MIT Custodians’ Petition Forces

In the first week of March, the new manager of facilities at MIT, John DiFava, learned that nearly 200 custodians had signed a petition calling for a meeting with him. The petition circulated after management contracted One Source custodians to do work usually done by in-house custodians.

“If management is having a problem getting the work done, they need to talk to us about it so we can help,” said third shift shop steward Mike Valeri.

Fellow steward Tony Anzalone echoed Mike’s concerns, “Management never talked to us about this. Outside contractors just showed up one day and that made us angry and worried.”

Within days of circulating the petition, shop stewards Virgil Tiago, Mike Valeri and George Fichera and Local 615 organizer Matt Gulish met with Mr. Difava and the custodial managers.

Management was apologetic about the way they handled the whole situation and have pledged to cooperate with the Union. Mr. DiFava told the Union delegation that he is committed to keeping the work in-house and offering our members more overtime before going outside to get the work done. In addition, he has told the custodial managers to hire 20 new people.

We’re encouraged by what we heard, but there are still a lot of problems left to be worked out. Overtime is not being offered equally and many custodians still find it almost impossible to get their vacation time approved.

The Union and the Institute have agreed to monthly Labor-Management meetings to make sure that the membership participates in decisions that affect their work and that there is open communication on both sides.

The custodians at MIT have shown that when we work together and stand united, they can force management to deal with our concerns.