BLOOMFIELD, NJ — Cleaning workers held a rally at the Broadacres Office Park in Bloomfield on May 4 to protest treatment by their employer, Planned Companies, and the new owners of the complex, ERCT Capital Group. Represented by the 32BJ Service Employees International Union, the workers are asking that their full health benefits and $16.10-per-hour wages be restored.
Before ERCT bought the complex in March, the previous owner, P3 Properties, fired the cleaners’ previous employer and hired Planned Companies. According to the union, Planned cut wages and benefits when it took over, right before the sale.
A spokesperson from ERCT declined to comment on the protest or the wages and benefits cuts.
“The last owners thought they would increase their resale value and kicked them out by replacing them with a union buster,” Kevin Brown, vice president and New Jersey director of 32BJ SEIU, said in a phone interview with The Independent Press on May 7. “When ERCT purchased it, they kept Planned on.”
According to Brown, some workers left their jobs at the complex when their wages and benefits were cut, but many of them couldn’t. In a press release from the union after the protest, cleaner Roxaida Liz said she relies on the job.
“For the past month, my family and I had to make some drastic changes to our lives,” she said in the release. “As a mother of two teenagers, I had no choice but to accept the new wages, since I rely on my two jobs to make ends meet.”
Mayor Michael Venezia was at the protest and encouraged ERCT to hire a contractor that will pay the cleaning staff more per hour and offer full benefits.
“We are outraged to find out that this type of injustice is going on in our township. We have a strong sense of community. Throughout the pandemic, we have helped and protected each other. We will not allow injustice to prevail here,” Venezia said in the release. “We will not stand for the abusive treatment of workers by Planned Companies or anyone else, much less our essential workers, who day-to-day keep us safe and protected. We urge the building owners, ERCT Capital Group, to join us in rejecting these practices and hire a union contractor, who will pay workers a fair wage, give them back their family health care and treat them with dignity.”
Tenants who rent office space in the complex were alerted to the issue at the protest. Brown said one joined the rally.
“It got the attention of the tenants; one came out and joined us,” he said. “It got the attention of the mayor and council, which is important.”
The union is continuing to meet with tenants in the complex’s four buildings, which are located on Broad Street and Broadacres Avenue. Venezia is also planning a meeting with the buildings’ owner.
“You get what you pay for,” Brown said. “A lot of people won’t be motivated to stay there or do a good job. Especially in this COVID era, you want that place taken care of. The tenants know that. Hopefully cooler minds will prevail.”
Photos Courtesy of Maria Lanao
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