They clean our bathrooms, mop our floors and pick up our trash, but rarely do the maintenance workers at Georgetown University receive recognition or thanks. Recently, however, a group of students has sought to change this, forming the Living Wage Coalition in hopes of raising worker wages above the poverty level. The following four stories exemplify the daily lives of Georgetown University workers employed by P&R Enterprises. These first-hand accounts were collected and transcribed by Gladys Cisneros (GRD ‘05), Ginny Leavell (CAS ‘05), Anders Fremstad (CAS ‘06) and Mike Wilson (CAS ‘05). All workers’ names have been changed.
Azucena, 40 Years Old?-P&R Worker
The story of how I got to the U.S. is very long, and too sad to tell. It is very hard to come to this country. I suffered very much, and I had to spend time in Mexico before I was able to find a way to the U.S. I insisted on moving to the U.S. There comes a point when the hunger is too much to bear, and you want to find good work. But I had to come alone; I could not bring my children. I had to leave my two sons with my mother. It is the most painful thing in the world to be separated from your children. It is hard to only talk to them on the telephone; it is so hard to not know how they are growing. But I had to come first, and save enough money to be able to bring them. My sons were very young, and I did not get to see them for 14 years. I could not go back, and they could not come to me. When I left my home in El Salvador, I was heartbroken to leave behind my children, my mother.
I came to the D.C. area because I had family already living out here. I had to move in with my sister until I could find a good job and a place to live. But it took me more than four years to be able to save enough money, to have enough to pay rent for my own place. I have had many jobs, working in cleaning and working in restaurants. It is hard work, but my whole life I have had to work hard. You get used to it.
I found out about the P&R job from friend. We both came to apply, and it seemed like it wouldn’t be too bad. I’m used to working. But the work here is very hard, and we work too much. They give you a task, certain parts to clean-but the supervisors, they won’t lend a hand. You work like a dog. Cleaning floors is hard. There is a lot to clean, and you have to sweep first and then go back with the mop. Most days I feel a lot of pain in my back, from cleaning floors and bending. The pain doesn’t go away until I go home and shower, and the hot water relaxes my muscles. I have to clean bathrooms, and there are so many! I also have to do doors, windows, carpets and floors. For only $7.25 an hour. Night work is harder than day work. During the day, the classrooms don’t need to be cleaned because there are people inside. At night, we have to clean everything.
Our salaries were raised last year, but it is not enough. I would like another increase in salary. Half of my salary goes to pay rent. I pay $650 for a tiny apartment in the city, for three people. There is only one bedroom. I also have to send money to El Salvador. I have to provide for my mother, and one of my sons is still there. I could not bring him to the U.S., and I have never been able to visit him. It’s been years now. Luckily, he goes to school; but I have to send money to pay for his college. I try to send them $350 every month.
I get to work at 10:30 p.m., and I get out at 7:30. I go home as soon as I can so that I can sleep. Most days I can sleep until the afternoon, maybe until 2:00 p.m. But sometimes I have to run errands, and I can’t sleep that much. I have to get up in the early afternoon so that I can cook for my son, but I have to leave at 5:00 p.m. to go to my second job. My son also has to work two jobs, and I hardly see him. He gets home at 4:00, and I have to leave for work at 5:00. I wish I could see him more, but we both have to work.
I have a part-time job cleaning offices downtown. Since it is a part-time job I don’t get health insurance, but at least I get paid sick days and paid holidays. We get all the holidays off, and they are paid. I know that’s because there is a union in my job downtown, and they had to fight for that. With P&R they don’t give you paid holidays.
I wish I could find a day shift somewhere, so that I wouldn’t be exhausted all the time. It is very difficult to find day work. It is hard to find any work! Sometimes on the public bus, you will see other immigrants who are asking around, to see if there is work. A lot of people don’t have anything. So you know that you have to keep the job you have, because you won’t be able to find another one. You can’t complain.
Sometimes the students are disrespectful to us. They make big messes in the bathrooms-it’s a disaster. They leave a lot of trash, and a lot of disgusting things to clean up. I don’t even understand how they could be so dirty! Students leave lots of sticky food and spill soda, or they will leave trash in the sinks and clog the drains. In some bathrooms there is urine all over the place, and I have to clean that. People spit on the floors, on the walls. In the women’s bathroom, some people leave their menstrual pads lying on the floor. They can’t even wrap them up and put them in the trash. It’s as though they want you to have to come pick it up after them with your own hands. I know they pay a lot of money to study here at Georgetown. Maybe they expect you to come clean up after them for that kind of money. When I am walking into a building, there are some students who just let the door slam in your face.
