Further insight from a UCLA custodian to those who care about the AFSCME Facilities Management Indefinite Strike (:
Hi I am a 23 year old Senior Custodian under UCLA's Facilities Management department who works the night shift on the southern side of campus. Ive been with UCLA for 2 years now and i am eternally grateful to work at what is PERCEIVED to be one of the greatest schools in the nation. And while its true the bruin community has achieved greatness , UCLA is far from perfect.
Current wages for the Senior Custodian position is starting at $25/hr +$1 night shift differential after 8pm. you might think to yourself "Wow why are they complaining if they make more than me at who works at starbucks" well, yes before taxes and deductions gross pay is near $2000 biweekly, here is a list of some of our deductions ,
UC Retirement ($250 per check) which is mandatory and sucks for people like me who have 0 intention of retiring from ucla and can make better use of that money)
+any other optional retirement plans($$???)
Night shift parking (~$78 a mo& double for day shift)
Dental+Vision+Health insurance
(prices vary but i am unaware of what they are as i opted out of all benefits)($$??)
plus we pay ASFCME union dues ($70/mo) WE LITERALLY HAVE TO PAY TO BE IN A UNION
my check comes out to $1400 bi weekly after everything
I love the UCLA community and environment overall because i am an immigrant who grew up in the ghetto (watts) and hate where i grew up with my whole heart.
and im not here to shame anyone or bash anyone at all but holy smokes we pick up after every student on campus for 8-12hrs and every single one of those hours is not light work, especially for my older colleagues who are significantly way more fragile.
we clean your pee, your poop 💩, and period blood 🩸.
we work in clinical settings where the risk of getting poked by loose needles is high and extremely common
we clean up your events and gatherings and use industrial grade chemicals that are harmful to our bodies long term
we understand the significance it means to be at ucla campus and what high expectations outsiders have and we work hard to keep up with those expectations which isnt an easy task,
some of us travel from 1 to 3 hours from home to work and back as well, i have about 3 co workers who live in victorville and 2 in palmdale 🫠with so cali traffic can you imagine the burden especially for those who rely on public transportation because we cant afford a car?
i would love to live near campus and futher my education but currently it all seems impossible as living expenses keep rising.
i am the sole breadwinner for my family (immigrant mother and little brothers)
and rent isnt cheap even in the hood
alot of my other co workers have it worse as they have kids and even work multiple jobs and sacrifice going to school to stay alive,
we are not begging to be rich or have 0 problems
we are respectfully requesting proper wages that are slightly above inflation rates 🥲