Eva Martinez has worked as a janitor in Denver for the past 30 years, much of that spent cleaning Republic Plaza, the tallest building in Colorado.
Before the pandemic, a group of 26 janitors cleaned the building’s 56 floors. Now, that staff is made up of just a dozen people.
“We've just seen our workloads go up tremendously and we feel like we're just not being respected or treated right,” Martinez said in Spanish through a translator. “We are essential workers. We don't feel like we're being treated that way.”
That’s why Martinez is prepared to go on strike if necessary, alongside fellow members of Service Employees International Union Local 105. The union represents more than 2,400 janitorial workers in Denver.
The workers’ current contract expires on Sunday, which means union representatives are spending their days at the negotiating table with a number of companies that employ Denver’s janitors.
On Tuesday, union members voted unanimously that they would be willing to strike if the two parties do not reach a deal in time. Approval to strike does not necessarily mean workers will go on strike, but it gives the negotiating team leverage at the bargaining table if the two sides do not reach a deal.
Tuesday morning, a few dozen janitors with SEIU gathered in downtown Denver to vote and drum up support for workers.
The mood at 17th Street and California Street was joyous. Workers played music and shouted chants including, “Sí, se puede,” or “Yes you can,” a Spanish labor motto dating back to labor organizing on behalf of farm workers in the 1970s.
Surrounding the workers were some of Denver’s tallest buildings, many of which they personally have cleaned for years. Cars driving by honked in support of the janitors as people cast ballots.
According to union members, two of the most important issues are wages and workload, plus concerns of retaliation or job loss if workers do not finish unrealistic workloads.
“I personally don't think with what the companies are talking to us, what they're offering us, any janitor will be able to live and work in Denver,” Martinez said in Spanish. “What they're offering us truly is miserable, and that's why I'm here and I'm standing strong with all my coworkers.”
At the other side of the bargaining table is a group of employers that provide janitorial services to commercial buildings in Denver.
John Nesse is a lawyer working on behalf of the employers organized in a group called Denver Maintenance Contractors Association.
“Our current agreement includes industry-leading wages and benefits, including health insurance and paid time off,” Nesse said in a statement to Denverite.
The union’s requests for pay, health care and paid time off increases would “add significant cost” for the employers in a turbulent economy for the commercial real estate industry, Nesse said in the statement.
Commercial properties have struggled since the pandemic, with office vacancy rates continuing to rise downtown.
“As we negotiate this contract, the employers are mindful of the economic challenges currently facing the Denver commercial office market,” Nesse wrote. “We are committed to negotiating an agreement in the mutual interest of all parties — including our employees, our customers, and our cleaning companies. We are disappointed that the union is threatening to strike, but we will continue to negotiate in good faith until a new agreement is reached.”
Cost of living is a big concern for Denver’s janitors, many of whom make minimum wage.
Ruben Rivera has faced these challenges working as a janitor in Denver for nearly 20 years.
“My family is constantly struggling to figure out just the basics,” Rivera said in Spanish through a translator. “We're constantly having to decide, what can we do? Can we pay the rent? Can we be able to put food on the table?”
Stephanie Felix-Sowy, president of SEIU Local 105, said that workers feel conditions and affordability have worsened in recent years.
“I always ask my members this in every one of our contracts. ‘Would you refer this position to any of your family or friends?’” Felix-Sowy said. “That has changed over the last four or five years to where now they're saying ‘No, I tell them to go look for work somewhere else. I used to, but that's no longer the case.’”
The advocacy is particularly important to Denver’s Latino community, Felix-Sowy said.
“Ninety percent of our members are Latina immigrant women, predominantly, majority Spanish speaking,” she said. “Our members feel like they're part of the fabric of the city. They're part of the immigrant fabric, but just general fabric of the city, and they take a ton of pride in the fact that they have for decades now held up this industry.”
As politicians talk about revitalizing downtown, janitors say they’re a crucial part of that goal and that their contract should reflect that.
Multiple union members and supporters mentioned Mayor Mike Johnston’s State of the City from the day before. The mayor had talked about making downtown vibrant after a pandemic that left many office buildings and streets empty.
Denver Clerk and Recorder Paul López stopped by Tuesday’s rally. He worked as a janitor in Denver and organized with the union before his election to City Council and later to the Clerk and Recorder’s Office.
“Yesterday I was sitting on the stage at the State of the City and I heard a lot of talk about downtown,” he said. “I heard a lot of talk about making downtown livable and safe and making it a downtown for all. It starts right here with making sure that janitors that are maintaining downtown and other workers from our community that are building downtown, that they could also afford to live here too.”
López recalled cleaning concourses at Mile High Stadium in his teens, working 12 hour days without overtime and helping his father finish shifts without pay because the workload was too high.
“There's always a fight not just to maintain the contract that you fought for years, since the eighties actually, but that you move that forward, that those conditions continue to improve” he said.
Editor's note: This article was updated with the results of Tuesday's strike vote.
