> Published on Friday, June 2, 2000 in the http://www.mercurycenter.com/ San
> Jose (CA) Mercury News
>
> Share The Wealth,' Janitors Demand, But Life Could Get Worse Before It Gets
> Better
>
> by K. Oanh Ha
>
> Gemma Martinez remembers how she and her husband Abel would put their three
> children to bed and then talk late into the night about the future. They
> would leave Mexico City for the United States, work hard and buy a home.
> But things change. A year and a half later, Martinez is a hard-working
> widow in East Palo Alto, still full of hope, but far from her dreams.
>
> As contract negotiations for Bay Area janitors go into their final round
> today and talk of ``strike'' fills the air, life for some 5,500 workers and
> their families may get worse before it gets better.
>
> The hours are rotten, the pay is low. Five days a week, Martinez leaves her
> three school-aged children in the care of relatives to clean cubicles,
> empty wastebaskets, mop and vacuum on two floors at the campus of software
> giant Oracle Corp. in Redwood City. Her ride for the graveyard shift
> arrives around 7 p.m. and she doesn't return home until 4:30 a.m., in time
> to catch a few winks before getting the kids ready for school.
>
> ``I never imagined things would be so difficult here, but the children will
> have opportunities they wouldn't have if we stayed in Mexico,'' said
> Martinez, 34. ``At least they won't be janitors.''
>
> Demanding that Silicon Valley firms ``share the wealth,'' Martinez and
> other members of Local 1877 in the Service Employees International Union
> are closely watching the outcome of today's negotiations. The master
> contract that covers the estimated 75 percent of Bay Area janitors expired
> Wednesday. No matter how long talks go today, by Saturday the workers will
> vote whether to accept the maintenance contractors' final offer or walk out=
> .
>
> They want raise, medical benefits
>
> In a valley where millionaires are fast becoming passe and where stock
> options and a BMW Z3 are virtually assumed to be the birthright of every
> techie, the janitors say they're not demanding much. They want a three-year
> contract, with annual pay hikes of $1.30 and medical benefits fully paid by
> the employers. They now make between $7.64 and $8.04 an hour.
>
> Wednesday, the firms improved their first offer proposing a four-year
> contract and a 50-cent raise the first year, followed by 40 cents the next
> three years. The offer would cover only current union members and not new
> hires, creating a two-tier system that's unacceptable, union officials
> said. The San Francisco Employers Council, which represents the 12 largest
> contractors that employ the janitors, has declined to comment.
>
> Martinez works for the janitorial firm Service by Medallion, but also
> indirectly for one of the richest men in the world, Oracle founder Larry
> Ellison. She earns $8.04 an hour, the average janitor's wage in Silicon
> Valley and East Bay. Her annual salary comes to $16,723, putting her below
> the poverty line in Santa Clara County, where social services defines poor
> as an income below $17,052 for a family of four.
>
> ``People around here... they drive new cars, they take vacations and spend
> so much money on fun things,'' said Martinez, a soft-spoken, petite woman
> who smiles often. ``They would be horrified if they could only imagine our
> lives.''
>
> In many ways, Martinez's life is typical of janitors in the area. Most work
> two jobs, sacrificing time with their families. The average janitor's
> household, with both parents working, logs 104 hours per week, according to
> a survey conducted by the union. To afford rent, many families team up to
> share apartments and even garages. In nearly one-third of janitors'
> households, children must sleep in the living room. Like Martinez, many
> can't afford cars.
>
> Martinez's family is one of three sharing a three-bedroom house in East
> Palo Alto. She pays $450 for a bedroom, just big enough to fit two double
> beds. She's proudly decorated the walls with certificates of her children's
> academic achievements. At one end, she's hung a curtain so they can dress
> with some privacy. The one thing they don't lack is a computer, which was
> loaned by the children's school.
>
> Her take-home pay is $1,050 a month, half of which goes to rent and
> utilities. The rest pays for clothing, food and expenses, such as the $50
> that goes to a co-worker who drives her to work and back.
>
> `We're not asking for much,'' said Martinez. ``It's very little. I just
> want a bigger room for me and the children, maybe even one with our own
> bathroom.''
>
> Martinez says she doesn't understand why a company as big and powerful as
> Oracle, which logged profits of $1.3 billion last year, doesn't intervene
> to help struggling workers. Oracle says janitors like Martinez aren't
> Oracle employees. ``It's an issue between the janitors and their
> contractors,'' said Jennifer Glass, Oracle's spokeswoman.
