{"id":1385899,"date":"2023-12-11T15:49:56","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T15:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2023\/12\/retail-janitors-holidays-vacation-days-leisure-minnesota-seiu-union-organizing\/"},"modified":"2023-12-11T15:49:56","modified_gmt":"2023-12-11T15:49:56","slug":"retail-janitors-clean-up-after-holiday-shoppers-they-dont-get-time-off-for-themselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/12\/11\/retail-janitors-clean-up-after-holiday-shoppers-they-dont-get-time-off-for-themselves\/","title":{"rendered":"Retail Janitors Clean Up After Holiday Shoppers. They Don\u2019t Get Time Off for Themselves."},"content":{"rendered":"\n  \n\n\n\n<h3>Janitors for big box stores see big workload increases around the holidays \u2014 but most of them get little time off to celebrate with their families. In Minnesota, unionized janitors are looking to change that by winning paid holidays and more vacation time.<\/h3>\n<hr\/>\n\n<figure>\n  <img alt src=\"https:\/\/images.jacobinmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/11152610\/GettyImages-1185488402-900x568.jpg\"\/>\n  <figcaption>\n    A janitor keeps a mall clean during the busy holiday season. (David L Ryan \/ Globe Staff via Getty Images)\n  <\/figcaption>   \n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n  \n  <p>For Elbida Gomez, the winter holiday season is not marked by cheer or family time, but by an exponential increase in her workload\u2009\u2014\u2009cleaning bathrooms and store offices, taking out the trash, mopping entrances, and wiping up food from the floor of the employee cafeteria.<\/p>\n<p>The forty-three-year-old mother of two says she is one of just two people whose primary job is to clean the Woodbury, Minnesota, location of Cabela\u2019s, a big box store chain that sells hunting, fishing, and camping goods. Foot traffic increases as patrons do their holiday shopping. Parents line up with their children to take a photograph with Santa Claus. The floor gets covered in chocolate, candy wrappers, and footprints, and, once the snow comes, the store entrance is perpetually coated in salt and sand, she says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere is little time and a lot of work,\u201d says Gomez, who has done janitorial work since she moved to the United States from Honduras around fifteen years ago.<\/p>\n<p>But in a sector where she is\u2009\u2014\u2009quite literally\u2009\u2014\u2009tasked with sanitizing the holiday experiences of other families, she is denied the opportunity to relax and rejuvenate with her own. Gomez does not get paid holidays from her employer, Carlson Building Maintenance, which is contracted to clean Cabela\u2019s. Her vacation time is paltry, she says, and management has made it clear that she is discouraged from taking consecutive days off during the holiday crunch, when her labor is needed most. While her store is closed on Christmas, she does not get paid for this holiday, she says. And, crucially, she still has to work on Christmas Eve, despite its central importance to her family.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my culture, Christmas Eve is our day to celebrate. It\u2019s a coming-together period where we make food, have family over, and spend time together,\u201d she says over Zoom, with the help of an interpreter. \u200b\u201cAnd I\u2019m going to work like it\u2019s a regular day. It\u2019s hard on the kids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gomez is one of seven hundred Minnesota janitors for big box or retail stores negotiating a new union contract with Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 26. Her current one, which expires February 28, 2024, does not include any guaranteed paid holidays or sick days. Woodbury, where she works and lives, falls outside of <a href=\"https:\/\/sicktimeinfo.minneapolismn.gov\/\">nearby<\/a> sick leave protections, and a new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dli.mn.gov\/sick-leave\">statewide law<\/a> that requires employers to provide certain paid sick time for Minnesota workers (excluding independent contractors) won\u2019t go into effect until January 1.<\/p>\n<p>She can earn vacation days, but for the first four years, accrual is relatively slow, at just forty paid hours annually. And then there is the issue of actually taking those days: \u200b\u201cThe problem with using vacation days is they often won\u2019t allow us to take vacation days,\u201d Gomez says. This is despite the fact that she works 6.5-hour shifts, six days a week, with only Mondays off, making just $15.30 an hour.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, in the 18 months she has been a cleaner for Cabela\u2019s, Gomez says she has not had a real vacation\u2009\u2014\u2009meaning multiple consecutive days off in a row.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"pq pq--left\"><q>Research shows that working long weeks with no consecutive days off is hard on workers\u2019 health.<\/q><\/aside>\n<p>Research shows that working long weeks with no consecutive days off is hard on workers\u2019 health. One <a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/aje\/article-abstract\/135\/8\/854\/51198?login=false\">study<\/a>, published in 1992, examined questionnaires filled out by women over a twenty-year period. It found that those who went on vacation once every six years were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2008\/06\/07\/business\/yourmoney\/07shortcuts.html\">eight times<\/a> more likely to develop heart disease or have a heart attack than women who vacationed twice a year. Another <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/11020089\/\">study<\/a>, published in 2000, found that, for middle-aged men who are at higher risk for coronary heart disease, taking more annual vacations is associated with a reduced risk of death by any cause, including heart problems.