FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, October 1, 2002

James O'Keefe for State Treasurer
PO Box 441031
Somerville, MA 02144
(617) 628-2922
info@jamesokeefe.org
www.jamesokeefe.org

Contact:
Vanessa Bliss, Campaign Manager

News Release

James O’Keefe Joins Striking Janitors, Pledges Support

SOMERVILLE – James O’Keefe, Green Party candidate for State Treasurer, marched with the striking janitors in Boston Monday evening. He has pledged his support for their efforts to earn a decent wage, access to full-time work and health benefits.

The janitors are striking as part of the Justice for Janitors campaign, an initiative of SEIU. They are striking because of unfair low wages and unsatisfactory health benefits. More than 75% of the striking workers only work part-time, between 3 and 4 hours a day, so they are not eligible for employer-provided health benefits and only make $39 a day.

“It is unfair and unjust that while corporate executives are making millions of dollars, the people vacuuming their floors and emptying their garbage are living below the poverty line,” said O’Keefe.

Like the California and New York state employees pension funds, he is committed to instituting a responsible contractor policy. A responsible contractor policy would require that all contractors who work in property owned by the state pension fund pay their workers fair wages and benefits and allow such workers to unionize. Shannon O'Brien, the current state treasurer, has been absent from using such policies to ensure that striking janitors receive a fair contract.

“While commercial rent in Boston is among the highest in the country, it doesn’t make any sense that the people cleaning those buildings aren’t making a living wage. How can Shannon O'Brien call herself a friend of working folks when she will not work with California and New York to get Boston area janitors a decent contract?” added O’Keefe.

James O’Keefe, a life-long Massachusetts resident, a software engineer and a progressive political activist, is the only State Treasurer candidate that has come out in support of the striking janitors.