for Janitors" campaign and sought further assistance from South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice (SFIWJ), which initiated a partnership between the movement and religious organizations. During Fall 2005, a University of Miami student organization, Students Toward a New Democracy (STAND), attempted to "create an activist culture in an historically apathetic student body." [6] In order to improve STAND's capabilities, SEIU brought in students from Harvard University, who previously conducted a successful three-week living wage campaign, and students from Georgetown University to help teach organizational tactics to University of Miami students affiliated with STAND.
Strike and protests
Following a majority of University of Miami custodial workers approving an unfair labor practice strike against UNICCO on February 26, 2006, the janitors officially went on strike. In order to show solidarity with the striking workers, over one hundred University of Miami professors and faculty held classes off campus in venues such as churches, houses, and even a park so as to not interfere with the campaign's picketing. [6] Out of the 200 University of Miami janitors, SEIU reported that approximately half participated in the strike from the beginning. UNICCO, however, disputed this claim, asserting that SEIU was exaggerating the numbers and that 148 out of the 206 workers had reported for work the previous day. At the same time, SEIU announced that a ten-day strike notice had been issued to the University of Miami School of Medicine with the potential of adding 200 janitors to strike. [7]
On March 28, 2006, members of the campaign launched a two-pronged action in an attempt to garner media attention. First, a group of 17 people, including union members, students, clergy, and community members, formed a human chain across U.S. Route 1 across from the University of Miami campus, blocking traffic on the heavily-trafficked highway. As police were arresting the 17 protesters, another group of 17 students and a campus chaplain occupied the Ashe Administration Building, which houses the University of Miami admissions and administrative offices. After a thirteen-hour occupation of the Ashe Administration Building, University of Miami president Donna Shalala agreed to meet with students and workers and SEIU representatives behind the strike. [6]
Fasting in Freedom Village
Beginning April 5, the campaign introduced hunger strikes and fasting, which took place in "Freedom Village," the name given to the campaign's base of operations. The hunger strikes began with the workers, some of whom had previously participated in hunger strikes in their previous homeland of Cuba. [6] Eight workers and seven students joined in the hunger strike. SEIU, which originally opposed this form of protest because of the health implications involved for those participating, ultimately came to support it and provided nurses at Freedom Village to monitor the safety of those fasting. After more than two weeks, some people taking part in the fasting strike were hospitalized. Leaders of the hunger strike recruited others to do the fasting, including SEIU president Andy Stern and executive vice president Eliseo Medina).
The University of Miami custodial strike attracted national attention, including visits by several out-of-town political and labor leaders in support of it, including Southern Christian Leadership Conference president John Edwards, Teamsters president James P. Hoffa, and civil rights leader Charles Steele, Jr. [8]
Resolution
On May 1, 2006, it was announced that UNICCO and the SEIU had reached an agreement that an independent third party, the American Arbitration Association, would determine whether or not a super-majority of UNICCO custodians at the University of Miami wished to unionize. UNICCO finally agreed to use of a card check vote as opposed to a secret ballot system they had originally sought. The agreement established a code of conduct governing how both the employer and the union would interact with the workers during the process. Both sides agreed not to interfere with the workers' decision on whether or not to unionize.
Agreement
SEIU secured a super-majority approval (more than 60%) to unionize from the votes of 425 UNICCO workers at the University of Miami and University of Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital to unionize. [8] University of Miami janitors returned to work on May 3, 2006, signifying the end of their nine-week-long strike. Following the vote, University of Miami janitor Maritza Perez, who had worked for UNICCO for eleven years, said, "I'm going to return [to work] with my head held high, protected by the name of the union, which is rare in the state of Florida." [9]
University responses
On January 17, 2006, as the SEIU began ramped up efforts at the University of Miami, university president Donna Shalala issued a statement addressing the university's non-authorized solicitation regulations. Her letter emphasized the university's commitment to remain neutral regarding any labor issues between UNICCO and the SEIU. [10]
But when the movement began gaining momentum in late March 2006, the University of Miami announced a new policy with higher standards for companies contracted by the university. This resulted in setting a minimum wage of $8.00 per hour, the recognition of performance and length of service in pay scales, and the offering of affordable health insurance to university employees. [11] [12] In an April 12, 2006 press release following the storming of the administration building by protestors, Shalala condemned the actions of the protestors, and stated: "it was the student organization STAND that delivered the message that [the outside protestors] were not welcome on campus today." [13]
Responses by University governmental bodies
The strike was the subject of several motions by university governmental bodies, including one passed on March 28, 2006 by the University of Miami Faculty Senate, which urged the university to stipulate that its contractors provide a living wage, health insurance, and a fair workplace. The resolution further stated that should UNICCO's contract not be renewed by the university that the successful bidder be required to hire those University of Miami workers currently employed by UNICCO. [14]
A second resolution, passed by the University of Miami student government on April 19, 2006, was a statement strongly disapproving of recent campus disruptions by several of the pro-strike organizations, and calling on these organizations to end the disruptions immediately. The actions by these groups mentioned in the resolution included harassing University of Miami students, the disrupting a class taught by Shalala, trespassing on private property, and "vandalizing the back entrance of the Ashe Building with graffiti". [15]
Donna Edna Shalala is an American politician and academic who served in the Carter and Clinton administrations, as well as in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2019 to 2021. Shalala is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which she was awarded in 2008, and, on August 16, 2023, assumed the role of Interim President of The New School, a university in New York City.