<\/p>\n<p>The mental health downsides of working without vacation are also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apadivisions.org\/division-28\/publications\/newsletters\/psychopharmacology\/2017\/07\/vacation\">well-established<\/a>. A <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1177\/2156869313497718\">study<\/a> published in 2013 looked at the monthly prescription of antidepressants in Sweden, where it\u2019s typical for workers to take off the entire month of July. It found that during those periods when the number of vacationing workers increased, the disbursal of antidepressants declined significantly.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEspecially if it\u2019s unanticipated, but even if it\u2019s anticipated, working long days or consecutive days without the ability to take off work creates mental and physical wear and tear,\u201d explains Lonnie Golden, professor of economics and labor-human resources at Pennsylvania State University. This applies, especially to jobs that are \u200b\u201cphysically taxing,\u201d he says. \u200b\u201cLow-wage work is not compensated by perks, so it\u2019s adding insult to injury\u2009\u2014\u2009literally.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"pq pq--right\"><q>Low-wage work is not compensated by perks, so it\u2019s adding insult to injury\u2014literally.<\/q><\/aside>\n<p>At a November 21 press conference over Zoom, Gomez\u2019s fellow union members expressed resentment at the lack of paid holidays. David Citro is a member of SEIU Local 26 and a janitor for Carlson Building Maintenance, who cleans a Cub grocery store in Minneapolis. \u200b\u201cDuring the pandemic times, we were called essential workers,\u201d he said. \u200b\u201cIt didn\u2019t matter how dangerous it was during those times. We had to be present there at the stores doing our cleaning. Even during those times, we never got recognized or paid or given any holidays with pay.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Deyanira Rodriguez, a cleaner for Carlson Building Maintenance on special projects, said, \u200b\u201cDuring my time as a kid, it was so wonderful to welcome Christmas Eve with a very warm heart with our families. I would like to be able to offer that to our kids.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Carlson Building Maintenance did not respond to a request for comment sent to its general informational email, which was followed up by a call to its human resources department. The press department for Bass Pro Shops, which acquired Cabela\u2019s in 2017, referred all questions to Carlson Building Maintenance.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"pq pq--left\"><q>The United States also doesn\u2019t guarantee paid sick, parental or bereavement leave or any paid time off at all on a national level.<\/q><\/aside>\n<p>The United States is the only country with an advanced economy that does not have a national guarantee for paid holidays or vacations, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shouselaw.com\/ca\/blog\/is-holiday-pay-mandatory\/\">meager<\/a> state protections that do exist come nowhere near filling the gap. The United States also doesn\u2019t guarantee paid sick, parental, or bereavement leave or any paid time off at all on a national level, though a recently reintroduced piece of federal legislation called the Healthy Families Act would, if passed, make some modest <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanprogress.org\/article\/getting-to-know-the-healthy-families-act\/#:~:text=The%20Healthy%20Families%20Act%20would%20guarantee%20employees%20the%20right%20to,with%20sexual%20or%20domestic%20violence.\">changes<\/a> to this status quo. Nearly one in four workers in the United States don\u2019t get any paid holidays or paid vacation, according to a May 2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cepr.net\/report\/no-vacation-nation-revised\/\">report<\/a> from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), a left-leaning think tank.<\/p>\n<p>And of those who do receive such days, standards can be fairly low. The CEPR report notes that \u200b\u201cthe average worker in the private sector receives only ten paid vacation days and six paid holidays a year, which is far less than in almost every advanced economy except Japan.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Those who do receive such benefits are more likely to be higher-paid workers. As of March 2022, 95 percent of the highest-paid 10 percent of US workers in private industry received paid holidays, while just 46 percent of the lowest-paid 10 percent did, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/opub\/ted\/2023\/higher-paid-workers-more-likely-than-lower-paid-workers-to-have-paid-leave-benefits-in-2022.htm#:~:text=Paid%20holidays%20were%20available%20to,National%20Compensation%20Survey%20%E2%80%94%20Benefits%20program.\">according to<\/a> the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As a result, some workers go years, decades\u2009\u2014\u2009and even their entire careers\u2009\u2014\u2009without a single paid holiday. And for workers who are not Christian, it\u2019s common for religious holidays to fall outside of the scant protections that do exist.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"pq pq--right\"><q>Holidays for the people who make our holidays happen is an important piece that we need to see improved in this round of negotiations.<\/q><\/aside>\n<p>For Gomez, it\u2019s not just paid holidays she yearns for, but weekends so that she can spend time with her kids, who are in school all day during the week. Her youngest loves \u200b\u201ceverything around astronauts,\u201d she says, and the oldest is \u200b\u201cway into dinosaurs.