I wish that you could make enough to live on from working one job. I don’t like working two jobs. It should be enough to only work one. If we had a living wage, I could think about quitting my part-time job, because it is too hard to work both. Life in this country is not easy. Sometimes I get discouraged. But I get strength from my children. My son is going to graduate from his college this year, and he will have a career. I am so proud of him. And I am proud that I helped him get ahead.
Martha, 50 Years Old-P&R Worker
When I got to the U.S. I had to raise my two boys, and then I was pregnant again. It took me a while to get back to work. My husband wanted me to stay home with the children for as long as I could. I want to raise my children well; I don’t trust anyone else to care for them. We’ve never received any aid-our family is far away, we have never asked for any government money. But it is not easy?-raising four children in this country is very hard.
My husband did not want to stay in the U.S. He didn’t want to apply for his permanent residency because he always thought he would go back to our home country. But we couldn’t think of ourselves anymore. We had to think of our children, and the good future they could have in the United States. I had to convince him to get the proper work permits and to apply for the residence, so that we would have an easier time finding good jobs. I know it is not easy to leave your home country. Believe me, we would stay if we could. I would gladly stay in my home, in the country I love. It is out of necessity that one has to leave.
Cleaning is the only kind of job I can get. It is hard work; it makes your back ache. You have to bend over toilets and floors for hours and hours. All the managers told that I wouldn’t be able to handle it, that I would soon quit. I told them that I wasn’t like that. I would come back, because I had to. I knew I could handle any kind of work. By the grace of God, I had the good fortune to become friends with one of the managers, and he was able to switch me to the day shift. That was much better for me.
But then I got even luckier, and I found a full-time job, in a building downtown with a union. I got paid more than two dollars more, and I had six paid days of sick leave, and many paid holidays. When I worked in that building, I never had a problem with any of the managers. We could have our union, and the managers would not give us any problems. I worked there eight years. I would have like to stay there, but then another company bought the building they were going to demolish it. We were all unemployed.
I spent six months without a job, and that was very hard. But through some distant relatives, I heard about a job at a university. That’s how I came to work for P&R. The workplace was very different, I could tell right away. They started me out doing very tough work, work that women don’t usually do. The managers asked me if I could handle it, and I said I could – because I wanted to keep that job. But really, I wished that they could switch me to do something else. I got paid less, and we had no benefits at all. There were many differences with this new job. Before, we had no health insurance. And there is too much work.
I start work at 11:00 p.m., and I have work hard to keep pace. I designate a section that I have to get done by a certain hour, or else I will miss my break. You can’t slow down, and you can’t leave any work to be done later in the morning, because you are going to have other work to do later. I get out at 7:30 a.m. It takes me a long time to get home, maybe an hour. Then I come home and I get my children ready for school. At about 9:00 a.m., I can finally sleep. Only for a few hours, though. I have lots to do around the house. I get up at 1:00 p.m., and start cooking meals. At 2:00 p.m. I have to pick up my children from school, and then I have to care for them and busy myself with chores and errands. As a woman, your work is never done. Even when you come home from work, there is a lot of work to be done in the house, for your family. It’s like you have two jobs. I finish cooking the dinner for the family, although we are rarely together. My husband works two jobs, and we are only together on Saturday. If I have time I might be able to take a nap for an hour or two, but most days I only get five hours of sleep. I don’t get enough sleep, and I don’t have time for much else. I have never been able to go to school, I am too busy, and I need to work to support my family. By 10:00 p.m. I have to be well on my way to work, because it takes a while to get there and I can’t be late.
I spent six months without a job, and that was very hard. But through some distant relatives, I heard about a job at a university. That’s how I came to work for P&R. The workplace was very different, I could tell right away. They started me out doing very tough work, work that women don’t usually do. The managers asked me if I could handle it, and I said I could-because I wanted to keep that job. But really, I wished that they could switch me to do something else. I got paid less, and we had no benefits at all. There were many differences with this new job. Before, we had no health insurance. And there is too much work.
