Several hundred building cleaners from Hartford and New Haven will decide Thursday whether to strike if contract talks leading to higher pay stall, authorities say.
Voting will be at 3:30 p.m. at downtown Hartford’s Central Baptist Church, 457 Main St.
Afterwards, at 4 p.m., an estimated 500 union voters will march down Main Street to stage a 15-minute rally at the intersection of Main and Park Streets, authorities said Wednesday.
Thursday’s forecast is for rain and possible sleet, but the rally is still planned, a union spokesperson said Wednesday.
They are to be joined there by State Speaker Chris Donovan (D-Meriden), members of Hartford City Council and union leaders, officials said.
According to a statement Wednesday from unit 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union, contract talks for the region’s 2,000 office cleaners began in mid-November.
“Now, two weeks before the contract expires,” the local said, “the two sides remain far apart. Following the strike vote, several hundred office cleaners will march through downtown Hartford.Â
The cleaners maintain some of Hartford and New Haven areas’ landmark buildings and corporate centers, including the Old State House in downtown Hartford, New Haven City Hall, and Wesleyan University in Middletown.
Building cleaners say they are paid $13.50 an hour under the current Hartford contract which expires at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
Those covered by a separate New Haven contract earn $11 an hour, union authorities said previously.
Most in New Haven and a significant number in Hartford are given only part-time cleaning jobs, seriously undermining their ability to earn enough to cover their family’s essential needs
The union says commercial real estate in Hartford and New Haven is a more than $700 million industry.
