Deal Giving Some Part-Time Boston-Area Janitors Health Benefits a ‘Good Resolution,’ Editorial Says

The impasse between striking Boston-area janitors and maintenance contractors, which centered mainly around health benefits for part-time workers, has been resolved because of "good tactical thinking" on all sides of the debate, a Boston Globe editorial states. The editorial praises the Service Employees International Union Local 254, members of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino's (D) administration and the contractors for resolving "highly public differences at the bargaining table" (Boston Globe, 10/25). The janitors had been on strike for nearly three weeks in part to gain health benefits for part-time employees (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 10/24). Under a proposed five-year deal, which has yet to be voted on by the janitors, 1,000 part-time janitors who work in downtown Boston buildings with more than 400,000 square-feet of office space would receive benefits. Around 7,000 part-time janitors working in smaller buildings would not receive health benefits, however (Blanton, Boston Globe, 10/25). Because the lack of health care benefits for part-time workers "dominated the negotiations," the deal sets "an important precedent for future negotiations," the Globe contends. "Industry leaders should note the high level of public support for the striking janitors," the editorial says, adding, "[t]he public can quickly lose its appetite for industries that structure part-time work forces primarily to avoid paying benefits." The parties involved "deserve praise for their abilities to resolve highly public differences at the bargaining table," but the "larger task of ... expanding health coverage to the working poor should not wait for the next contract crisis," the Globe concludes (Boston Globe, 10/25).