Alberta Méndez has almost 07 years working as a janitor at the Los Angeles Union Station, but he had never felt that his life was in such danger during his workday.
“We have It’s gotten to a point where we don’t know if we’re going to go back home. I am afraid that something will happen to me. The homeless have pulled my hair, but when we make the report to the police, nothing happens. There is a lot of helplessness that you feel, because we need the work”, says Alberta.
She adds that the homeless do not respect the police. “They spit them out. They throw urine at them. Officers can’t touch them, even when they destroy doors, break keys and damage the building. Sometimes they take them out, but they come back the next day.”
Last year, violent crimes skyrocketed 94% in Union Station, being the workers of the central station of trains, the main victims, so they are demanding that the authorities take action.
“We are asking for help because we do not feel safe at work. And it is not only the workers who are at permanent risk but also the families that travel; and unlike other means of transportation, it is not checked if someone is carrying weapons”, says Alberta.
At least 19 of the 21 Union Station janitors have reported being victims of threats and assaults during their working day. But they also denounced that the homeless people who have made the train station their own, use the toilets to bathe, as a place to consume drugs and have sex; In addition to urinating and defecating in the corridors, they make fun of the workers, throw objects at them and openly steal.
“We are scared and angry. Every day something happens to one of us. We are going to work, hoping to be able to return home safe and sound”, said Gerardo Mixcoatl Mateos, a Union Station janitor for 16 years.
The janitors called on the elected leaders of the city and county to offer them solutions to the problems they face every day.
“I don’t think they understand what is happening Passengers and workers are experiencing violence every day. The homeless have become very aggressive. They put a knife to my neck in a bathroom, and they took my radio”.
Regretted that there is police surveillance and agents but they can’t stand up to the assaults.
Leaders of the SEIU-USWW union, which represents the mostly Latino immigrant janitors who clean and disinfect Union Station, and continue on the front lines of the pandemic, they sent a letter to several elected officials such as Councilman Kevin de León, Senator María Elena Durazo and Supervisor Hilda Solís.
In the letter, they indicate that the dangerous conditions faced by essential workers of Union Station, are the result of the failure of policies to address the housing crisis, inadequate public safety and lack of access to mental health.
“Without exception, every day that our workers, who diligently clean Union Station, face dangerous health conditions as a result of a careless presence of the police and the lack of appropriate security protocols”, they indicate in the letter.
Councilman Kevin de León and David Huerta, president of SEIU United Service Workers West toured the Union Station train station.
Huerta said the immigrant workers are emerging from a pandemic in which they experienced more than their fair share of pain and suffering, so it is unacceptable to leave them in a position where they fear on for their lives.
“Union Station janitors are being locked in bathrooms, attacked with hammers and assaulted. We call on all stakeholders at Union Station, the workers, the city, the county, the police and the sheriff’s office to come together to find common sense solutions that we can implement immediately.”
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