'We live in a constant fear, because the pandemic isn't over for us,' she said. 'We go into work everyday and see people getting sick,' says Martha Aristizabal. 'We need wage increases that reflect the kind of stress and anxiety we live in day-to-day.'
For many, the idea of working on Broadway is a Technicolor dream. Even knowing the rigors of rehearsals, it's a fantasy job filled with gorgeous costumes, impeccable spotlight cues, Stephen Sondheim songs, curtain calls and standing ovations.
"We just want respect for what we do," said Lorraine Feeks, 51, who has worked on Broadway with Jujamcyn Theaters for 29 years. "Without the cleaners, they can't bring people into a dirty, messy theater. If we don't do what we do, the show can't go on."About 230 cleaners from four companies — Jujamcyn, Nederlander, Shubert and Circle in the Square, which collectively manage 16 Broadway theaters — are being represented by Local 32BJ in the contract negotiation.
"We've realized over the pandemic [our health care] is not something that is negotiable, we need to be able to rely on our health insurance to take care of us when we need it," Martha Aristizabal, who has worked for the Shubert company for over 12 years, said in Spanish via a translator. "We know the economic situation in this country is not great for theaters, but also inflation has made our take-home wages not sustainable.
"We live in a constant fear, because the pandemic isn't over for us," she said. "We go into work everyday and see people getting sick: not just in the outside world, also our coworkers. And the company does a good job of informing us when people get sick and making sure that they isolate, but it's a constant fear that we live in. So that's why we need wage increases that reflect the kind of stress and anxiety we live in day-to-day.
At night, she works as an usher at a different theater, an arrangement that she said is becoming increasingly common for Broadway cleaners.
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