Janitors' Union in Massachusetts and Rhode Island Averts Strike with Historic Agreement

The deal includes a 20% wage increase over four years and conversion of 500 part-time jobs to full-time, providing many workers with health benefits for the first time.

• A threatened strike by 12,500 janitors in Massachusetts and Rhode Island was averted as the union reached a tentative agreement with the region’s largest cleaning contractors.
• The agreement offers the janitors wage increases of around 20 percent over the course of a four-year contract.
• The deal will convert 500 part-time positions in Boston and Cambridge to full-time jobs, allowing many union members to access employer-paid health benefits for the first time.
• The agreement averts a strike, which could have begun on Thursday after the current agreement was set to expire with the 60 employers represented by the Maintenance Contractors of New England.
• The janitors' union agreed to extend the contract several times during the pandemic, but hadn't had the opportunity to negotiate a new deal since 2016.

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