Sustainable Development and Society - GSA

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Sustainable Development and Society Well-Being and the Service Worker One of the accomplishments I think we’ve made here is to help reduce turnover in our industry. We’ve got better benefits now for people to stay around and make it a career. We’re looking forward to that. 1 — Kevin Rohan, lead negotiator for the Washington Service Contractors Association and president of contractor Cavalier Services Inc. This agreement means we have a future we can look forward to. With health benefits, I’ll have more peace of mind. 2 — Maria Rivera, a part-time UNICCO janitor In May 2003, the union that represents workers who clean about 85 percent of downtown Washington's office buildings reached an agreement with cleaning contractors that paid higher wages and provided new benefits. The agreement between the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Washington Service Contractors Association included extending employerpaid health insurance to more janitors, boosting pay significantly, increasing hours for part-timers, and securing benefits such as sick leave. Both union officials and cleaning contractors said that the settlement made janitors' jobs more professional. The five-year agreement: • Extended employer-paid health coverage to 26 percent of part-time workers. • Increased hours for part-timers from 20 hours a week to 25, in buildings over 100,000 square feet; and - in the last year of the contract - from 25 hours a week to 30, in buildings over 500,000 square feet. • Raised weekly pay 60-90 percent; with all janitors receiving a $2.20 per hour increase over five years, to $10.20 an hour, for most. By the end of the contract, with the increase in hours from 20 to 25 per week, most janitors’ total pay will increase by 60 percent. • Provided 3 paid sick days for all janitors. Typically, building owners who have contracted-out cleaning services do not play a part in negotiations between their cleaning contractors and their employees. But this is changing, as major real estate investors, like the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) begin including “responsible contractor clauses” in their partnership agreements. “The California Public Employees’ Retirement System... has a deep interest in the condition of workers employed by the System and its advisors. The System, through the Responsible Contractor Program Policy . . . , supports and encourages fair wages and benefits for workers employed by its contractors and subcontractors, subject to fiduciary principles concerning duties of loyalty and 95
Sustainable Development and Society prudence, both of which further require competitive returns on the System’s real estate investments.” 3 And large developers have begun to respond, too. For example, William B. Alsup III, Senior Vice President, Hines East Regional Office, commented, “In general, we feel that providing a living wage and health care benefits is an important thing to try to do, as long as the costs are reasonable” 4 Harold Anchel, “Family Portrait,” GSA Fine Arts Program. 96 Notes: 1. Neil Irwin, 2003 (May 2): Janitors, Employers Set Deal, Contract Offers Better Wages, Benefits, Washington Post, E03. 2. Ian Birlem and Cynthia Kain, 2003 (May 6): Janitors Ratify New Contract, http://www.seiu.org/building/janitors/press_center2/press_releases2/press.cfm?ID=1131 3. CalPERS, 2004 (April 19): California Public Employees' Retirement System Statement of Investment Policy for Responsible Contractor Program, © 2004 by CalPERS. 4. Stephen Pearlstein, 2003 (May 12): Owning Up to the Plight of Janitors, Washington Post, E03.
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GSA Office of Governmentwide Policy
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Foreword and Acknowledgements Alber
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Contents Hugh Pearce Botts, “Cons
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Sustainable Development and Society
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Preface Lillian Richter, “Childre
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True Life Cycle Costing Socio-Econo
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True Life Cycle Costing Toxic Data
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