More than 3,000 Chicago Janitors Rally in Chicago for Good Jobs to Strengthen Our Economy

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.seiu.org/2009/03/more-than-3000-chicago-janitors-rally-in-chicago-for-good-jobs-to-strengthen-our-economy.php

4:14 PM Eastern - March 2, 2009
More than 3,000 Chicago Janitors Rally in Chicago for Good Jobs to Strengthen Our Economy
By Kate Thomas
Aldermen, community leaders and workers call out Bank of America for approving $4 billion for executive bonuses - the equivalent of 175,000 tellers' jobs

On Sunday afternoon, over 3,000 janitors and community supporters crowded into the historic Chicago Theater and then marched to LaSalle Street in an effort to call attention to low-wage workers struggling to keep afloat in a time when corporate CEOs are still getting bonuses.

At the rally, many who took the stage spoke about bailed-out banks such as Bank of America who paid huge bonuses to well-paid executives at the same time they were eliminating jobs in the working- and middle-class sectors. "Instead of using taxpayer money to save jobs, Bank of America approved $4 billion for executive bonuses," said Urszula Przybys, a downtown janitor. "Those executives are secure and we're barely making it. They are not even being asked to take responsibility for the mess they created, but we're paying for their mistakes."

With $4 billion, Bank of America could have created nearly 175,000 jobs at an average bank teller's annual salary of $22,901. "Communities need good jobs, not more money put into pockets of the richest Americans and big corporations," said Tom Balanoff, President of SEIU Local 1.

Chicago janitors work hard to keep our community's buildings, schools and public areas sanitary, cleaning the equivalent of nearly 33,000 miles of office space every night. They work hard in a relatively thankless job with few perks, as they struggle to pay their mortgages and create a better life for their children. "We need to send a strong message that janitors deserve a living wage and better benefit," Alderman Ricardo Munoz told the audience during the Chicago Theater event.

FULl story at link.