Janitor protests stretch from Chicago to Oak Brook

The buildings they work in stretch from Chicago to the suburbs. And Thursday, people representing 13,000 union janitors converged on Oak Brook.

Their protests took the form of picketing that briefly stopped traffic along the busy intersection of Route 83 and 22nd Street. Union Vice President Laura Garza said the pickets are fighting for a salary increase and to protect their benefits.

The janitors contract expires on Sunday. Garza said progress has been made with the company in one of the buildings targeted in Oak Brook, the Building Owners and Managers Association’s suburban offices.

If a strike occurs, it would affect buildings and offices of Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, General Electric, CME Group, Boeing, AT&T, Kraft, United Airlines and Tishman Speyer.

The workers union cites the Economic Policy Institute’s calculation that the cost of living for a family of four in the Chicago area is $51,319 a year — $20,000 more than the average janitor makes.

The contract covers:

타 4,000 janitors in downtown commercial office buildings

타 3,000 in suburban commercial office buildings

타 2,700 in public schools and city of Chicago facilities

타 3,500 in malls, universities and other buildings.

Bargaining is set to resume Friday.