With wages for part-time stadium janitorial workers set to increase in the spring, the focus shifts to who will earn those higher wages.
The United Workers Association (UWA), a human rights organization founded by homeless day laborers in Baltimore, celebrated Thursday?s decision by the Maryland Stadium Authority to begin paying the workers the state?s new living wage of $11.30 an hour.
“We consider this a victory and a historic moment,” said Carl Johnson, communications organizer with the UWA. “The next step is to make sure our workers at the stadium have a fair opportunity to keep their jobs.”
UWA plans to have future discussions with the MSA on how to ensure current stadium workers earn the increased wages, Johnson said.
The workers who clean Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium after each game currently earn $7 an hour. The $11.30 rate will take effect in the spring, when the Orioles? season begins, because the MSA?s cleaning service contract expires in January. The new contact will include the increased wages.
The MSA should expect a new batch of applicants for the cleaning jobs, said Richard Clinch, director of economic development at the University of Baltimore.
“Will this affect some of the current workers? Absolutely,” Clinch said. “If the MSA offers higher wages, though, they?re going to get a better work force and a cleaner stadium.”
The MSA approved the wage raise by a 5-2 decision during Thursday?s meeting. Dennis B. Mather, a board member who voted against the change, said during the meeting that the change might leave current workers without jobs in the spring.
“Where do the $7 or $8 people go?” Mather said. “I?m concerned about what the potential on-the-street results are.”
The state?s living-wage law, which takes effect Oct. 1, requires state government contractors to pay employees $11.30 an hour in the Baltimore-Washington corridor, and $8.50 across the rest of the state. The law applies to people who work 13 consecutive weeks over the course of a contract, and thus did not cover stadium cleaners.
MSA board members who voted for the change said they hope increased wages would improve the lives of current stadium workers.
“Hopefully, that?s the same person who gets the job [in the spring],” Mather said.
