CLEVELAND — Cleveland janitorial worker John Gilner is proud of the work he does at the massive Earnst and Young building in downtown Cleveland but said his pay of $13.50 an hour makes it tough to get by week-to-week.
“So if 80% of my check goes to rent I barely have enough money to eat for two weeks, let alone get transportation to and from work," Gilner said, “If you only have $100 dollars to spend, and it has to work for two weeks, some days you might not even eat.”
Gilner, who is a member of Cleveland's SEIU Local 1, said low wages make it difficult for downtown janitorial companies to maintain good employees, which means he's left with a heavy workload and long hours.
“It’s hard to keep workers because we don’t get paid enough, we usually get assigned two floors a person, but sometimes we get assigned three because we don’t have enough workers," Gilner said. “It's not only janitors but security, everyone in that work area is just as important as those people in those buildings, or the people that we have clean for and cook for."
Low wages for downtown maintenance and janitorial workers is why SEIU Local 1 Ohio State Director and Vice President Yanela Sims is calling on Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb to give low-income workers a voice in his proposed Shore-to-Core-to-Shore, Tax Increment Finance District or "TIF Plan."
Sims said she's had very preliminary talks with Mayor Bibb, hoping the city could use its influence in helping to improve wages for hundreds of downtown maintenance workers, as contracts with the city are being crafted with major developers and companies in the future.
Mayor Bibb's "TIF Plan" could divert up to $7.5 billion in tax dollars over the next 40 years to help fund major development projects in downtown Cleveland, along Lake Erie and the Cuyahoga River.
“The city has influence in who makes the decision on what happens," Sims said. “Once those buildings are constructed, people have to work in them, and they should also benefit from the development of these properties."
Sims told News 5 that wages are such an issue for janitorial, security and building maintenance staff in Northeast Ohio; SEIU Local 1 and the Northeast Ohio Worker Center will host its 2024 One Cleveland Forum on Saturday, March 23 at 12 p.m., at MAGNET located at 1800 E. 63rd St., Cleveland, Ohio 44103.
Sims said the forum will bring together Clevelanders from all walks of life to discuss the city's most pressing issues and determine how to combine collective power to win for working families across the region.
“So it should be good jobs for all, it should be an opportunity for everybody to gain from those developments," Sims said. “Our members should be compensated for the time that they spend making sure that those properties are clean and safe.”
Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin quickly agreed low wages are an issue among downtown janitorial workers but urged caution when moving forward with needed pay increases as the city fights to deal with growing vacancies in downtown buildings.
“Low wage workers should be taken care of throughout all these different processes," Griffin said. "But let me honest with you, we have five buildings that are in receivership, I’m hoping that we get a very decent owners in here, you have a tremendous amount of space downtown that’s vacant."
Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb's office quickly responded to our story, and it said it understands the plight of low-income workers. It issued the following statement:
While we have had discussions about community benefits implementation with respect to unions, we have not yet discussed this in connection with the Shore-to-Core-to-Shore TIF District.
As we move forward with the TIF district, the city will be seeking community benefits agreements that include and encourage strong labor participation.
Meanwhile, Cleveland City Council is set to vote on the "TIF Plan" on March 25, and Griffin pledged that some of the diverted tax dollars will eventually help pave the way for badly needed neighborhood improvements as well.
“The edge and middle neighborhoods, as wells the distressed neighborhoods they will see a benefit from this too," Griffin said. “We got city neighborhoods that don’t have curbs, we have city neighborhoods that have potholes the size of Mars. We need revenue sources to make these infrastructure repairs."
SEIU Local 1 will start new contract talks for its 1,300 Northeast Ohio members on March 28.
News 5 is committed in following through on this developing story.
