They worked for years cleaning and maintaining the Episcopal Church Center in midtown Manhattan. But after they were fired on Dec. 30, nine hard-working people are in desperate need of divine intervention.
“We came to work on Dec. 30 as every day, hoping to leave a little earlier to celebrate the new year,” said Bronx native Héctor Miranda, a father of three. “But when we got to the building we were told that we no longer worked there. Just like that. They picked the date well to fire us.”
Now, without the means to support his family, Miranda has no idea how he will pay the rent.
“Even worse,” he said, “without health coverage I don’t know how I am going to pay for my wife’s treatment. She is a diabetic, you know.”
The workers lost their jobs - which paid standard wages and benefits - when the church canceled the contract with Paris Maintenance, a union cleaning contractor, and replaced it with the nonunion Benjamin Enterprises.
The workers belong to SEIU Local 32BJ, which is helping them organize demonstrations outside the church to protest what the union calls “the unlawful termination” of the porters - and to demand that they be offered jobs by the new contractor.
Recall that in Anaheim, the libs made a big deal of marching in solidarity with unionized Disney workers (sorry, no link - can’t bring myself to care enough), and in 2006 in Columbus, General Convention passed resolution D047, the third resolve of which read:
Resolved, That the 75th General Convention strongly urge the Church Center staff and especially the General Convention Planning Office to assure that dioceses that host events of The Episcopal Church comply with GC2003-A130 and provide a living wage for their employees
So on the one hand, it’s good to see 815 exposed as the hypocrites they are.
On the other hand, it’s bad that these are real people with real families we’re talking about, and they’re in a bind.
On the third hand, it’s good that SEIU representation in the American workforce has been reduced by 9.
On the fourth hand, yeah… it’s good to see 815 exposed as the hypocrites they are.