In a win for county office janitors whose labor dispute has pulled in the Board of Supervisors, San Diego County will ask its janitorial contractors to protect working conditions and rights of janitors, landscapers and other employees as a condition of keeping their contracts, the board decided in a split vote Tuesday.
Companies working for the county must abide by a new policy spelling out those rights, or their contacts will expire after the first year and the county will solicit competitive bids to fill them. In a 4-1 vote, the board directed the contracting department to negotiate with current contractors to incorporate the new labor standards into existing contracts for janitorial, landscaping and security services, and authorized the agency to solicit bids for that work if an agreement can’t be reached. Supervisor Jim Desmond objected, saying new contracts would be too expensive.
County janitors have been pushing since late last year for their employer, Nova, to agree to labor standards the board passed in December for new county contractors. They also want recognition of their union.after a worker said she had been forced to work with caustic chemicals and no protective equipment, then fired along with three others, in what the union charged was retaliation.
The janitors agreed to return to work during a two-week cooling-off period after county officials pledged to investigate. The four fired employees
So the board of supervisors negotiates for the unions now? There is already wage theft, sexual harassment and discrimination laws at the state level … next move is anyone doing any work for county must be unionized, charging 100x nominal rate to tax payers to do anything. Yay.