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare, including hospital, home care and nursing home workers; public services ; and property services.
Justice for Janitors (JfJ) is a social movement organization that fights for the rights of janitors across the US and Canada. It was started on June 15, 1990, in response to the low wages and minimal health-care coverage that janitors received. Justice for Janitors includes more than 225,000 janitors in at least 29 cities in the United States and at least four cities in Canada. Members fight for better wages, better conditions, improved healthcare, and full-time opportunities.
The Federation of Hospital And University Employees is a coalition of labor unions in New Haven, Connecticut, United States, which represents thousands of workers at Yale University and Yale New Haven Hospital. The federation currently includes recognized unions UNITE HERE Locals 34 and 35, which represent university food service, maintenance, and custodial workers, and clerical and technical workers, respectively. UNITE HERE has also, for the last fifteen years, supported the organizing efforts of graduate student teachers and researchers in the Graduate Employees and Students Organization. Finally, the Federation also includes the 150 dietary workers at Yale New Haven Hospital who are members of Local 1199NE of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). Since 1998, this union has conducted an organizing campaign of about 1,800 other blue-collar service workers at the hospital. On March 22, 2006, the union and hospital agreed to an agreement governing the conduct of both parties in a neutral election process by which hospital employees will be able to vote on whether to unionize.
Graduate student employee unionization, or academic student employee unionization, refers to labor unions that represent students who are employed by their college or university to teach classes, conduct research and perform clerical duties. As of 2014, there were at least 33 US graduate employee unions, 18 unrecognized unions in the United States, and 23 graduate employee unions in Canada. By 2019, it is estimated that there were 83,050 unionized student employees in certified bargaining units in the United States. As of 2023, there were at least 156 US graduate student employee unions and 23 graduate student employee unions in Canada.
Bread and Roses is a 2000 film directed by Ken Loach, starring Pilar Padilla, Adrien Brody and Elpidia Carrillo. The plot deals with the struggle of poorly paid janitorial workers in Los Angeles and their fight for better working conditions and the right to unionize. It is based on the "Justice for Janitors" campaign of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the lead union organizer, Sam Shapiro, is based on SEIU organizer Jono Shaffer.
The Nova Southeastern University workers unionization controversy involved more than 350 groundskeepers, janitors, bus drivers, and maintenance workers employed by UNICCO, a subcontractor at Nova Southeastern University, who voted on October 4, 2006, to form a union with the SEIU. Most of these workers are minorities; according to the union, 95 percent of the workers are African-American, Latino or Haitian. Some of these workers currently earn $7 an hour and none of them receive health benefits. "The workers said the university's decision to end the contract is a direct response to their recent efforts to unionize. But David Dawson, a spokesman for the university, said Nova is rebidding the contract because it was due to expire." Dawson stated that NSU could decide to continue with UNICCO, hire another company or rehire the workers as Nova employees. NSU employees are eligible for health benefits as well as tuition reimbursement at the university.
Eliseo Vasquez Medina is a Mexican-American labor union activist and leader, and advocate for immigration reform in the United States. From 1973 to 1978, he was a board member of the United Farm Workers. He is currently secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union. He was previously an international executive vice president, the first Mexican American to serve on the union's executive board. Medina announced his resignation as an SEIU executive vice president effective October 1, 2013.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) is the largest trade union of public employees in the United States. It represents 1.3 million public sector employees and retirees, including health care workers, corrections officers, sanitation workers, police officers, firefighters, and childcare providers. Founded in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1932, AFSCME is part of the AFL–CIO, one of the two main labor federations in the United States. AFSCME has had four presidents since its founding.
