Janitors protest conditions at offices owned by Irvine Company

Hundreds of janitors have organized protests, saying they’re overworked at offices owned by the Irvine Company.

The union custodians at two properties owned by the Newport Beach-based real estate giant held protests claiming they’re understaffed, overworked and missing breaks as people return to office work, the Orange County Register reported.

They say the Irvine Company, which hires outside janitorial services to clean its offices, should promote hiring more janitors to ensure fair workloads. The workers, represented by SEIU United Service Workers West, say that would reduce employee burnout.

The Irvine Company declined to say anything to the Register about the custodians’ concerns.

ABM Janitorial Services, which employs many of the workers, defended its treatment of employees. ABM Janitorial is a Texas-based unit of ABM Industries, based in New York.

“We greatly value the work, dedication and excellence of our janitorial team members,” the company said in a statement. “We are in full compliance with our labor agreements and will continue to work with our union counterparts to resolve any open issues.”

This week’s protests were held at the Newport Beach office of Irvine Company Chairman Donald Bren and at another company-owned office building in San Diego. The concerns are shared by more than 320 union janitors employed at Irvine Company-owned buildings across the state, according to the Register.

Some claim they have to clean nearly 79,000 square feet of offices per eight-hour shift, with just a 30-minute break. That’s the same as cleaning 42 average-sized homes per shift, the union said.

Others say they’re forced to miss breaks in order to complete their work.

“The workloads can be heavy, especially if there are large events going on,” said Rosa Cazares, who works at an office building in San Diego. “My arms ache from picking up so many trash bins. I’m dragging my feet at the end of the day.”

“They need to hire more people, but ABM recently laid off some employees, and that has increased the amount of work we have to do,” she said.

Luis Fuentes, SEIU-USWW’s regional vice president, said increasing workloads have been an ongoing problem in the janitorial industry, even before the pandemic kicked in. The janitors’ labor contract will expire on April 30, 2024.

Fuentes said some janitors have had their work routes doubled because of layoffs, resulting in dangerous working conditions.

“For several years we have tried to bargain over these concerns with ABM and other employers at the bargaining table, but they have been unwilling to agree on reasonable terms and continue to withhold information to justify the work that they are assigning,” Fuentes said in a statement.

— Dana Bartholomew