“We’re Latin Americans, and we’re working here to survive. I’m very worried about this. I live by my work,” Alberto Toj Garcia said (with Snegroff translating). As an RCM employee, Toj is one of the janitors who could lose his job in the transition.
“We hope that what we’re doing with this struggle is win—that’s what we’re trying to do,” Toj said.
The union said the workers received a temporary stay that postponed the contract transfer from August 1 to September 1, but the union is still seeking official confirmation that its workers will not lose their jobs.
“A one-month stay is a mini-victory in that on Monday, everyone has work,” Snegroff said.
Snegroff said that previous demonstrations had prompted the rehiring of four woman janitors in January.
Neither Harvard Planning and Real Estate nor the Harvard News Office would comment on the union’s demands.
—Staff writer Samuel C. Scott can be reached at sscott@fas.harvard.edu.