Socialist Action /May 2000
Youth in Action
Students March with Striking Janitors
By MICHAEL SCHWARTZ
LOS ANGELES-In April, approximately 10,000 janitors in LA county were
on strike. Youth for Socialist Action (YSA) has been as active as possible
supporting the strike. YSA members marched with the janitors on several
occasions.
There were some amazing marches. It's so beautiful to watch workers realize
the power that they hold. In one march thousands of workers demanding a
better life shut down one of the busiest streets in Los Angeles.
We've helped collect money for the strike, and we've used that money
to purchase food for the striking janitors and their families.
Though the money we raised wasn't a large amount, our help was greatly
appreciated. We've spoken with union organizers, and with striking janitors.
Our faces are familiar ones to quite a few people. As Socialist Action and
the YSA grow, we will have a stronger presence at labor movements in the
city.
This has been a remarkable few weeks for the working class of Los Angeles.
The janitors are known to almost everyone in the United States, and have
the support of a majority of the population. It seems the janitors are on
their way to a partial victory. Management is cracking to the demands of
labor, and this truly is an inspiration to the working class all over this
country.
Janitors are the invisible workers of this country. But right now they're
being heard. The janitors that clean 70 percent of the office buildings
in Los Angeles were on strike.
The janitor's lives are completely unknown to most people. Late at night,
after the office buildings are officially closed, tens of thousands of people
begin their workday. For eight hours a night they work with hazardous chemicals
cleaning the office buildings of corporate America.
I interviewed janitors, union organizers, and even some capitalists.
The feelings that were expressed by the workers are that they are exploited
every day. A lot of these people work a 12-hour shift. Four hours is spent
on public transportation just to get to the job.
Right now the janitors that are on strike are paid $6.80 an hour. What
that means is that people who are working full time-eight hours a day, 40
hours a week, 52 weeks a year-are taking home about $13,000 a year after
taxes. It is almost impossible for a single person to live on wages that
low. Yet the building owners expect these workers, many who are people raising
families, to be content.
As a student I receive more financial aid than these people make working
full time. Many people don't understand how it's possible that people who
are working full time are living below the poverty line: Welcome to the
world of the working poor.
The interesting fact is that when you adjust for inflation these janitors
were making the equivalent of $12 dollars an hour 15 years ago. As this
country has seen "record prosperity" the wages of working people
have gone down, not up.
So, we have a situation in which people saw their pay reduced by almost
half. Their response was to build a strong union, and they have.
The union is demanding a one dollar an hour wage increase each of the
next three years. Under this plan they will be at $9.80 an hour in the year
2003-still far below what they received in 1986.
"Foolish, I think they're foolish. These people aren't worth anything,
they're replaceable." This is what I was told by an older white man
in a suit while thousands of people were marching, putting their jobs on
the line, in order to receive a wage that they can live on. But in his hostility
he pointed out the mentality of those who run the show. It's called maximizing
your profits at all costs. It's a natural part of capitalism.
But another natural part of capitalism is the struggle of working people,
and that's what we're witnessing right now. As Tom Morello of Rage Against
the Machine said, as thousands of people cheered: "This struggle will
not end until the people who clean the offices are making as much as those
who dirty the offices".
This struggle is about us standing together and saying we will not allow
people to be exploited in this way. We will not live in a world where people
who work 40 hours a week, people who scrub dirty floors and toilets, people
on whose backs wealth is created are paid poverty wages. We will not allow
it. The working people of this city, of this country, and of this world
will not allow it.
The janitors strike is being watched closely by other working people
throughout this nation. Janitors in many different cities are set to go
on strike, and other workers are watching as well. This strike was an inspiration
to trash collectors in another city in LA County. They walked off their
job and saw their demands met a day later.
As we marched there were many other working people who were in complete
solidarity with the strike. The California Teacher's Association was there.
The Teamster's Union was there. There are many UPS drivers who will not
deliver packages to the office buildings that the janitors clean. Bus drivers
we passed honked their horn in support.
Construction workers, service employees, bike messengers, food workers,
security guards, and other workers were all in support of the strike. They
recognized their common position in our society.
As I write this article, the teacher's union of LA County is set to go
on strike. Tens of thousands of teachers are getting ready to walk off the
job. The TAs throughout the UC system are involved in a labor dispute; if
the UCs continue to treat them the way they have we might see them go on
strike. Recently, 500 LA nurses walked off the job to protest their lack
of a contract.
All these causes are linked. In this "booming economy" millions
and millions of people are being left behind, and they aren't going to take
it lying down.
This struggle is about the people who have to work the jobs on the "bottom."
As socialists we distinguish ourselves by emphasizing that there should
be no "bottom" jobs and no "bottom" people.
People have to remember that it's the workers who create all of the wealth
in our society. I want you to think about something-if the minimum wage
had increased at the same level as CEO salaries have increased in the last
seven years, the minimum wage would be $52 an hour today!
It's really great to remind people who really has the power-the workers.
It's not "capital" that creates, it's labor. I've never seen a
dollar bill transform wood into a house.
The capitalists can want big buildings, but workers have to build them.
The building owners can want really clean buildings, but workers have to
clean them. In fact, everything that the capitalist class desires requires
workers in order to be carried out.
We are in the midst of a powerful strike. This is a movement by a group
of human beings who are telling the capitalists that they can't live on
the wages they're being paid. They're telling them they're sick of choosing
between food and medicine for their children. They're not asking for pity.
They're rising up and demanding a better life.
These people are an inspiration to us and to workers everywhere. Let
us never forget that it's the working class that holds all the power in
this world. Justice for janitors, and justice for workers everywhere!
Socialist Action /May 2000 |