“There are two women here and they get Social Security but they get very little at their other jobs,” Moura says. “There’s a woman who pays over $1,000 a month on medication who needs pills for her diabetes.”

Snegroff later praised Moura’s poignant presentation.

“Jeffrey was great,” Snegroff says. “He spoke personally and from the heart about how important health care is for himself and his family.”

According to Snegroff, LaBua argued in the meeting that the GSE does not have the funds to give Moura and his co-workers one more hour.

“LaBua said that the school could not afford it,” Snegroff says. “He said that there might be a way through layoffs or retirement to increase a few people’s schedules but that there was no way the group of 14 could get the one hour increase.”

LaBua declined to comment last night.

PROTECTING HIS CO-WORKERS

Since few members of the cleaning staff speak or read English, Moura is an important asset because he explains the intricacies of the labor contract to his co-workers.

“There was a woman who was sick here and was having trouble breathing. I brought her home and she had to stay home two weeks,” says Moura. “I called Prospect Cleaning and told them she did not get paid even though she had sick time according to the contract. I read the contract and she did have the right to get paid.”

The employee ultimately did get paid, according to Moura.

Although Moura is currently focused on the “One Hour Campaign,” he says he believes that his obligation to help other workers extends beyond Harvard’s campus.

“We went to a rally at the Hyatt [hotel] because the kitchen workers and janitors were getting paid $7 an hour,” said Moura. “After our cause is finished, I’m willing to go to rallies and union meetings to help other people.”

NIGHTS AT THE ED SCHOOL

Moura drives his father and two other elderly women on the cleaning staff to work every evening.

“I’ve known them my whole life,” says Moura, who has worked at the GSE for five years. “One’s my neighbor and the other lives 10 minutes away.”