Workers rally for safer conditions and more affordable health care at American Dream
They called for better working conditions and demanded respect. Employees of House Services of America Cleaning Inc., which is responsible for maintenance and cleaning at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, waved signs that read “Strike Against HSA Cleaning” and cheered each other on, with the mall as their backdrop.
Ana Maria Hill is the New Jersey janitorial director for the 32BJ SEIU local.
“The cleaners here are responsible for cleaning the entire mall, which includes attractions like the water park and ski slopes,” Hill said. “The water park, for instance, has slippery and unsafe conditions. Workers often have to carry heavy loads up to the slides. They aren’t properly trained for these tasks, and it’s hazardous.”
About 35 people in purple shirts from 32BJ protested on Saturday afternoon in response to alleged illegal firings. Union members and their representatives said they work in hostile environments for low pay and are looking for these things to change. They also are seeking more affordable health care.
“Even discussing having a union has led to firings,” Hill said. “They’re demanding these changes and to have a voice and representation without fear of retaliation.”
They stood in a circle and rallied around two men, Jose Teran and Luis Varela, who said HSA fired them in June 2022 after they started calling and texting co-workers to talk about forming a union. Both were out of work for a year until an injunction forced HSA to give the men their jobs back by a July 13 deadline.
HSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Standing in a small concrete area between half-empty parking garages, Varela, 37, of West New York, spoke into a microphone recounting how “brutal” it was when he was fired via text message. Human resources sent him a message through What’sApp saying he was “no longer required for work.”
“I’ve worked for the mall since the day they opened, and I did the best that I could,” Varela said. “They offered me promotions. They prized my work, and then they said it was for poor performance that I got fired.”
But text messages also saved Varela’s job when the National Labor Relations Board was able to use his own texts to connect his union activity to his firing, he said.
While Varela felt the loss of his job as a blow to his pride, the immediate blow to Teran, 42, also of West New York, was financial. He said he was banned from the mall for five years when he was fired, and that caused him to lose his part-time job at Five Guys, a restaurant in the mall.
For three years with the cleaning service he was vacuuming entryways, Big Snow and a pizzeria. He also cleaned escalators and windows, two men's rooms and two women's rooms. But if that sounds hard, Teran said, his days have become even harder, because he often is asked to do more now that there’s bad blood between management and union members.
HSA currently has 114 employees working in the mall; 76 of them voted to unionize, said Claudio Saldana of 32BJ.
Teran is hoping that being part of the union will lead to “better pay and better treatment."
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Employees who clean the American Dream mall strike for better benefits
