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Janitors At Tufts University Authorize Union To Call A Strike

With their contract set to expire Monday, janitors who clean Tufts University voted Thursday to authorize their union to call for a strike if no agreement is reached with Tufts' cleaning contractor.

The janitors are seeking wage increases and more full-time jobs.

"Converting folks to full-time work will make the biggest difference for people that are right now trying to cobble two and three jobs together just to make ends meet," Roxana Rivera, vice president of the 32BJ SEIU union, told WBUR.

In a statement after Thursday's vote, the union said negotiations between C&W Services, Tufts' cleaning contractor, and 32BJ SEIU began last August. The contract covers nearly 200 custodians who work at the university's main campus in Medford and Somerville.

In a statement, C&W Services said it has been negotiating "in good faith," and that it has, to date, "proposed a wage increase, family health insurance coverage with no employee contribution, increases in the Union’s Pension and Training Funds as well as contributions to the Union’s Legal Services Fund."

Tufts said in a statement that it respects and values the C&W employees, and it has "confidence in the process and believe[s] that C&W and the SEIU will reach a fair agreement."

The strike authorization vote comes after a nearly three-week strike by dining services workers at Harvard University, which ended with the ratification of a new contract on Wednesday.

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