Pinoy condo cleaners keep jobs, benefits after 4-month lockout

Pinoy condo cleaners keep jobs, benefits after 4-month lockout

File photo of Justice for Janitors contingent in the 2019 Labour day march in Toronto.

By Ysh Cabana
The Philippine Reporter

TORONTO–Janitorial staff, all Filipino immigrants, reached a deal with their employer at Icon condominium in downtown Toronto to keep their jobs and their union contract with health benefits and sick days.

“We were able to stand up for ourselves against changes that would hurt us,” said Castaneto Villamor, one of the five condo cleaners locked out from their work.

After four months of negotiation through Service Employers International Union (SEIU), Villamor and four colleagues reached a new collective agreement on November 6 with Luciano Janitorial Services, cleaning company owned by Filipino businessman Marcelino Luciano. The employees retain their benefits plan and paid sick days, while getting a cumulative wage increase of 80 cents over three years.

“This only worked because we stood together,” said Castaneto Villamor, as quoted in their union’s press release.

The workers went back to work in the week of November 11.

Since July 2019, the workers held demonstrations outside the condo building and reached out to the tenants with petitions and flyers, as previously reported by The Philippine Reporter. They had overwhelming local support, with many advocates and community groups such as Migrante joining them to stay in the picket line.

Negotiations broke down after Luciano demanded concessions after taking over the  cleaning contract for the buildings awarded by Del Property Management last year. Due to successorship rules in Ontario, the five-member cleaning staff in  particular maintained their union membership. The company wanted to remove two out of the four paid sick days, and drastically change benefit contributions. The employer offered a meager 30 cent wage increase over three years to $14.80 an hour.

According to SEIU Local 2’s press release, the janitors would have had to contribute $1,000 annually for benefits compared to the $200 in their old contract.

When the workers rejected the “insulting” offer, they were locked out of 250 and 270 Wellington St. West sites and replaced by scabs.

The condominium board of directors as well as Del, stayed silent and claimed they had nothing to do with the labour dispute.The janitors ardently defended their jobs even as they were forced to seek temporary part-time work elsewhere.

“It was a difficult period for me as it was hard to find a replacement job where I could earn health benefits. I needed my benefits for my heart medication, and now I don’t have to worry about setting money aside to buy them,” said Emma Llanes.

Jorge Villa, an organizer with SEIU Local 2, said the union increased the strike pay as a special allowance for these janitors due to their low wages.

Out of the two Icon buildings, there are 554 units. The Toronto Standard Condominium Corporations are #1441 and #1549. There are four units at 270 Wellington currently for sale including a one-bedroom on the sixth floor for $539,000, and a slightly larger two-bedroom unit for $769,000.

While the buildings were unkempt for four months, the lockout hit the cleaning company’s bottom line which pressured Luciano to offer workers a better deal. The contract flip had flopped.

The news was a relief to the employees who are among the most precarious category of workers in the country. Janitors work for low pay and are always at risk of losing their jobs. Emma, for example, has a salary $14.50 per hour, which is a marginal difference from Ontario’s provincial minimum wage of $14.

SEIU’s ultimate goal is to organize janitors across entire cities as a way of raising the bar in the industry overall. In March 2019, thousands of workers in the janitorial industry made a historic breakthrough by winning a pension plan in their recent round of collective bargaining.

For the time being, however, the condo cleaners are mostly concerned with holding on to what little they have.

“It’s hard finding a decent paying and steady job these days. It was important we stood up for ourselves to make sure we kept what we had,” said Joven Velasco.

“Parang konting bagay, sinasanto nila ang pera…Iba ang diskarte nila.” [Even with small things, they (the employer) worship money like a saint…Their game is odd.]