Richmond janitors go on strike over working conditions, alleged anti-union actions

A group of janitors who provide cleaning services at Richmond municipal buildings through a contract between the city and Nu-Tech Janitorial Services went on strike against their employer Tuesday. 

The janitors are protesting what they say are unlawful actions by the New York-based Nu-Tech to stop their employees from unionizing as well as calling for better working conditions. 

“These workers did not have sick days. They don’t have vacation. They don’t have health care. And they make as little as $15 an hour or maybe even less. And so you wonder why people want to organize for a union?” said Jaime Contreras, executive vice president of the local chapter of the Service Employees International Union, during a Tuesday morning rally outside Nu-Tech’s Richmond office in Shockoe Bottom. 

An individual who answered the phone at Nu-Tech’s Richmond office Tuesday but would not identify herself said only that the company “did not engage in any unfair labor practices whatsoever.” 

Margaret Ekam, a spokesperson for the city, said that while 31 Nu-Tech janitors work full-time and 101 work part-time to provide municipal cleaning services, the city is not being affected by the strike. On Tuesday evening, at least one janitor was mopping the lobby at City Hall. 

Richmond has had a contract with Nu-Tech for seven years. 

Julie Karant, a spokesperson for the local SEIU branch, estimated that about 50 workers were participating in the strike, although she said it was difficult to get a firm number because some employees were simply choosing to stay at home rather than turning out to picket. 

“We feel disrespected,” said Priscilla Peebles, who said she had worked for Nu-Tech for six years but had been unable to work for a number of months last year because of knee replacements and a blood clot in her lung. 

“Had I had sick time, had I had vacation time or personal time, I would have been able to use that time to pay my rent,” she said. Instead, she said, friends had pitched in to help her get by and she had received water bill assistance from the city.  

The strike follows several complaints filed with federal labor and employment agencies related to Nu-Tech’s Richmond office.

The federal National Labor Relations Act prohibits employers from interfering with efforts by workers to unionize, including firing or threatening to fire workers if they support unionization, promising employees special benefits if they go against a union drive and withholding benefits from pro-union workers. 

Two janitors allege Nu-Tech violated that law by firing them for their involvement in a union drive, while a third says she was threatened with losing her job. 

In a complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board this December, Sharonda Smith and Clarissa McGhee say they were fired in November after gathering signatures for a petition asking for better working conditions that they brought to the company’s management on Aug. 27. 

Smith says she was told her work was no longer needed, but another person was reassigned to carry out her duties after her termination. McGhee says she was told she was taken off the schedule because she used a cane to get to and from the building where she worked, an allegation that also led her to file a separate discrimination complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

In an interview Tuesday, McGhee said a doctor prescribed the cane for her because she suffers from arthritis and has had four strokes, but she said she never used it while doing her rounds at the workplace. She had worked for Nu-Tech for about six years prior to her termination.

“Nobody deserves to be kicked to the curb because of this,” she said. “I haven’t been to work in two months.”  

Last week, the local SEIU branch filed another labor complaint on behalf of Tiffany Cobb, who claims that a manager told her she would be fired if she joined the union and could get into trouble for talking to union representatives. 

Asked about the complaints against the company and the strike that began Tuesday, Richmond spokeswoman Ekam said the city “recognizes that employees have the right to engage in protected concerted activity under applicable workplace laws.”