As union leaders spent seven hours negotiating with the three companies that contract janitors to Northwestern, University President Henry Bienen said Monday that NU would “absolutely not” intervene in the situation.
Meeting at the union’s Chicago offices from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., union leaders and the contracting companies agreed on some issues but remained far apart on the topic of wage increases, union organizer Jeff Danielski said.
Leaders at Service Employees International Union, Local 1, have been pushing to improve wages and benefits for NU janitors contracted by Aramark, Kimco Staffing Services and Millard/Admiral Maintenance. On Saturday the janitors voted unanimously to authorize a strike, though union leaders say the janitors will remain on the job for now.
The union wants NU’s contracted janitors to receive the $10 to $13 hourly wages and full family health insurance that other Chicago-area universities pay their contracted janitors. NU’s contracted janitors on average earn about $7 an hour and most do not receive any health benefits, according to the union.
Of the wage issue, Danielski said the companies had raised their offers above a 4 percent-per-year increase previously proposed by Aramark, but he declined to say by how much.
“The contractors’ wage proposals have not altered significantly,” he said.
Following a common bargaining practice, both sides have agreed not to give specifics about what happens during closed-door negotiation sessions.
Officials from the three companies could not be reached for comment after the meeting ended.
While the union still plans to publicly continue its campaign for improved wages and benefits, Danielski said the tone of the meetings was optimistic.
“Overall there was a willingness on both sides to come to some kind of agreement,” Danielski said.
The union and the companies plan to meet again today at 9:30 a.m.
As the union and the companies met Monday, Bienen told The Daily that NU would stay out of the negotiations and would let the contracting companies handle a strike if one occurred.
“People can strike, and I believe we can clean the dorms and whatever buildings are done by contract labor by these companies,” he said.
Officials from the companies have said they have contingency plans ready if the janitors go on strike.
Bienen also said he agreed with a statement made last week by Senior Vice President for Business and Finance Eugene Sunshine that the janitors’ situation was not “a matter of ethics or morality.”
“I don’t see labor negotiations as a moral issue. Everybody wants to do well for themselves,” Bienen said. “Maybe I’m too much of an economist. I believe that the federal government sets minimum wage legislation.
“I don’t believe in wages in the sense of being fair or unfair. Wages are set by markets. Unions intervene in markets by having labor power, which they can sometimes use to get wages up.”
Bienen also addressed the direct hiring of janitors as opposed to using contracted janitors.
While union organizers have said NU contracts out for janitorial services to save money, Bienen said contractors save NU the time and trouble involved with labor negotiations.
“One of the reasons you decide to contract out is so that you’re out of this to some extent,” he said. “What the unions and probably the companies would like to do would be to put us back in the middle of all these things.
“But why have contracted-out wages and labor? If we wanted to be in the middle of all these things, we would just have our own employees.”