I have always gotten along just fine with my managers. I know that they are tougher on some of the other workers, but I have been lucky. I know the head manager is a good person. I have known him for some time now, and he has helped me in many ways. He knows I am a hard worker, that I am a good person. But now that we are in this campaign, I noticed he has changed. I don’t understand how this man, this same man, a Christian man, can threaten us now and treat us badly. I don’t know why he is turning his back on the workers, because I know that he is a good man. Now he says things to us that I can’t believe, very insulting things that good people shouldn’t say. Maybe that’s how people are-they prefer to side with the company, instead of sticking up for us. I can see why the top administration would be against us forming a union, but not him. This is why I would never want to be a manager. I could never betray my coworkers; I am not like that. I prefer to stay with the people who work by my side.
I am a woman of faith, and I am a woman of justice. I know that what we are paid is an injustice. I have worked in other buildings before, and I have worked with a union. I know the kinds of wages that other workers get, and this is not enough. It’s not right. I came to this country to work. I know that it is only with hard work that you can get ahead. You have to earn all the good things in your life. I am not afraid of working, but I know when something is unjust. I earn about $600 every pay check-that’s every two weeks, so every month I earn around $1200. My rent for my home is over $1500 a month! And I only have two little bedrooms, for six people. We have to pay our bills. I can’t afford to not have a telephone – I need a way for my children to call me. In the winter, the bills are especially high. We also had to buy a new car. We had an old, used car, but we were spending too much money fixing it up all the time. It is a big expense for my family, but we need it. I am very lucky that no one in my family has been seriously ill, because I don’t know how we could pay for hospital expenses. Living here is very expensive. It is hard to get through the month.
It is a good thing my husband can work, but he has to work two jobs. I wish he didn’t have to, but we have to make sacrifices for our children. We want our children to get ahead. I don’t want them to be like me, mopping floors for a living. But I am not ashamed of what I do; it’s not that I don’t want my children to clean because it is bad work. I know it is decent work. It is only shameful to steal, to try to make quick money. I understand what it is to work. Since I was 14 years old, I had to work. I just want my children to not have to exhaust themselves physically to make a living. There are better ways to earn money, if you have an education.
If we could get a raise, and even a living wage, it would help so much. We wouldn’t have to worry so much about paying the bills. We wouldn’t have to spend so much worrying about what you’re going to be able to pay that month, how to distribute the money. We could live a little more freely.
Elena Carranza
When I finally came to the U.S. from El Salvador, I had to find work immediately. The only job I could find was cleaning at a clinic; a friend of mine at church recommended the job to me, and tried to get me in. Cleaning is the only work I’ve ever done here. When you come from a different country and you don’t speak the language, this is the only kind of job you can get. I wish I could study, and learn English maybe, but I can’t. I work, and during the day I have to care for my children. I just don’t have any time. If I knew how to speak English, then I could defend myself. I take my five-year-old daughter around with me so that she can translate.
I start work at 11 p.m. I punch in, and go right to my building. I gather my supplies and I get started on the work so that I can get it all done. It is hard because the managers are always watching you; they won’t leave you alone. If they don’t like the way you clean something, they will make you do it again, even if that spot is already clean! Sometimes the cleaning solutions don’t clean all the stains, and that’s not my fault. Sometimes I don’t know what to do to please the manager. My old manager was not nice to me. One night, a toilet was clogged, and I asked him to help me with it. He told me that it was my job to get the toilet clean, and that if it was clogged, I should stick my hand in the toilet. I was shocked; I should have told him to stick his own hand down the toilet.
I have to catch the bus to go home at 7:30. It takes me more than an hour to get home. I have to rush home because I pay a baby-sitter to watch the children while the father is away at work. When he goes to work, he leaves the children with a neighbor. I pay her for the few hours that it takes me to get home. As soon as I get home, I have to feed breakfast to my children, and I do it as quickly as I can so that we can all take a nap together. I get to sleep at about 10 a.m., but my children get hungry again at about 1:00 p.m. I have to get up to feed them, and I also have to take care of them-play with them, bathe them, change diapers. I also have to start making dinner for my husband. If I am lucky I can sleep for another hour or so when he gets home from work, but that’s only if I don’t have a lot of chores or things to do outside the house. I also have to run errands, clean my home, and do laundry. By 9:00 pm I have to get ready for work again, so that I won’t be late.
Night work is hard. You are always tired. I wish that we would get paid more for our work, and that they could give us paid holidays. We don’t get a paid break. I get paid around $1200 a month, but I have to pay $1000 every month in rent alone. It is not enough. We can’t make it every month. I am lucky that my husband can also work. I live with my husband and my three children in a small efficiency apartment in Maryland. We don’t even have bedrooms.
