Janitors in the Hudson Valley and Fairfield County and their employers have struck a deal for a new four-year contract that was set to expire in about a week.
More than 3,500 janitors who clean about 250 buildings in the seven-county region of the 32BJ Service Employees International Union will receive higher pay and maintain benefits as part of the agreement with the Hudson Valley/Fairfield County Contractors Association, the collective name of contractors including ABM Industries Inc. and United Services of America Inc.
The new contract ”“ which goes into effect Jan. 1, 2016 and expires Dec. 31, 2019 ”“ incrementally raises minimum wages by a total of $1.95 per hour throughout the span of the agreement. Though some of the region”™s commercial cleaners are paid more, the current minimum hourly rate is $14.10, which gradually increased by a total of $1.25 since 2012.
One union priority that was not included in the contract agreement was an increase in the number of full-time worker hires.
Franklin Soults, a spokesman for 32BJ SEIU, said in an email that the union is pushing and strategizing for more full-time hires in both Connecticut and New York.
“In 2012 we got the contract to include a provision that buildings over 400,000 square feet would be staffed by full-time workers, so we know the market can move in that direction,” Soults said.
That provision is also included in the contract that starts in 2016.
Negotiations on the new contract began in November, and took about five weeks. An agreement between the two parties was announced Dec. 22 and ratified by the union Dec. 28.
A spokeswoman for the employers”™ association did not respond to a request for comment.
