Oriole Park cleaners vote to unionize

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.cleaners25jul25,0,7060730.story

By Jamie Smith Hopkins | Sun reporter
July 25, 2008

The workers who clean Oriole Park at Camden Yards - and who fought a successful campaign last year for higher wages - have voted to unionize, AFSCME Maryland said yesterday.

The union, the state affiliate of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said the cleaners voted 64 to 13 to join. About 130 were eligible to vote. AFSCME hailed the results, tallied early yesterday morning, as a victory for "contingent workers" with no set schedule.

They are employed by Chimes DC, which is an arm of Baltimore nonprofit Chimes International and has a contract with the Maryland Stadium Authority. Last summer, when the contract was handled by another company, workers pushed to be paid the "living wage" required for certain state contractors - $11.30 an hour in the Baltimore area, rather than the $7 an hour they were getting. The law doesn't apply to them because they work only during home games, rather than consecutive weeks.

The stadium authority agreed to the higher wage, which went into effect in the spring when Chimes took over the Oriole Park contract. But Joe Lawrence, a spokesman for AFSCME Maryland, said the janitors have been unhappy about their treatment since.

"Many long-time workers get called irregularly," Lawrence said. "The wage has much less meaning when there's not hours being given in a regular or sufficient way."


FULL story at link.

[bluesmail]

1. Excellent.