Union Workers Hold Rockefeller Center Black Lives Matter Rally

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — Hundreds of workers with the union 32BJ SEIU joined a Rockefeller Center protest Tuesday afternoon that spanned several city blocks on the 30th anniversary of the "Justice for Janitors" movement and in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

Building workers, cleaners and security workers lined Sixth Avenue from West 42nd to 48th Streets as union members, labor leaders and elected official spoke at Rockefeller Center. Union leadership compared New York City's daily Black Lives Matter protests — which are going strong after three weeks — to 32BJ's Justice for Janitors movement.

Every June, union workers commemorate a march led by Latinx janitors in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Century City in 1990. Protesters marching for their rights to unionize were beaten by police.

"We want to connect the brutal history of Justice for Janitors to police violence today, to come together as Black, brown and white New Yorkers in the growing movement to defend Black lives," SEIU 32BJ Vice President Kyle Bragg said in a statement. "We remember Justice for Janitors Day this year as essential workers— janitors, cleaners, security officers, airport workers and others— join together across racial lines to fight for the racial and economic justice that America needs now."

Most of 32BJ SEIU's membership falls under the category of essential workers, and have continued to work despite risks to personal safety during the coronavirus crisis, union leaders said. Essential workers were deemed exempt from New York Mayor Bill de Blasio's curfew, but some workers were swept up in nightly mass arrests of protesters. Protesters have been marching day and night in New York City since Thursday, May 28. Black Lives Matter protests have been held in cities around the United States for three straight weeks in the wake of the death of Minneapolis man George Floyd. Floyd died in police custody after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for more than eighth minutes.

"What happened to George Floyd wasn’t right," Pedro Francisco, a security officer at Rockefeller Center, said in a statement. "32BJ is in the fight for racial and economic justice, and we can’t have one without the other. Today we’re showing up to remind everyone that we, the essential workers, exist and won’t back down—just like we did 30 years ago."

Elected officials such as Comptroller Scott Stringer and Councilmember Keith Powers spoke during the 32BJ rally in support of workers.

The executive board of 32BJ SEIU voted this month to officially support the demands of the Movement for Black Lives, which include defunding police departments around the country, reparations for "past and continuing" harms to Black people and reallocating funds into social services such as education, restorative justice programs and employment programs.