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Wednesday, April 08, 2009 By Ann Belser, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
If the story of the janitors and groundskeepers at the Carnegie Science Center weren't true, it would seem as if the advocates of the Employee Free Choice Act were making it up.
Those 10 people work for the same employer as the 50 people who clean the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History and the Carnegie Libraries. Yet, because of a quirk of history dating to a time when the individual museums were run as if they were separate organizations, the janitorial staffs at the museums and libraries are unionized. The cleaners at the Science Center are not.
All 10 people employed to clean the Science Center have signed cards stating they want to join Service Employees International Unions Local 32 BJ, the same local that represents their colleagues at the libraries and other museums.
In response, the Carnegie Museums has called for a secret ballot election that will be supervised and held by the National Labor Relations Board on April 17.
The reason the property service workers at the Science Center want to unionize is simple: They make significantly less money than their co-workers across town.
Royben Pringle, 24, of Northview Heights, graduated from Oliver High School and has a certificate from Community College of Allegheny County in landscaping and janitorial work.
FULL story at link.
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