‘Dirty Work?’ Gender, Race and the Union in Industrial Cleaning

Abstract

The study uses an eclectic framework and through an intersectional analysis and use of narratives explores the meaning of janitorial work, the gender division of labour (GDL), the unions and organizing for janitors engaged in industrial cleaning for a big cleaning company, Pluto, in Toronto. Pluto was organized by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) in 2006. The study is based on the organizing drive for Pluto and uses participant observation and interview methods. Intersectional analysis is useful in understanding the worker's perceptions of the racialized, gendered and classed constitution of cleaning work as 'dirty' and their resistance to these constructs. We explore GDL in industrial cleaning and the construction of women's work as 'light duty' and men's work as 'heavy duty'. We conclude that union membership is important not only for material benefits of the janitors but also for their alternative identity construction. However, there is a persistence of GDL and gender pay equity is not addressed seriously in the organizing drive or upon organizing.

Masculinity and Class in the Context of Dirty Work

“…We utilize ethnographic methods to explore the experiences of working‐class men in two occupations that can be defined as low skilled, where dirt and its dispersal form a key component of the job: street cleaners and refuse collectors. In the polarization of ‘men's work’ and ‘women's work’, these conform to gendered constructions of ‘masculine jobs’, that is: work which is seen as both ‘heavy’ (Soni‐Sinha and Yates, ) and involving direct contact with physical dirt (Ashforth and Kreiner, ). Specifically, we draw upon an orientation to gender as an active construction (Connell, , ), practised in different contexts and interactions (Connell, ; Martin, , ) and on conceptualizations of class as a ‘social space’ of relations, positions, dispositions and meanings (Skeggs, , ).…”

»Schwere Arbeit machen Männer« – Deutungen von Differenz und Strukturen der Ungleichheit in der Reinigungsbranche

“…Ridgeway 2001). Diese wird, in Übereinstimmung mit bestehenden Befunden (Schürmann 2013;Soni-Sinha / Yates 2013;Munro 2001;Tomic et al 2006), zentral an Annahmen über physische Unterschiede zwischen Männern und Frauen in Hinsicht auf Kraft und Belastbarkeit festgemacht. Solche Deutungen erweisen sich als besonders zäh, weil sie Unterschiede naturalisieren (Lorber 2000;Klinger 2003).…”

Becoming a “Pusher”: Gender and Personal Transformation during Union Recognition Campaigns

“…However, union supporters often become less fearful after being educated by organizers about the prevalence of employers' threats and trained by organizers to counter these threats. As a result of this education and training, union supporters often become bolder, more confident workplace leaders during the union recognition campaigns in their workplaces (Eisenscher ; Sharpe ; Soni‐Sinha and Yates ).…”