George Hardy was a Canadian-American labour leader who was president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) from 1971 to 1980. At the time of his death, SEIU had grown to become the fifth-largest affiliate of the AFL-CIO. Hardy was a vice president of the AFL-CIO from 1972 to 1980, and a member of its executive council. He was a former member of the Democratic National Committee and the California Democratic State Central Committee.
Stephen Lerner is an American labor and community organizer. He has organized janitors, farm workers, garment workers, and other low-wage workers into unions.
Charles Robert Chamberlain is an American political leader. He is the executive director at Democracy for America (DFA), a progressive political action committee, headquartered in Burlington, Vermont.
A master contract or master agreement is a collective bargaining agreement which covers all unionized worksites in an industry, market or company, and which establishes the terms and conditions of employment common to all workers in the industry, market or company.
The Local 77 chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is a Duke University labour union established in August 1965. It initially began as the Duke Employees Benevolent Society in February 1965, led by Oliver Harvey. The formation of Local 77 was directed towards improving work conditions for the working-class employees, most of whom were African-American. Members fought for minimum wage increases, improvements in working conditions, and medical benefits for employees. The union members of Local 77 demanded a systematic way of dealing with workplace complaints that was impartial to the Duke University administration. Because the majority of the union's members were African-American, several of the goals overlapped with the ideas of the Civil Rights Movement.
The Duke University Hospital unionization drives of the 1970s involved two distinct organizing efforts aimed at uniting the service workers of Duke Hospital. The drives were defined by their fusion of the fight for worker’s rights with the battle for racial equality. The first drive in 1974 was characterized by unity amongst the workers involved, including members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 77, and a strong spirit of activism, but failed due to political infighting and resistance by the University. The second drive, organized by a representative of the national American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) in 1978, was formed on the ideals of inclusion and keeping the union free of politics. The 1978 drive failed as well, in part due to the management company that Duke hired to instill fear in its workers, and partly due to the overall lack of spirit for organizing. Despite the failure of these drives, they offer a revealing example of the convergence of civil rights and workers rights, highlighting both the status of the civil rights movement in Durham and the difficulty of instigating grassroots-level change in a corporation the size of Duke Hospital, not to mention the larger Duke University community.
David Rolf is an American labor leader, writer, and speaker. He was the Founding President of Seattle-based Local 775 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), which represents health care workers, and formerly served as international vice president of SEIU. He is the author of The Fight for Fifteen: The Right Wage for a Working America about the movement by low-wage workers to earn a higher minimum wage, and A Roadmap to Rebuilding Worker Power. Rolf was a founder of the Fair Work Center in Seattle, Working Washington, The Workers Lab in Oakland, and the SEIU 775 Benefits Group.
The UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) is an interdisciplinary research unit within the College of Letters & Science, Division of Social Science, dedicated to research, teaching, and discussion of labor and employment issues. It was founded in 1945 as the UCLA Institute of Industrial Relations. It is one of the two research programs in the University of California system along with the UC Berkeley Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. The IRLE consists of four bodies: the IRLE Academic Unit, UCLA Labor Center, Human Resources Round Table, and the Labor Occupational Safety and Health Program.
Women in Asia have been organizing to address workplace issues, such as unequal pay and workplace violence as early as the 1880s. The formation of women's labor unions in South Korea began in the late 1970s with the Minjung movement, as it is based on the mobilization of young female factory workers and martial law suspended labor rights. Women in South Korea are typically irregular workers, who are not protected by labor laws, make up to 35% less in wages than men, and are less likely to be a union member.
The 2024 Boston University strike is an ongoing labor strike in Boston, Massachusetts by graduate student and residential life workers at Boston University. The strike began on March 25, 2024, and was organized by the Boston University Graduate Workers Union (BUGWU) labor union, which is affiliated with the Service Employees International Union Local 509. It is the longest strike the university has experienced since a 1979 strike which lasted two weeks and four days. A second concurrent strike by the Boston University Residence Life Union labor union, also affiliated with SEIU 509, ran for four days starting on April 12, 2024.
