Threatened strike by 12,500 janitors in Massachusetts and Rhode Island averted after deal is struck

Source: Associated Press

Threatened strike by 12,500 janitors in Massachusetts and Rhode Island averted after deal is struck

Updated 4:41 PM EST, November 15, 2023

BOSTON (AP) — A threatened strike by 12,500 janitors in Massachusetts and Rhode Island was averted Wednesday when the union representing the contracted cleaners reached a tentative agreement with an association of the region’s largest cleaning contractors.

The agreement offers the janitors wage increases of around 20 percent over the course of a four-year contract, according to the Service Employees International Union.

The deal also will convert 500 part-time positions in Boston and Cambridge to full-time jobs over the course of the agreement, letting many union members who are cleaning biotech and higher education sites to access employer-paid health benefits for the first time, the union said.

“This accord secures the largest wage increases we have ever negotiated, allowing members who worked through the pandemic to keep up with historic inflation and some of the highest prices for housing in the nation,” said Roxana Rivera, the head of the union in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/massachusetts-rhode-island-janitor-strike-averted-dc8905363ddba4fc369693eb7ba7e3d3