When Denver janitors organized a march Thursday afternoon, they weren't sure if it would be a celebration or a strike.
The Colorado Independent reports that contract negotiations finished late Wednesday with a contract for Denver metro area janitors that phases in $15 an hour wages over four years.
The master contract, negotiated by a team of janitors from the local Service Employees International Union chapter, covers more than 2,400 janitors with 27 cleaning companies across the city. Combined, these companies clean 180 buildings in the Denver area. The new contract will go into effect on July 2, though it will still technically be a tentative agreement until union janitor members vote to ratify it on July 9.
On Facebook, the union was celebrating. #Sisepudo is the past tense of the famous chant, ¡Si se puede! Yes, we could.
