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Scores of janitors wearing masks and hazmat suits marched through the streets of San Francisco Monday to protest pay cuts and layoffs and unsafe working conditions amid the coronavirus public health crisis, according to a press release.
Janitors are part of the essential workforce amid a statewide stay-at-home order in California, and therefore, are called in to disinfect public spaces, often putting themselves at risk of infection. The massive public protest Monday came after cleaning contractor Service by Medallion cut hours for janitors working inside ride-sharing app LYFT’s headquarters in San Francisco.
A masked person joins janitors as they protest in front of Lyft company headquarters Monday, April 6, 2020, in San Francisco. The janitors work for a contractor and clean Lyft's headquarters. They protested their work hours being cut after a shelter-in-place order was issued last month in San Francisco to stop the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
Some protesters rode in cars. Others stood six feet apart to maintain social distancing while wearing masks, hazmats suits or covering their faces. Most held signs that read "They get a bailout. We get robbed!" which referenced the federal stimulus package meant to help businesses keep their employees on the payroll.
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Last month, Service by Medallion told 63 janitors employed to clean LYFT headquarters that they would only be paid for two days of work a month for at least the next several months, KQED reported.
“These companies, these owners are getting bailouts, and our janitors, who are considered essential, are being left out in the cold,” Service Employees International Union (SEIU) President Olga Miranda told the crowd assembled outside LFYT headquarters. “COVID-19 doesn’t understand that families have to pay the rent on the first of the month. COVID-19 doesn’t understand that I still have to feed my baby. If I’m an essential worker and our janitors are essential workers, treat us as such.”
“What could you do with two days a month? You have rent, you have bills,” Victoria Ramirez, a representative with the union SEIU Local 87, told KQED. “Just because they gave us an extension to pay rent doesn't mean that we're not going to pay any rent.”
“We need food on our tables for our families,” she added.
Residents in the San Francisco Bay Area were told to shelter in place early last month about two weeks before California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, extended lockdown measures statewide.
California is the fourth most-infected state in the country, recording at least 16,349 confirmed cases by Tuesday morning, according to Johns Hopkins University. At least 388 people have died.
SEIU said 150 janitors employed by cleaning contractor ABLE Services to clean the Embarcadero Center, a commercial complex with offices, hotels, and shopping in San Francisco, were granted a temporary halt in layoffs. Those who were originally laid off last Wednesday will be paid their full salaries for at least another week as ABLE Services and union janitors continue to negotiate.
Janitors employed by ABLE Services in San Francisco told the New York Times last month that they were often left in the dark about confirmed COVID-19 cases in the building they were cleaning.
A janitor wearing protective gear stomps on a Lyft decal outside company headquarters on Monday, April 6, 2020, in San Francisco. The janitors work for a contractor and clean Lyft's headquarters. They protested their work hours being cut after a shelter-in-place order was issued last month in San Francisco to stop the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
On March 5, an employee at Wells Fargo, who worked in the company’s San Francisco office, started showing symptoms of COVID-19.
That same day, Wells Fargo notified the building’s landlord, Vornado Realty Trust, and instructed its banking employees to work from home, and called in a private cleaning company to sanitize the floor the person who showed symptoms worked on.
Vornado Realty Trust notified ABLE Services about the suspected case. The Wells Fargo employee tested positive two days later.
A man joins a vehicular protest by janitors outside Lyft company headquarters on Monday, April 6, 2020, in San Francisco. The janitors work for a contractor and clean Lyft's headquarters. They protested their work hours being cut after a shelter-in-place order was issued last month in San Francisco to stop the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)
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Meanwhile, ABLE Services instructed the two janitors who normally worked on that floor not to come to work but offered no reason or explanation, according to the janitors and their union representatives. Other janitors in the building said they reported to work as usual and were never officially notified about the confirmed case, the Times reported.
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