Building-service workers rally for better contract with office landlords

Center City's unionized office cleaners, maintenance workers, and other building-service staffers say they want to share in the benefits of an improving commercial real estate sector as they begin negotiations on a new labor contract.

Members need to earn more to support their families and cannot afford the bigger payments for medical insurance sought by employers, Daisy Cruz, mid-Atlantic district leader for SEIU 32BJ, the local of the Service Employees International Union, told at least 100 workers at a rally on Thursday ahead of the talks.

"No matter what it takes, we're going to fight for our jobs," Cruz told a crowd wearing purple SEIU T-shirts and work uniforms. "We need good raises. We need to protect our health care."

The most recent contract between the union and Building Operators Labor Relations (BOLR), which represents building owners and maintenance contractors, was sealed in late 2011 and set wages at $14.94 to $17.54 an hour. The pact expires on Oct. 15.

Employers should be able to offer more now since Philadelphia office space is in higher demand and commanding higher rents, the union said in a statement.

Asking rents for office space in Center City and University City and at the Navy Yard averaged $27.19 a square foot from April to June 2015, according to the most recent quarterly data from real estate services firm JLL. That's up from $26.39 during the last three months of 2011.

Vacancies also fell to 9.9 percent from 11.8 percent over that time, according to JLL.

"They're on top because of us," Elizabeth Contreras, a 39-year-old cleaner at Two Logan Square, said of the city's building owners. "They make millions. We're only making a little bit."

BOLR president Robert G. Martin was in meetings Thursday and not available for comment, a person answering phones in his office said.

The negotiations cover 2,800 property-service workers at 168 office buildings across Center City, including Comcast Center, Wells Fargo Plaza, Drexel University, and City Hall, according to the union, which represents 145,000 workers nationwide.

BOLR members include Brandywine Realty Trust, the city's biggest office landlord, and BNY Mellon-building owner Equity Commonwealth. ABM Industries, Arthur Jackson Co., and other contractors also are represented by the group.

The negotiations are beginning amid Labor Rights Week, a weeklong campaign by the U.S. Department of Labor to educate workers about their rights under federal law.

Labor Department officials will be at Philadelphia's Mexican consulate Friday to share information as part of the campaign, a collaborative effort between embassies and their consulates with the department's field offices.

215-854-2615 @jacobadelman