Bay Area janitors for Save Mart bring their case to Modesto council. Here’s why
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Save Mart re-bid janitorial services for Bay Area stores, which cut pay from $21 to $16.90
- Workers say they lost employer health insurance, pension and PTO beyond sick leave
- Workers urged Modesto leaders to pressure Save Mart; city’s influence is limited
Bay Area janitors urged Modesto city leaders to put pressure on Save Mart after the company switched to a nonunion janitorial contractor — a move workers say cost them their benefits and slashed their pay to minimum wage.
The workers previously were employed by King Janitorial Equipment Services, a third-party contractor for the Save Mart Companies. After the grocery company put its janitorial contract out to bid, King Janitorial did not bid for continued service. Save Mart then entered into an agreement with Chiro Inc. at the start of March.
Under the new contractor, janitors say their hourly pay has dropped from about $21 to $16.90. They also report losing employer-provided health insurance, pension and paid time off beyond the five days of state-mandated sick leave.
“We can’t survive with that,” Jesus Barrios said in Spanish. Barrios came to Tuesday’s Modesto City Council meeting from Concord and said he has cleaned at Lucky Stores for over 25 years.
This change impacts roughly 37 employees who work at Lucky Stores — owned by the Save Mart Companies — in and around the Bay Area, according to Mark Sharwood, vice president and bargaining director of SEIU United Service Workers West. Janitors at local Save Mart stores in Modesto are employed by a different janitorial company.
Sharwood said SEIU-USWW has encouraged the workers to stay with the new contractor just so they can maintain employment.
SEIU-USWW represents over 50,000 janitors, security officers, airport service workers and other property service workers across California. The union also represents Safeway employees, who Sharwood said still have a pension, family health care and affordable wages.
“So it’s not impossible to do better, not only in the Bay Area, but here in the Central Valley and all areas,” Sharwood said.
In a statement to The Bee, Save Mart said the company regularly reviews operating costs and at times makes adjustments to third-party service providers to further “invest in our stores, and better support our associates and customers.”
“This decision is not union or nonunion focused, but rather a decision to lower costs by employing a new service in our Lucky stores,” said Phil Keene, spokesperson for Save Mart. “Save Mart is not a part of any negotiation or discussion on employment or terms, etc. This would be between the two janitorial services.”
According to the company, 90% of the total employees at The Save Mart Companies are Union (UFCW) members.
Pedro Mesa Toscano, who has cleaned for the company for 29 years, came from Antioch to address the council.
“I fought to have a union, to have a decent living for me and my family, but now we don’t have anything,” Toscano said in Spanish.
During the pandemic, he said, janitors were valued as essential workers. But now, he’s lost everything. He asked the council to speak with Save Mart to help return their benefits.
Sharwood said he and some affected workers visited the Save Mart headquarters in Modesto on Friday, along with Councilmembers Chris Ricci and Nick Bavaro, to talk about the change. He said Save Mart not only refused to talk but also locked the building.
Save Mart told The Bee that visitors are required to make an appointment, and that it was not contacted to arrange a meeting.
Founded in Modesto over 70 years ago, Save Mart started as a family-owned supermarket chain. It is now retained by a Canadian conglomerate owned by billionaire Jim Pattison. Today, the Save Mart Companies operate over 200 stores on the West Coast, employing more than 11,000 associates and generating roughly $4 billion in annual revenue.
It was declared retailer of the year by the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors last month.
Council support
Bavaro, a longtime employee-benefits professional, said this decision impacts not only the workers but also taxpayers who pay for public-sector benefits, such as Medi-Cal, that those employees will now have to rely on.
“Or they’re not going to have insurance at all, and they’re going to end up in the hospital at the emergency room,” Bavaro said.
In Contra Costa County, where many of the impacted workers reside, a single adult with no children would need to earn $33.01 per hour to cover necessities, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator. That is more than $16 above the state minimum wage the janitors will be paid.
“Hopefully, people in Modesto that are in business will reconsider the value of their employees and reconsider that stores that once were owned by families that value their employees are now being bought up by private equity funds that don’t have that value,” Bavaro said.
Councilmember Eric Alvarez expressed empathy for the workers and shared that during the pandemic, he scrubbed toilets and cleaned medical offices while working on his master’s degree.
However, he said that a city generally does not have the legal authority to stop a private company from shifting from union to nonunion labor. Private-sector labor relations are governed by federal law under the National Labor Relations Act and overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, which limits direct involvement by local governments.
A city’s leverage is typically limited to situations involving public contracts, taxpayer funding, subsidies, land-use approvals or development agreements.
“With that being said, I’m going to pivot a little bit and highlight the fact that Save Mart is not a small business struggling just to survive,” Alvarez said.
He agreed with Bavaro that when a company reduces its labor standard, it impacts taxpayers and the local economy – reducing consumer spending, weaker sales tax generation and greater reliance on public service.
“This isn’t just a labor issue, it’s an economic stability and tax base issue for our community, and I would urge the leaders of Save Mart to acknowledge that and do what is right by our larger community,” Alvarez said.
Sharwood acknowledged that the city cannot do much, but he said the group has been seeking statements of solidarity and trying to bring this issue to the light.
