Chaotic forum leads to large attendance, larger frustration

ABM orders janitor supervisor to leave

By Sara Levin

News editor



The janitor supervisor accused of worker abuse several months ago, Zbignein Gryko, will soon be removed from the Wesleyan campus, according to Justin Harmon, Director of University Communications. His company, American Building Maintenance [ABM] will move Gryko to another site and re-train him.

According to various janitors, although they are happy about ABM’s decision, there is still an array of work-related problems that they would like addressed.

Wesleyan administrators were notified of the decision Tuesday, after ABM representative Charles McGinley visited the campus three weeks ago and conducted a series of interviews with over a dozen janitors. Upon hearing of the recent decision, one janitor who had worked for months to bring claims of mistreatment to light was brought to tears.

“I started to cry,” she said. “It’s a lesson for us not to be afraid to fight for our civil rights. All of us living in this country can have our rights one way or another.”

Many of the janitors who worked under Gryko are from Latin America, the majority from Mexico. All janitors who testified did so in confidence of ABM and the janitors’ union, Local 32BJ, and requested anonymity.

Sasha Freudenberg ’05, English as a Second Language (ESL) liaison to the United Student Labor Action Coalition (USLAC) and the Administration, was notified of the decision by Marcia Bromberg, Vice President of Finance and Administration. Freudenberg and other students affiliated with ESL and USLAC are organizing a forum for Monday, inviting the greater student community to attend to learn about specific issues the janitors are concerned with.

Alex Early ’07, a USLAC representative who has been working with Freudenberg and Bromberg, said she wants to meet with Bromberg next week to discuss further steps the University could take to ensure worker respect and safety.

“We want to thank [Bromberg] for her cooperation and commitment to getting a fair investigation done by ABM,” she added.

Due to allegations that a previous investigation conducted by ABM was unfairly executed, Bromberg and Harmon had pledged to follow the case closely and look into any wrongdoing ABM was accused of in conducting the most recent one.

“While we are disappointed that the janitors’ union was not more aggressive in advocating on the janitors’ behalf, we are grateful to the Wesleyan students who helped the janitors tell their stories and advocated for an appropriate supervisory resolution to the case,” Harmon said.

Even though the University was officially notified of ABM’s decision, the janitor’s union delegate José Rodriguez was not. Rodriguez is still waiting for a response from McGinley and said he preferred to wait until receiving an official confirmation to comment on the fairness of the investigation.

Rodriguez remarked, however, that he was glad to have been able to attend the interviews, as he was barred from doing so in the previous investigation. He also said that there was a neutral interpreter present brought by ABM.

“The interviews were better this time, more impartial,” said one custodian. “We’ve been asking for action for three years and before it seemed like they were just playing games. This time, it seemed like they were working with us.”

At a meeting with students on Thursday, janitors discussed some of the additional grievances they would like addressed. The most urgent complaint regards the process of garbage disposal, which involves hauling heavy loads across campus and has caused at least three workers to go to the hospital with injuries. Other issues include establishing a consistent process for permanently hiring temporary workers, enforcing professional relationships between workers and management and that “heavy duty” work not be used as a punishment.

At the forum on Monday, janitors and students intend to inform the larger community about the specifics of these dangers, which will then possibly be discussed with Bromberg, according to Early.

“Unfortunately the problem goes deeper than just [the supervisor],” Freudenberg said. “The Administration should impose stricter supervision on ABM and give a direct warning to [the current janitor manager] that they don’t tolerate abuse.”

Freudenberg, after having announced the “victory” of the janitors at the community forum in Crowell on Wednesday, was planning to hold a rally on Monday in support of the janitors. At the Thursday meeting to plan the event, however, janitors said that even though they wanted to show their unity at the rally, they were still uncomfortable with publicizing their identity and did not want to speak out during it. Because of their reaction, USLAC and ESL students decided to hold the informational forum instead to educate other students about their efforts and possible ways to address them.

“The custodians here took a stand and have drawn a line of respect for our community,” Freudenberg said. “Their courage has made Wesleyan a more decent place for all of us; we want to give them the credit they deserve for the courage they’ve shown.”