\u201d Each of their rooms is decorated in these respective themes. Gomez\u2019s aunt lives with her and watches her kids when she\u2019s working.<\/p>\n<p>Gomez is frustrated she doesn\u2019t get more family time, but she\u2019s not hopeless. As a union steward and a member of the bargaining committee, she is actively trying to improve her working standards. The retail janitors she is bargaining alongside got their first contract in 2017. Their unionization was preceded by a community campaign against wage theft and labor abuse in the janitorial sector, spearheaded by Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, a workers\u2019 center.<\/p>\n<p>SEIU Local 26 is pressing for the next contract to ensure eight paid holidays, more vacation days, more affordable health care, and improved wages. \u200b\u201cHolidays for the people who make our holidays happen is an important piece that we need to see improved in this round of negotiations, but it\u2019s not the only issue,\u201d said SEIU Local 26 president Greg Nammacher at the November 21 press conference.<\/p>\n<p>Gomez is also part of a multisectoral effort within Minnesota to address issues that affect workers across unions. For <a href=\"https:\/\/inthesetimes.com\/article\/minnesota-unions-labor-contracts-strike-seiu-mft\">more than a decade<\/a>, a host of unions have been coordinating to have expired contracts in the spring of 2024, a development that would legally allow them to strike at the same time, or to simply use the threat of a strike as leverage to win joint demands that help all their members. These unions span industries: they include the St Paul Federation of Educators (SPFE) Local 28; the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) Local 59; SEIU Local 284 (which represents support staff); the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1005; SEIU Local 26; and SEIU Healthcare Minnesota &amp; Iowa (nursing home workers).<\/p>\n<p>Some of these unions will see their contracts expire in early 2024, while others are working under expired contracts already, making them well-positioned for a potential joint escalation in the spring. And in total, at least thirteen unions, workers\u2019 centers, and community groups have agreed to support joint mobilization around shared demands.<\/p>\n<p>Gomez and her coworkers are part of this broader push. All of SEIU Local 26, which represents eight thousand members total, voted to endorse a unity statement calling for good jobs, safe staffing and a \u200b\u201cstrong union.\u201d Among them are four thousand commercial office janitors who are under a separate contract, which will expire on December 31. The union also endorsed a series of community demands for safe and affordable housing, environmental improvements like well-funded transit, and good schools, including improved funding and smaller class sizes. These demands were developed in concert with other unions, and workers hope that joint pressure will help achieve these broad goals.<\/p>\n<p>Gomez was one of numerous workers who gathered on October 7 at the Marriott hotel inside of the Mall of America to discuss building unity and solidarity around this joint pressure point. \u200b\u201cI was there; there were unions from all over the state,\u201d she says. \u200b\u201cWe are very much in that. We\u2019re in it because we want to make sure we\u2019re heard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gomez says her union\u2019s bargaining fight, and the larger statewide battle it is part of, have real stakes for her life.<\/p>\n<p>When asked what she would do with more free time, Gomez talks about outings with her children. \u200b\u201cDuring the summer, we love going to the park together, going out somewhere to eat,\u201d she says. \u200b\u201cDuring the winter, we like to go to the mall and walk around together. More than anything, it\u2019s just an excuse to just spend time together. Unfortunately, we don\u2019t have that choice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have lives, and it\u2019s not just work, work, work. For me, family is the most important, so we need this change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n  \n\n    \n           \n    \n\n   \n  <hr\/>\n  <p>This article was reprinted from\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/inthesetimes.com\/article\/clean-after-holiday-shoppers-but-they-dont-get-to-celebrate-cabelas-cleaning-seiu-sick-leave-vacation\"><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\">In These Times<\/i><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/workdaymagazine.org\/they-clean-after-holiday-shoppers-but-they-dont-get-to-celebrate-with-their-families\/\"><i data-stringify-type=\"italic\">Workday<\/i><\/a> magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/jacobin.com\/2023\/12\/retail-janitors-holidays-vacation-days-leisure-minnesota-seiu-union-organizing\/\">Jacobin<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For Elbida Gomez, the winter holiday season is not marked by cheer or family time, but by an exponential increase in her workload\u2009\u2014\u2009cleaning bathrooms and store offices, taking out the trash, mopping entrances, and wiping up food from the floor of the employee cafeteria. The forty-three-year-old mother of two says she is one of just [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1385899"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1385899"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1385899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1385900,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1385899\/revisions\/1385900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1385899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1385899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1385899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}