Dozens of unionized office cleaners marched to Pittsburgh’s City-County Building on Tuesday to call for better wages and support.
Their current four-year labor agreement — which covers more than 1,200 office cleaners in Pittsburgh — expires at the end of October. The workers are represented by the 32BJ SEIU union.
Sam Williamson, who serves as the union’s Western Pennsylvania district leader, said the workers were calling on city leaders and their employers to “invest in workers and invest in our city.”
“We need investments in our wages, benefits, paid time off and retirement security via our contract,” he said, adding that the union also was pushing for local leaders to provide increased outreach services and social services in the city’s Central Business District.
During a news conference outside City Council chambers, Williamson said office cleaners were “essential workers” during the covid-19 pandemic.
“Now as we head to the bargaining table, we are ready to say the label of essential worker is a badge of honor, but it’s also a promissory note that’s long overdue,” he said. “If our labor is essential, our wages are essential.”
Darrin Kelly, president of the Allegheny-Fayette Labor Council, credited the office cleaners for helping the city to move forward after the pandemic.
“You clearly put this economy back on its feet,” he told workers. “You protected us as we went back to our office buildings.”
Kelly promised an “all-hands-on-deck approach” with support from other local unions during upcoming budget negotiations.
“Everyone who works in Downtown Pittsburgh deserves a living wage, deserves a contract, deserves health care,” said Maria Montaño, a spokeswoman for Mayor Ed Gainey. “We choose to stand with workers.”
City Councilman Bobby Wilson, D-North Side, said the office cleaners provide “a great economic benefit to Downtown.”
“We’re going to demand a fair contract with safe working conditions and livable wages that are more important than ever,” Wilson said.
