Unionized janitors and student activists of the Connecticut Global Action Network (CGAN) came together on Tuesday, September 26 to make the connections between global corporate greed and the fight for a living wage by Hartford working people. Twenty-five people were arrested for blocking downtown traffic in front of United Technologies' "Gold Building" at rush hour.
The action was a prelude to the strike deadline that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 531 set if their demands for decent wages were not met. On October 13, the Union settled with cleaning contractors for more full-time jobs in the suburbs and pay raises for city and suburban janitors.
Designed to coincide with international days of action against the World Bank and IMF, the protest focused on SEIU Local 531's current fight on behalf of hundreds of janitors who clean office buildings in Hartford and the surrounding suburbs.
Cleaners in the burbs do the same work and are employed by the same contractors as city janitors, but are paid less and don't have health insurance.
UTC was targeted because the giant producer of aircraft engines recently fired its unionized janitorial workforce and replaced the crew with lower paid, non-union workers.
United Technologies has also been accused by the Machinists' Union for shipping jobs overseas in violation of the collective bargaining agreement.
For more information about the fight, check out these websites:
