Four janitors and a handful of supporters, including a Brown graduate student, have been fasting outside the Turks Head building in downtown Providence since Thursday. The fasters hope to convince Lloyd and Evan Granoff, who own the building, to hire what they call a responsible cleaning contractor.
Responsible contractors pay wages that allow employees to raise a family, said Sarah Adler-Milstein, a Brown student taking a semester off to intern at Local 615 of the Service Employees International Union, which organized the fast with other groups.
Janitors at the Turks Head building work for Martins Maintenance, a contracting firm that discourages them from joining a union.
If the fast does persuade the owners of the Turks Head building to switch contractors, the wages of over 300 Providence janitors could increase as a result. Contractors who work with SEIU have agreed to renegotiate all their employees' wages if the group can unionize 65 percent of janitors in downtown office buildings.
About 64 percent of janitors are currently unionized, Adler-Milstein said, so change at the Turks Head building could make a huge difference.
Adler-Milstein said the fasters are "hoping that the building owners here will better understand the sacrifices that janitors have to make" in order to support their families. Janitors working for just over minimum wage often have to work two or three jobs simply to afford necessities for their families and consequently have no time to spend with them, she said.
Jorge Cabrera, a janitor at Providence College participating in the fast, said through a translator that this sacrifice is "a gift that we're offering to our coworkers." He said he used to have to work multiple jobs and hopes the fast will make the building's owners act to improve equality among Providence residents.
After five days of fasting, Cabrera said, "my body is tired, but my spirit is always ready to keep fighting."
Eric Larson GS said he is fasting because he thinks "poverty in Providence has reached a crisis level ... (and the) moral foundation of the area is dissolving."
Larson said the past five days have been difficult but "the vast community support ... has made it easier." The fasters have had visitors "24 hours a day," he said, including families, union members and many local politicians. "People support it," he said, adding, "The majority of building owners have done what we're asking."
However, Providence police and the owners of the Turks Head building are far from supportive. Police threatened to arrest the fasters last week. The protest then moved outside City Hall for the weekend, but police vowed to arrest the fasters if they returned to the Turks Head building on Monday.
Monday morning the fasters went to court and were granted a temporary restraining order against the police as well as the right to protest on the sidewalk during the day. They will return to outside City Hall at night.
Jack Robinson, a student at Rhode Island College, said she decided to fast because "it's the right thing to do." She said the last five days have been rocky, but "when it gets hard it makes me remember the most that it's not for me."
Adler-Milstein said she suspects Granoff Associates is "spending more money hiring an expensive lawyer" to fight the protesters than it would cost them to pay their janitors decent wages. She pointed out the buildings surrounding Turks Head that provide what she and the other protesters consider an acceptable wage.
The fast began with the announcement of the One Providence Statement of Principles, a statement written by the fasters that argues hard work should be rewarded with decent wages. Community groups, Mayor David Cicilline '83 and several local leaders and politicians, including Ward 1 City Councilman David Segal, endorsed the statement.
Segal said the council "has been very active in the campaign" and tries to give workers all the support it can in their struggle to earn a decent living. He said that the janitors have "tried a variety of different tactics, from trying to have conversations with the Granoffs to loud protests." Segal thinks the fast is a justified attempt to right one of the most egregious symptoms of Providence's poverty.
"It's a huge problem - the city is very, very poor," Segal said, adding that the "aesthetic renaissance" going on downtown has a very limited reach. He said the situation at the Turks Head building provides a particularly stark contrast because Granoff Associates is currently building an upscale, 35-story apartment complex next door.
The janitors' fast was scheduled to last five days and will end today at noon with a fast-breaking ceremony.
