Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Herald Piece on the Card Counting

The Miami Herald has a story on tomorrow's announcement of the card check at UM:

UM janitors' unionization vote to be announced tomorrow

BY NIALA BOODHOO
nboodhoo@MiamiHerald.com

University of Miami janitors today delivered their votes on union representation, with results to be announced tomorrow, the Service Employees International Union said today.

As part of the previously agreed election process, cards indicating support for the union were turned over to a neutral third party, the American Arbitration Association, the union said.

The votes will be verified and counted and results announced tomorrow.

The union must have at least a 60 percent majority in order to win the rights to represent the 400 or so janitors who clean UM's main and medical center campuses.

Some of those workers went on a nine-week strike against the university beginning in March to protest unfair labor practices against Unicco Services Co., the contractor that employs the workers.

After sit-ins by students, hunger strikes by workers, some local clergy and other activists, the union, the university and Unicco reached an agreement last month on how a union election would be held.

The university has already raised worker wages by at least 25 percent and offered access to a comprehensive health care plan.

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