ANNALS OF LABOR SEIU, business owner clash on claim of threats BY JOHN ZORABEDIAN

Union organizers say that Martins Maintenance, the largest non-union cleaning contractor working in Providence’s downtown financial district, has threatened to fire employees if they are seen speaking to organizers with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Local 615. The organizers say they approached Martins Maintenance janitors working at the Turks Head Building in September, and were told by the workers that they would be fired if they were seen speaking to the union or taking related literature.

Company owner Manuel Martins Jr., who vehemently denies the union’s allegations, says he has employs four part-time employees at the Turks Head Building. Martins says the claims of threats are "completely false," and that the union is "slandering our company."

Union organizers — who are pressing the "Justice for Janitors" campaign — say the janitors in question are unwilling to speak with the press for fear of losing their jobs. "This is not uncommon in this industry, the level of fear," says SEIU organizer Roxana Rivera.

Amarilis Rodriguez, a volunteer organizer, says she spoke with the Martins Maintenance janitors in private, away from the Turks Head Building. She says they told her that their supervisors had threatened them about speaking to union organizers. "The supervisors, they [said], if you talk with somebody from the union or receive some papers from the union . . . they [the janitors] will lose their jobs," says Rodriguez, partly through a translator.

Martins Maintenance has 200 regular employees and an unspecified number of part-time employees, with sales of between $5 million and $10 million, according to a June 2005 report from the US Business Directory. Martins would not confirm the size of his company, which, he says, has no unionized workers. The company is the largest non-union janitorial contractor in Providence, according to the SEIU.

Although the SEIU’s organizing campaign is "squeezing out family business," business has picked up in recent weeks, Martins says, in reaction to the union. "It’s increasing our business," he says. "We’ve been getting calls off the wall . . . In one way, I’d like to thank [the union.]"

The union has contacted the building’s owner, Granoff Associates — a partner in the forthcoming luxury condo tower on Westminster Street — but has received no commitments, Rivera says.

The SEIU responded with loud protests outside of the Turks Head building for two weeks last month, seeking community support for the janitors. At one of the protests, two organizers were fined $200 for violating a city ordinance against drumming. Marc Gursky, a lawyer for the union, calls the ordinance an unconstitutional abridgement of free speech.

"People should not have to be making poverty wages when they’re working hard," Rivera says. "People are working two to three jobs. We’re saying there should be [a] reward for hard work."