Janitors and other essential workers marched through the Minneapolis skyway Thursday afternoon as they began their fight for a new union contract in 2024.
The workers with Service Employees International Union Local 26 are demanding better salaries, retirement pensions, and improved working conditions in their new contract. Local 26 represents more than 8,000 janitors, security officers, retail cleaners and airport workers in Minnesota.
According to the union’s website, workers are demanding wage increases of up to $5 per hour. Some of the members spoke Thursday about feeling disrespected on the job, and the need for a city-run labor standards board.
“We are ready to win what our members need and deserve,” said Brahim Kone, Local 26’s secretary treasurer.
A labor standards board establishes standard working conditions for different sectors, and typically includes workers, local government, and employers as representatives.
Thursday’s group of more than 200 workers, most of them from immigrant backgrounds and Spanish-speaking countries, met for a short rally outside the Hennepin County Government Center before marching through the skyway, where many of them work. The union represents more than 4,000 janitors who clean buildings in downtown Minneapolis.
Lourdes Tapia told her fellow workers in Spanish that she’s worked as a janitor in the Ameriprise building for 10 years, and that she, like others in her industry, feel like her employer has failed to provide adequate compensation. She said they shouldn’t take “no” for an answer at the bargaining table.
“Because of the pandemic and inflation, our salary can’t cover costs of gasoline, rent, and other basic necessities,” Tapia said in Spanish. “We have spent years working for these buildings and sacrificing our health and that of our families during the pandemic. That’s why we deserve the opportunity for a dignified retirement.”
Tapia told the crowd about her coworker Lorenzo Palma, who died from COVID-19 complications while working as a janitor in downtown Minneapolis during the pandemic. He and six other union members died of COVID-19.
The group then marched through the skyway while chanting and drumming in different languages, calling out “Huelga!” in Spanish, which means “strike.”
“Sí se puede! (Yes we can!)” they called out as hundreds of downtown workers milled about during the lunch hour. “El pueblo unido jamás será vencido! (The people united will never be defeated!)”
They stopped twice to lay a wreath near candle lit photos of Palma and another union member, Armando Solis, who died during the pandemic.
“I think it’s important to honor his memory, so everybody including his family knows we haven’t forgotten about them,” Tapia said of Palma, who worked in the Ameriprise building.
Contracts covering nearly 8,000 janitors, airport workers, and other essential workers with SEIU Local 26 are set to expire December 31, according to a news release from the union.
Many of the janitorial workers in the union work for subcontractors, so they aren’t directly employed by the companies whose downtown offices they clean. Greg Nammacher, union president, said they’ve already begun bargaining with “dozens” of janitorial subcontractors that hire union members in the seven-county metro area.
About 200 members of SEIU Local 26 march through the Minneapolis skyway on Thursday, December 7, 2023, demanding better wages and benefits in their 2024 union contract. The union represents more than 4,000 janitorial workers who clean buildings in downtown Minneapolis. Credit: Aaron Nesheim | Sahan Journal 
About 200 members of SEIU Local 26 march through the Minneapolis skyway on Thursday, December 7, 2023, demanding better wages and benefits in their 2024 union contract. The union represents more than 4,000 janitorial workers who clean buildings in downtown Minneapolis. Credit: Aaron Nesheim | Sahan Journal 
Brahim Kone, treasurer of the Service Employees International Union, speaks to members gathered outside of the Hennepin County Government Center for a march through the Minneapolis skyway on Thursday, December 7, 2023. Credit: Aaron Nesheim | Sahan Journal 
Atayde Rios, a member of SEIU Local 26, stands outside of Minneapolis City Hall on Thursday, December 7, 2023, following a march through the skyways demanding better pay and benefits. Credit: Aaron Nesheim | Sahan Journal
Kone said the union has set a deadline of no later than March 2, 2024, for their demands to be met.
The workers marched from Government Plaza to Target headquarters on Nicollet Mall.
SEIU spokesperson Josh Keller said that many of the attendees were off the clock, but that some had to get ready to work a night shift.
Atayde Ríos, a janitor at PNC Plaza, said she marched because she wants a better salary and retirement benefits.
“There are some employees scared to go out and march,” Ríos said in Spanish, “because they think the bosses are going to get mad and retaliate or even fire them.”
Ríos said it was important to join the union’s fight to represent others who couldn’t, or who were too scared to participate.
“You don’t have to be scared if we’re fighting together,” Ríos said.
As the march concluded at City Hall, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey greeted the union members, shaking their hands and telling them, “We’re with you guys.”
Kone gathered the group at City Hall and gave them some last words of encouragement, and reminded them that the union is pushing the Minneapolis City Council to establish a labor standards board in 2024 that would help establish standard working conditions, address issues raised by workers such as wage disputes, and give workers more resources when addressing discrimination.
