Published: December 29, 2007

Three days before a threatened strike, the custodial union representing more than 7,000 office cleaners in New Jersey reached an agreement Friday morning with building contractors on a tentative four-year contract.

The agreement, sought by Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, the largest property services union in the country, will enable more workers to gain full-time status and health-care coverage, as well as earn higher wages.

The union will vote to ratify the new contract in seven meetings held across the state Jan. 5, said Kevin Brown, New Jersey director of Local 32BJ.

By 2012, all cleaners working at buildings larger than 400,000 square feet, including those working part time, will be provided fully employer-paid family health care coverage, Brown said. Two thousand of the union's cleaners work at buildings of this size, he said.

The wages of the majority of the union's workers will increase between 14 and 22 percent, to $12 an hour, by 2012. Wages of office cleaners in Newark and Jersey City will reach $14 an hour by the end of the contract. Cleaners in both cities will also receive pension benefits by the end of the contract. They will become the first office cleaners in New Jersey to receive pensions.

"With the new health insurance coverage, I'll be able to focus on my children's health when I bring them to the doctor, instead of thinking about the bill," said Zenon Espinoza, a member of the union's bargaining committee.

Part-time workers will also be provided a prescription drug benefit plan and dental, vision and life insurance.

"My estimate is that at least 1,500 families will have full-time health coverage for the first time in their lives," Brown said. "We wanted to continue the progress we made in 2001 and 2004, so more families could enjoy the American dream of making a living wage and receiving health care, and we feel we are making that dream real."

Union cleaners in New Jersey have resorted to strikes before when bargaining talks broke down. In 2001, shortly after cleaners here joined the Service Employees International Union, they rallied for increases in pay and health care. The union organized a one-week strike before its demands were met -- minimum wages were increased to $9.75 an hour, hundreds of part-time workers secured full-time jobs, and full-time workers were given health care benefits.

The 55 contractors in New Jersey that hire cleaners for commercial buildings formed a loose coalition to negotiate with the union in talks that began Oct. 29. Over the course of five bargaining sessions, each held in Newark, little progress was made, Brown said.
The contractors have declined to comment on the negotiations.

New contracts similar to that reached in Newark on Friday have been agreed upon in Philadelphia and Hartford, Conn. Tentative contract agreements were also reached Friday morning in Washington D.C., Montgomery County, Md., Baltimore and northern Virginia. Negotiations continue in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County in New York.