2/08/06 Advocates Urge Justice For Janitors , American Family Worker Union At Issue
Wednesday, February 8, 2006
By Pat Schneider The Capital Times
Worker advocates are calling on American Family Insurance to prevent what they say are attempts by its cleaning company to stop janitors at American Family's Madison headquarters from organizing.
As part of the Justice for Janitors movement, the Interfaith Coalition for Worker Justice of South Central Wisconsin is calling on the insurance giant to stop CleanPower, a large Wisconsin janitorial service company, from interfering with efforts by the Service Employees International Union to organize the janitors.
A letter expressing surprise at anti-labor tactics at American Family's headquarters and urging its board of directors to support janitors in their right to organize was signed by 42 members Tuesday at the coalition's annual Clergy-Labor Luncheon at the Catholic Multicultural Center on Madison's south side.
The letter expresses surprise at the "irresponsible behavior" by a leading corporate citizen and says that CleanPower is attempting to indoctrinate workers against the union, as at a meeting held at American Family last fall.
The janitors, the letter says, do not make a living wage and have no sick leave, health insurance or pension benefits, and should be allowed to organize "without interference or intimidation."
American Family spokesman Ken Muth said Tuesday the company is not taking sides, but has directed CleanPower to stop talking about union matters at meetings with its workers held at American Family.
"We feel it is inappropriate to interfere or impose our will on employment matters of another company," he said. "And we expressed that to both supporters of the union effort and to CleanPower management."
Muth said company officials learned late last year that CleanPower had discussed the union and shown an anti-union videotape at one of its periodic meetings with employees at American Family last fall. "We told them strongly we didn't want union issues discussed in any manner on our property. We told them we did not want it to occur again," he said.
American Family does not have any unionized employees, Muth said. "We take great pride in providing a good work environment, benefits and compensation to employees," he said.
Kathy Bullermann, CleanPower's vice president of human resources, said today in a written response to questions that most of the company's workers are part time by choice and get paid holidays, paid on-going training and various bonuses.
She said a recent company survey found that 67 percent of part-time workers reported they had health insurance through a source other than CleanPower.
Bullermann said the company's approach to unionization efforts "has been largely to ignore the union's tactics and adhere to the positive employee relations and customer service model that has made CleanPower a success."
She pointed out that in two years of organizing efforts SEIU has failed to get an adequate number of workers to endorse a vote on organizing, as required by the National Labor Relations Board.
Patrick Hickey, director of the Interfaith Coalition's Workers' Rights Center, told coalition members that while professing to be hands-off, American Family is forcing down workers' wages and benefits by contracting with CleanPower at a rate company officials must realize will not support fair compensation for the janitors.
The role of the coalition, which brings together labor advocates and communities of faith, is to build awareness of issues on which they can be "the conscience of a community," Hickey said.
"We want to educate the public on what American Family is involved in," he said.
Jim Cavanaugh, president of the South Central Federation of Labor, told the group that the law governing collective bargaining has been so gutted by amendments and court rulings that it is now a tool of management.
Instead of working for an election on forming a union, many unions now "try to embarrass the employer into being up front and neutral on labor organizing," he said.
A separate letter urging members of the Madison clergy to speak to their congregations about the janitors' labor organizing efforts at American Family also was circulated Tuesday.
Kristi Sanford, organizing director with Interfaith Worker Justice national headquarters in Chicago, told the group that clergy support has played an important role in successful organizing campaigns for janitors in other cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego.
Besides lending material and moral support to the workers, clergy can "make people think about them as human beings" making $8 an hour without health insurance, she said.
\ E-mail: pschneider@madison.com