Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource "Voices That Must Be Heard" Articles Description An account of the resource The Independent Press Association (IPA) translates articles from the ethnic press (when necessary) and distributes them via web and fax newsletter to mainstream and ethnic press, government offices, nonprofits, and interested individuals. Voices That Must be Heard was designed by the Independent Press Association staff in New York City in response to the horrifying events of September 11. After Sept. 11th, Voices focused on the South Asian, Arab and Middle Eastern communities in New York. Since February 2002, the project has expanded, selecting articles from the broad range of ethnic and community newspapers throughout the city. Here, the Archive has preserved the Voices collection from its inception until November 2002. VTMBH Article VTMBH Article: Edition 37 VTMBH Article: Article Order 3 VTMBH Article: Title Boston charity urges bosses to resolve janitor strike VTMBH Article: Author by Samantha M. Shapiro VTMBH Article: Publication Forward VTMBH Article: Original Language English VTMBH Article: Translator VTMBH Article: Section news VTMBH Article: Blurb A Boston janitors strike has prompted a rare letter of support from the citys Jewish welfare federation. A union official said the strike was a difficult issue for a Jewish community split between those who identify their interests with the owners and those who identify with the immigrant roots of their grandparents. VTMBH Article: Keywords VTMBH Article: Body A Boston janitors strike has prompted a rare letter of support from the citys Jewish welfare federation. The executive board of the federation, known as the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston, voted Tuesday to send an open letter to Unicco, the company that cleans the federations headquarters and 27 percent of Bostons buildings, urging them to resolve the strike. The step was not as forceful as actions urged by members of the Boston Jewish community active in the labor movement and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, (JCRC) which issued a resolution supporting the union last week. In addition, the federation executive board rarely takes positions on public policy issues, leaving that role to the JCRC. However, as a building owner in Boston albeit an extremely small one that employs only four Unicco janitors the federation found itself under pressure to act following the JCRC resolution. Labor activists and JCRC officials had urged the federation to cancel their contract with Unicco in advance of the strike. Barry Shrage, president of the federation, said that terminating Uniccos contract was not a realistic course of action because it would require all kinds in internal processes. He also said it might not be appropriate given the federations long relationship with Unicco and the individual janitors who work at the federation. We dont want to hurt them, Shrage said, referring to the janitors at the federation. Nancy Kaufman, JCRC executive director, called the Jewish federations decision to draft an open letter to Unicco an important first step. It seems to be what they were ready and willing to do, she said. The JCRC receives most of its funding from the federation, but is an independent umbrella organization that includes most major Jewish groups in Boston. The JCRC and the Jewish Labor Committee have also formally and informally pressured building owners involved with the federation to adopt a stance in support of the union, said Micha Josephy, the labor committees New England regional director. Members of the labor organization refused to say which property owners had been pressured. The strike in Boston is part of a nationwide campaign by Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to organize mostly immigrant building workers. After successes in a handful of cities, the union sees the Boston campaign as an essential link in its national strategy. Bostons janitors earn an average of $39 a day and three-fourths of them dont receive benefits. The union wants workers to have the option of full-time hire, increased wages and health benefits. In a statement to The Boston Globe, a Unicco spokesman said workers dont want full-time work, because many use the jobs to supplement other full-time jobs. While the Boston workers situation is similar to that of janitors in mid-size cities whose unions permit part-time employment, it lags significantly behind janitors in other large cities like Seattle or Newark. Observers say Bostons janitors fell behind in spite of a booming real estate market because the SEIU local was ineffective. Local 254 recently underwent a leadership change and is now headed up by Rocio Saenz. Saenz inspired director Ken Loachs 2000 feature film, Bread and Roses. In Boston, unions representing janitors negotiate with cleaning contractors as opposed to negotiating directly with property owners, as they do in New York or Detroit. Steve Lerner, director of the SEIUs national building services division, said despite the arrangement in cities such as Boston the important players in the conflict are still the building owners. Changes can only come if a building owner allocates more resources for cleaning, Lerner said. A contractor cant pay workers more without a building owner making it possible. Its the building owner who can lean on the contractors to settle or to provide workers with health insurance and the hours they need. Lerner said contract talks end up in strikes most frequently in cities where buildings contract their cleaning out to separate companies because the person who has ultimate say the building owner isnt directly involved. Jews make up a minority of the property owners in Boston. But, observers said, they operate in a city with a Jewish community that is unusually outspoken on union issues. A number of area rabbis from a wide range of congregations have participated in pro-union rallies and interfaith services. Last week, congregants at Temple Israel, a Reform synagogue in Boston, invited union leaders to their sukkah for homemade kugel. And Rabbi Moshe Waldoks of Temple Beth Zion, a post-denominational liberal congregation in Brookline, Mass., said he encouraged congregants to support the union by boycotting meetings at buildings with picket lines. Janice Fine, who works for SEIU Local 254, said members of JCRC and the New England chapter of the Jewish Labor Committee had urged the Jewish federation to cancel its contract with Unicco. Its not that theyre huge, important building owners, Fine said. Theyre tiny. We were so desperate to have an owner come out in favor of the janitors, and when those of us who are Jewish organizers found out the [federation] was an owner who employed Unicco, we focused on them like a laser beam. Fine said the strike was a difficult issue for a Jewish community split between those who identify their interests with the owners and those who identify with the immigrant roots of their grandparents. The largest property owner in Boston, Equity Office Properties Trust, issued a statement expressing sympathy regarding the issues that the janitors are facing. Edwin Sidman, who sits on the boards of the Jewish federation and Equity Office, could not be reached for comment. Mortimer Zuckerman, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and owner of the second largest real estate company in Boston, is one of the few major landlords who hasnt taken a public position. The issue of the janitors is between the janitors and the cleaning contractor, Zuckerman, owner of Boston Properties, said in a statement to the Forward. Our company is not directly involved. VTMBH Article: Line Breaks VTMBH Article: Date 2002-10-04 VTMBH Article: Thumb VTMBH Article: Article File VTMBH Article: Hit Count 88 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Boston charity urges bosses to resolve janitor strike 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. unknown Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. article Original Name The original name of this item. A Boston janitors strike has prompted a rare letter of support from the citys Jewish welfare federat Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-10-04