CHICAGO -- Avoiding a threatened strike, the area's unionized janitors Sunday ratified a pair of new three-year contracts covering almost 10,000 downtown and suburban janitors.þþAgreements negotiated with building management officials last week give members of the Service Employees International Union pay raises each year for the next three years. And for the first time, janitors will receive reduced-cost prescription drug coverage.þþSuburban janitors, who have long made less than their downtown counterparts, sought to narrow the wage gap during their negotiations with the Cleaning Contractors Association of Chicago. Their new contract calls for a 45-cent hourly raise this year in their hourly pay, followed by 40-cent raises in 2004 and 2005.The downtown janitors will get a 30-cent increase this year and 25-cent increases in 2004 and 2005. Although the starting hourly pay downtown will be $9.40 and $8.45 in the suburbs, suburban janitors will receive more health-care benefits.
Source: Chicago Tribune
