SkyTrain cleaners protest layoffs and conditions ahead of FIFA

Unionized workers who clean Metro Vancouver‘s SkyTrain system are fighting back against layoffs, wage theft, and unsafe working conditions put in place by Dexterra, the billion-dollar multinational contracted by Translink to maintain the public service’s trains and stations.

Following Dexterra taking over the Translink SkyTrain janitorial contract in February, workers say their conditions have become unbearable. Some members of the Service Employees International Union Local 2, estimate workloads have gone up by as much as 50% due to over 25 workers being fired since the takeover. 

Just months before Vancouver is set to accommodate an additional 350,000 people as one of the host cities of the FIFA World Cup, workers are citing delayed wage payments, refusal to provide suitable chemical cleaning supplies and PPE, among a host of other issues. 

The North Star spoke to SEIU2’s business agent, Dallis Van Steinberg about the issues. She covers the SkyTrain janitorial members.

“[Workers are] using pressure washers to clean feces, pee, drug paraphernalia, blood, like any gross thing. And they’re asking for PPE, like goggles for their eyes or safety glasses for their eyes or stuff to put on their body.” Dallis says, “They were refused and told that they [would] lose their jobs if they bring it up again.”

Due to these issues, SEIU Local 2 has raised their grievances to Translink and launched a public campaign against Dexterra.

“So what we’ve seen, and you’ll see that reflected in our grievances is bullying and harassment, horrific safety provisions.”

Some are grave safety violations by the company, like the issue of cleaning the yellow safety lines on the edges of the SkyTrain platforms while the trains are running. 

Despite the company saying the workers wouldn’t have to clean the yellow safety line alone and while the trains are running, the union has witnessed otherwise.

“What we’ve caught on night shift is that people are cleaning the yellow line when the train is running, which could kill them, and then they’re also cleaning the yellow line alone. So if they fall on the tracks or something happens, there’s no one there after the train is shut down.

And even during that, it’s kind of desolate, right? So nobody’s gonna find an injured worker until it’s too late.”

Speaking to The North Star, union rank-and-file member Sanchit believes Dexterra is delaying paying wages and firing workers because the company is trying to save money after taking a significantly lower bid than the competition, including the previous employer, Bee-Clean. For Sanchit, this delayed payment meant he missed a deadline for tuition payments which put his student visa, and his residency in Canada, in jeopardy. 

“On our first paycheck, they didn’t pay me on time. And there are other people I’ve recently connected with, they told me that they didn’t pay them for one month… Like there’s a bid system to get the contract. So, they bid very low. And now, what I believe, they don’t have enough money to pay workers.”

Dallis, reflected this view saying, “It was more so about how they could save money. So when they put it out for tender, they took a lower bid. And that’s what Dextera is telling us too in our grievance meetings, is we bid on it quite low and that’s why we’re hacking away at the workers.” 

One worker who shared their testimony with The North Star, 66 year old Andres Andrada Garrigo, was laid off while he was in mourning on the day of his mother’s funeral. Losing his job after losing his mother was heartbreaking for Andres, and said “in the moment I needed compassion the most, I was treated as disposable.”

“I lost my mom, and I lost my job at the same time. I am an immigrant worker. I support my family here, and I also support my family in the Philippines. Losing my income at a time like this has put me and my family in a very difficult situation.”

Dallis believes that Dexterra and other contractors like them are taking advantage of migrant workers like Andres, saying that if they’re aware of workers supporting families in their home communities, or if they’re on a student visa, they are threatened with firing because they know there’s an extra layer of pressure.  

“There are a lot of tactics going on here that are shameful and illegal, but TransLink will not sit with us and listen to these stories and the evidence we have that is going on.”

SEIU Local 2 has launched a public petition to call on TransLink, the transit agency that has contracted Dexterra to clean the SkyTrain, to meet with the union and the workers. Andres and other workers expressed hope for the campaign, not wanting this treatment to become standard practice for them or any other worker. 

“Because no one should have to grieve the loss of their parent while also worrying about how they’re going to survive… The workers who keep the SkyTrain clean and safe deserve dignity. We deserve stability. We deserve to be treated like human beings, not numbers.”