Janitors want Irvine Co. support

Hundreds of janitors from across Orange County seeking higher wages, better health care and affordable housing paraded past Irvine Co.-owned buildings in Newport Center this afternoon.

Chanting “Sí se puede” and beating on drums fashioned out of office water cooler jugs and coffee tins with hunks of plywood, janitorial workers from the Service Employees International Union marched around Fashion Island and blocked traffic in Newport Center.

Contracts covering more than 16,000 janitorial workers expired this week and union workers will vote Saturday on whether or not to go on strike.

With prices for gas and groceries rising steadily, most janitorial workers in Orange County cannot continue to support their families on low wages, said union organizer Silvia Hernandez.

“We want to have a better life for our families,” Hernandez said. “Hopefully we can get a better contract so we can send our children to college. We all want our children to get an education.”

The average annual income for janitors in Orange County is $18,000 and some janitorial workers earn as little as $8.65 an hour, according to union organizers.

Most of the janitorial workers at the march worked until the early hours of the morning before the march and would have to return to work to support their families immediately after the protest, said union organizer Ernesto Guerrero.

Many protesters, most of them Latino, pushed strollers or walked holding the hands of their young children during the march. Many janitorial workers cannot afford to live in Orange County unless they share crowded apartments with other families and commute, Hernandez said. The workers want higher wages to be able to live in the same communities they work in, she said.

Most of the janitors work for private cleaning contractors that have contracts with large companies like the Irvine Co., according to Guerrero. The workers hoped to gain support from the Irvine Co. for their contract negotiations, Guerrero said.

“We know the Irvine Co. is a big player,” Guerrero said. “These people want better wages because they can barely fill up their gas tanks on what they make now.”

BRIANNA BAILEY may be reached at (714) 966-4625 or at brianna.bailey@latimes.com.