I wish that when Georgetown had openings for directly-hired workers, that they would tell the P & R workers first. Especially the women-we need to work. If they have openings for night work, or even day shifts, I wish they would tell us. The Georgetown workers have a good job, they get more money and they get good benefits.
If we were paid a living wage, it would help me in my home. My family lives in a very small home. I would like to one day buy a house for my children, to have something better for them. It would let me save money for my children, and to give them a good future. I want my children to achieve all that I could not. I want my children to study; I want them to be different. I don’t want my children to work like I do. I know I cannot afford to send my children to college, but that is my dream for them, and I hope that they will study hard to get some government aid and scholarships. We get paid too little.
I know I need to work. I am not ashamed of my work; I know it is honest. Cleaning is necessary work, and I don’t mind doing it. I want to work. I just wish life could be a little easier.
Marvin Guzman
I went to public school in DC and when I was sixteen, as soon as I could, I started working part time to help my parents. I cleaned office buildings at night, vacuuming, shining floors, cleaning bathrooms, taking out trash. I usually got paid around $8 an hour. I gave half my money to my parents. I wasn’t doing so well in school because I was working so much, I would get stressed out so I would quit my job, but then I would always need money again so I would go back to work and do both school and work for awhile again. Sometimes I would miss school because I was tired. I finally dropped out of high school at 17, I wasn’t doing so well and my parents didn’t know what to do, so I thought I would drop out and work for a little bit and if I didn’t like working I would go back to school.
I got hired by P&R to clean at Georgetown; it was my first full time job. I worked for eight months and then left and got a part time job. I was looking for a day time job but couldn’t find one, so I went back to Georgetown. Now I work full time. My mom has a full time job, my brother has a full time job and a part time job, and my dad has a full time job and a part time job. My dad works during the day, he is a cleaning supervisor at two different buildings, so that he can be at home with my sisters at night while my mom, brother, and I are at work. I only see my family on the weekends really. There was a time when our schedules made it so I didn’t see my dad at all except on the weekends; it was not good.
We moved to Maryland recently because it is cheaper and quieter. There isn’t all the temptation to go out at night, because D.C. is too far. I just go to bed and get up and go to work. I still give about half my money to my parents. I got a car now to help drive people around, and I pay for that. My health insurance had run out when I was 18, so when Georgetown offered it, I took it.
I get to work at 11:00 and work until 3:00 when I get a half hour break and work until 7:00. I leave at 7:15 and go punch out at 7:25. At the beginning it was a lot of work. Eventually I told my supervisor that he had to give me less work and he gave some of my work to other workers, he split it up more. Its not that I have less work now, I just feel better now because I am not overworked. I still work my ass off, and they don’t even give us holidays off! Working all night on little sleep is hard. My body has gotten used to it, now I’m not sleepy all the time, just tired, exhausted. I used to fall asleep standing up in the elevator, but now I just feel drained all the time, but I can stay up. Sundays are the worst, because trash piles up from the whole weekend. The beginning of the week there is a lot more work to do. Sometimes the manager complains that things are dirty even after I clean them. They don’t understand that there are students around 24/7. Sometimes when I am cleaning, there is a line of people waiting to use the drinking fountain after I clean it, and as soon as they use it, it is dirty again. I don’t have time to go clean everything again in the morning, but sometimes I have to so they won’t complain. Students usually ignore me. Some say hello, but that’s it.
I rush home and pick up my mom and brother on the way. As soon as I get home I call my sisters outside and take them to school. My mom starts cooking, but sometimes she is too tired and just goes to sleep. We try to get to sleep as soon as we can because we know we aren’t going to get to sleep that much. We try to get as much rest as we can, we sleep for around five hours until about one o’clock. My mom gets up at 12:30 or 1:00 to start cooking, I have to get up at 1:00 or 1:30 to pick up my sisters. Then I come back and I don’t go back to sleep because I have to get up at 4:00 anyway to take my brother to work, there is no point in going back to sleep because I wouldn’t get to sleep that much before I have to take my brother to work. My dad comes back at 4:00 and stays for an hour before he has to leave at 5:00 for his other job. My mom and my sisters and I are at home alone then. My mom cooks and I help my sisters with their homework or sometimes I fall asleep for a little bit if I am really tired, but I have to be up again by 9:00. I drive my neighbor to the metro station and then my mom and my sisters meet my brother and my dad at my dad’s job. Then my dad takes my sisters home and I take my brother and my mom to work and we start all over again.