>
> That's a technicality to Martinez and other janitors. ``I clean the offices
> for Oracle, not the offices of Medallion.'' Medallion, the company that's
> the direct employer of Martinez, didn't return phone calls to its San Jose
> office.
>
> Workers at the lowest stratum of the valley remain largely invisible. Many
> rotate in and out as temporary workers, or are hired through contractors,
> as are cafeteria staff and janitors. The sought-after perks for these
> workers are health insurance, sick days and an hourly salary that's more
> than a single digit.
>
> ``The people who are working in the cafeterias, people who clean the
> bathrooms inside high-tech companies aren't the highest priorities,'' said
> Benita Kenn, an independent public relations consultant who specializes in
> high tech. ``Large companies, whether they're in high tech or or anything
> else, look at what's the primary impact to their business first. And that's
> not who cleans their bathrooms.''
>
> Self-sufficiency to a point
> Entrepreneurism is no social cure-all
>
> Known for its libertarian attitudes and pride in meritocracy, many in the
> high-tech ranks believe in self-sufficiency, a notion that's fundamental to
> entrepreneurialism and innovation in Silicon Valley. Such beliefs, social
> commentators say, falls short when applied toward social problems. ``The
> attitude in the valley that anyone should be able to start his own company
> and become a millionaire if they tried hard enough simply doesn't apply to
> everyone,'' said Kirk O. Hanson, senior lecturer in business ethics at
> Stanford Business School.
>
> Martinez, in some ways, has bootstrapped herself as much as someone in her
> situation can. She enrolled in an English class shortly after arriving. But
> after six months, she dropped the classes to work a second job two days a
> week, cleaning homes after her night shift. On those days, she'll be awake
> and working for 22 hours.
>
> With money so tight, Martinez admits she's scared of the prospect of a
> strike. In Mexico she was also a janitor, cleaning the subways. Five years
> ago, when she and her fellow workers went on strike for 15 days, they
> resorted to begging on the streets to feed their families.
>
> Union organizers here have assured workers they won't go hungry. It's
> preparing to make a $2 million fund available to help striking workers pay
> rent and feed their families. It's also hooked up with local community and
> religious groups to set up food banks.
>
> Still, Martinez is worried. She says her relatives will help but she knows
> life is unpredictable.
>
> Just two years ago, she was married to a Mexico City police officer. Though
> they also owned a tiny neighborhood grocery store, they wanted better
> opportunities for their children. So they sold their store, tapped their
> savings and made plans. Martinez arrived in Silicon Valley with the
> children first. Abel had only weeks to go until he was vested in his
> pension plan and would soon follow.
>
> Just 15 days after she arrived in Silicon Valley, Abel was killed while on
> duty. She didn't have enough money to go back for his funeral.
>
> ``It sometimes feels like a dream. A nightmare, actually. But what can you
> do?''
>
> She's too proud to admit that they're poor. But she knows it. They shop at
> second-hand stores for most things. Her brother and sister-in-law routinely
> buy their food because Martinez can't afford it.
>
> ``When janitors talk about justice and dignity, it's precisely things like
> being able to buy clothing for your family, spending time with your
> children, taking your kids out to do something fun,'' said Blanca Gallegos,
> a union spokeswoman. ``These are things someone else wouldn't consider
> luxuries but for janitors they are luxuries.''
>
> Martinez has little time to spend with 7-year-old Abel, 9-year-old Elvira
> and 10-year-old Victor each day, getting them ready for school in the
> mornings and feeding them before she leaves for work in the evening. She
> sometimes calls them around their bedtime to make sure they're tucked in.
> Elvira sometimes cradles a photo of her mother in bed with her.
>
> ``Sometimes the kids will say, `Mommy, let's go out and play.' If I say no,
> they say, `You don't love me anymore.' I try to explain it to them. But
> they're children, they don't understand.''
>
> At a recent Saturday meeting, union officials updated workers on the
> negotiations and prepared them for the realities of a strike.
>
> By the end of the meeting, Martinez had volunteered to be a strike captain
> to help coordinate logistics.
>
> ``No one really wants a strike,'' said Martinez later. ``But it's the only
> way to pressure these companies so they realize there's value in our work.
> If we don't fight for it now, we'll never get ahead.''