Service employees say they were unfairly fired
Employees of Dow Jones & Co. to picket next week
BY CHRIS MURINO Staff Writer

SOUTH BRUNSWICK - Service employees who say they were unfairly let go from their jobs at the Dow Jones & Co. offices on Route 1 will picket in front of the offices on March 12.

Forty employees who cleaned the Dow Jones office were let go after the new year.

"Dow Jones routinely puts expiring contracts up for bid," said Howard Hoffman, a spokesman for Dow Jones. "And as any sensible business would, it selects the best vendor for the job.Any suggestion we did anything but that in this situation would be mistaken."

However, officials from Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, who represent the workers who were fired, say the workers were mistreated.

"Dow Jones let them go because they wanted to save money," said Patricia Cabrera, assistant supervisor of the New Jersey branch of Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ. "They knew we had a contract that would get fair wages and health care."

The workers were employed by One- Source and on Dec. 27, just days before the workers were let go, they signed a labor contract that would get them health care and at least $12 an hour by 2011.

Many of the workers had been cleaning there for seven or eight years, according to Cabrera, and when rumors began to swirl that OneSource would be replaced by another contractor, they tried to find out what was going on.

Zenon Espinoza, 32, who worked at the offices for about three years, tried to reach Debbie Cooper, chief of staff for facilities with Dow Jones, but according to Espinoza, Cooper said she had no comment.

"Friday [Dec. 28] we were trying to figure out what was going on," said Espinoza, through a translator. "She told us that she didn't know anything."

Espinoza had heard rumors of the change, but nothing concrete.

On Dec. 31, the workers were not allowed in the building because Dow Jones had changed contractors. The workers wanted to know who the new contractor was so they could try and get a job with them.

"Debbie Cooper said she couldn't disclose any information," Cabrera said. "It was only when the new workers came in that they found out the new contractor was Kelly's, based in Trenton."

Cabrera said she believes OneSource was never given an opportunity to present a bid to Dow Jones to continue being its contractor, unlike Dow Jones' assertion that the contract was put up for bid. She also believes no union company was allowed to bid.

"When they put a building up for bid, all the companies in the union reach out to us," Cabrera said. "No company, no union company, called us and asked us information about Dow Jones. We never got any request for information."

Espinoza said it has been very difficult for him and his wife and two children. He is trying to get another job and will picket in front of the building with others.

"They're all very active in trying to participate in winning their jobs back," Cabrera said. "They all applied to Kelly's, but nobody got a job. Dow Jones wanted to kill the American dream for all the workers and their families."

Attempts to reach OneSource were unsuccessful.