Justice for Northeastern Janitors

To:  Jack McCarthy and the Northeastern Board of Trustees

This is a statement from the students, groups, and faculty listed below to inform you of our support for Northeastern’s janitorial staff. The well-being of these custodians is an important issue for us. They are hard-working members of our community. Without them our university could not continue to operate. As such an integral part of our day-to-day operations the janitors at Northeastern should be given the respect and financial compensation they deserve.

Currently the janitors at Northeastern are among the lowest paid of any Boston area institution of higher education. In addition to receiving insufficient pay, the janitors are frequently disrespected while on shift, facing harassment and intimidation. As if this were not enough, their personal safety is often called into question as they are given overwhelming workloads and placed in unsafe situations with insufficient or even nonexistent safety gear as simple as gloves and masks.

To ameliorate this situation we support the creation of an addendum to the contract Northeastern currently has with Consolidated Services Corporation. This would secure better pay, benefits, and working conditions for the janitors. To this end we support a budgetary request that includes provisions that ensure safety, respect, and a living wage for the janitors at Northeastern. We further urge CFO Jack McCarthy to submit this request to the Board of Trustees for approval in the 2008 budget, thus showing a commitment along with and even ahead of many top 100 schools.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Justice for Northeastern Janitors Petition to Jack McCarthy and the Northeastern Board of Trustees was created by Northeastern University Justice for Janitors League and written by Peter Franklin (franklin.p@neu.edu).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.