Commercial Janitorial
“I am so proud we stuck together and won these important gains. Because we went on strike and were ready to go on an open-ended strike, we were able to win the largest wage increases we’ve seen for janitors, an increase in sick days and the exciting green education program. Our campaign slogan was ‘Fighting Today for a Better Tomorrow,’ and I believe because we were so united we really were able to win an agreement that will build a better tomorrow for thousands of janitors, our families and our planet.”
Current Contract:
SEIU Local 26 Office Janitorial Member Orientation
Additional Handouts:
These handouts contain different benefits we’ve won in our contract. If you have any questions on specific policies, please reach out to your Steward or Organizer. If you are a member and aren’t sure who they are, please call your Member Resource Center at 1-855-265-6225.
Janitorial Enrollment Forms:
SEIU Local 26 Janitors Timeline
1937: Building janitors founded Local 26 after city wide strikes, and new federal legislation made unions legal.
1980: Local 26 was almost destroyed as a new wave of “subcontracting” eliminated pensions, healthcare, fulltime jobs, wages. Before that most janitors worked directly for the owners of the buildings.
2006: Under new leadership, our union began to fight back with new strategies! We won a healthcare fund controlled by the union (previously each company just offered their own plans, often really bad ones), and finished moving our market from mostly part time to 80% Full time in larger buildings.
2009: Began “open bargaining” for first time at Local 26, with a large elected bargaining committee of over 80 workers. We voted to strike for the first time, and (after 26 hours bargaining overnight before the deadline) we won a new union contract with improved healthcare benefits, stronger definition of Full time at 40 hours, green cleaning rules, and new language protecting immigrant workers.
2012: After 4 months of stalled negotiations, janitors set a deadline for a strike. At 2:30 am that night, the company representatives came back into negotiations, and were met by 150 janitors packing the room, fired up and ready to go! We won $1.20 raise over the contract, additional sick days, and vacation roll over for the first time.
2015: Janitors struck for one day, for the first time in the local’s history, winning walkthroughs (with stewards on paid time) as a tool to reduce workload, and $1.80 raises.
2017: 400 Janitors participate in a scientific study on the impacts of workload, published in multiple academic journals.
2020: After a one day strike (right before the COVID pandemic hit) that included huge numbers of community and environmental allies, Janitors won their biggest 4 year wage increases in our history of $2.20. They also won a joint Labor management fund for education programs (such as English classes or green cleaning) for the first time, and 6 sick days per year for most workers.
2021: first graduating class of 15 janitors who took English classes on paid time, thanks to the new Labor Management fund.
2022: Green Cleaning Program starts thanks to the training fund won in the 2020 contract.