Janitor Hit by Driver at Yahoo Picket Line (companies including Oracle, HP and Cisco & Stanford U)

http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/05/day-2-of-janito.html

By Betsy Schiffman EmailMay 21, 2008 | 5:46:28 PMCategories: Labor

It's Day 2 of the janitors strike in Silicon Valley, and the drama is heating up. Alicia Chavez, a 54 year-old janitor picketing in front of the Yahoo campus in Sunnyvale, was hit by a car that was, allegedly, "driving aggressively" at the picket line. (The incident is under investigation by Sunnyvale police.)

An estimated 400 janitors in Silicon Valley walked off the job yesterday at a number of companies including Oracle, HP and Cisco. Local 1877, the union local, expanded the strike today to include other Silicon Valley sites such as Stanford University.



We stopped by the Computer History Museum in Mountain View this morning to check out the demonstrations for ourselves. We didn't see much. Intel was hosting its annual shareholder meeting at the museum, and there were maybe 7 or 8 janitors holding up signs and handing out flyers.

The janitors we spoke with earned about $11 per hour, and they all had healthcare, but they said they were demonstrating on behalf of the newer workers who have to wait two and a half years to get benefits.

"We're very much aware of the situation," said Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy. "We've spoken with
both the union and our contract janitorial services provider, and it's really a dispute between them."

"
"We're very much aware of the situation," said Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy. "We've spoken with
both the union and our contract janitorial services provider, and it's really a dispute between them."
<endquote>

spineless bastard, of course he can tell this contractor that it is not a deal unless they provide benefits, and pay a little extra for it. What is wrong with the union leadership to allow such a contract? Who are they working for?

What do you think? If you squeeze the bread of this company, do you get blood or milk? Is it the contractor, the union or the corporation?