Commercial building cleaners in Connecticut are celebrating after a last-minute union contract deal was reached increasing wages for thousands of employees.
The contract, which averted an impending strike, was reached after several intense rounds of negotiation. A bargaining committee composed of 32BJ SEIU commercial building cleaners and union officers reached a tentative agreement with contractors operating in New Jersey, the Hudson Valley and Long Island, NY, and Fairfield County. Around 10,000 workers will see their wages increase.
“Pending ratification votes in the coming weeks, the new agreement with dozens of companies will offer 10,000 members unprecedented wage increases over the course of four years and numerous other job improvements,” said Franklin Soutls of 32BJ SEIU. “The accord prevents a strike in the Tri-State region, which was authorized to begin as early as January 1, right after the current agreement expires at midnight on New Year’s Eve. Now, the new agreement will come into tentative effect on January 1 instead, and then into full effect if members vote to ratify the agreement at a series of in-person meetings.”
The tentative agreement includes an average of 4% wage increases in each of the next four years, expanded access to pensions, protection against workforce reduction without negotiation with the union, improved language protecting against sexual harassment and assault, healthcare and other benefits, and Juneteenth as a paid holiday.
“We could not be prouder to have won this tentative agreement for 10,000 cleaners,” said 32BJ SEIU Executive Vice President and NJ State Director Kevin Brown. “Here in New Jersey, we improved retirement security for 1,200 cleaners and expanded it for 5,000 cleaners. Working with our brothers and sisters across the Tri-State region we won, and we won big!”
The combined labor agreement covers cleaners in three states and across 21 counties into a single contract. The tentative agreement comes after a week of strike authorization votes, rallies, and actions across the Tri-State region in which thousands of cleaners demonstrated they were willing to strike if they needed to.
“This tentative agreement moves our members in Fairfield County forward in many ways, including a new extension of retirement benefits, as well as ensuring that further workforce reductions will only happen after negotiating with the union,” said 32BJ SEIU Vice President Rochelle Palache, who leads the union in Connecticut. “It was tremendously ambitious to combine workforces across three states into a single contract, and I am thrilled that it has resulted in such a strong agreement for so many thousands of our hard working members.
The tentative contract is still pending ratification votes in the coming weeks.
“Thanks to all the support we received from members in all three states, we have achieved a fantastic tentative agreement,” said Esther Alamias, a 32BJ SEIU bargaining committee member and a cleaner in Greenwich, Connecticut. “We got the wage increase that we need to stay ahead of inflation, additional paid-time off, including the important holiday of Juneteenth, and an extension of retirement benefits, which is a great victory for future workers, too.”
Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com
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