Janitors

Three hundred janitors who clean terminals and planes at Los Angeles International Airport have voted to authorize a strike that could begin within days and extend over the Thanksgiving holiday, union officials said Thursday. The janitors make an average of $8.50 an hour and do not receive health benefits, said Brian Rudiger, a coordinator for Service Employees International Union Local 1877. Their employer is World Service, a company used by more than 20 airlines, including Delta and United.

Chanting "No Justice, No Peace," a group of janitors in purple T-shirts rallied Wednesday night outside the Century City building where they work, demonstrating in solidarity with striking Houston janitors. The rally is an effort by the Service Employees International Union to force five major cleaning contractors to raise wages and provide benefits for about 5,300 Houston janitors who affiliated with the union last year.

Unionized janitors are scheduled to walk off their jobs in Los Angeles today and in other cities soon in an effort to pressure national cleaning contractors to reach a contract accord with thousands of low-wage janitors in Houston, labor officials said Tuesday. More than 5,300 janitors in the Texas city voted last year to affiliate with the Service Employees International Union, which represents 225,000 janitors in 29 cities.

Oct. 27, 1911: Film director Francis Boggs, who set up Selig Polyscope Co.'s studios in Edendale, a neighborhood in what is now Echo Park and Silver Lake, was shot to death there as actors were getting ready to rehearse a movie tragedy, The Times said. Frank Minnimatsu, the janitor who killed Boggs, also wounded William Selig, the Chicago company's founder.

Gonzalo Guevara Cerritos was a decorated, American-trained officer in the Salvadoran army. But for the last year, the 43-year-old toiled as a janitor at a West Los Angeles-area motel, a man with a secret who was always looking over his shoulder, his girlfriend said. His clandestine existence came to an end Wednesday, when federal authorities announced that they had arrested him as an illegal immigrant who was a human rights violator.

There is no voice left in Manuel Checo's voice. He speaks in a granular rasp that fades, occasionally, to whispery puffs of air. Sometimes, for periods as long as two days, he is unable to speak at all. When that happens, Checo carries a pad of paper with him so he can scribble down notes if he needs something. But for the most part, he will simply disappear into his rented room, ignoring his cellphone when it rings.

Forget the Emmys. Here come the Golden Broom Awards. Seeking to "lift the curtain" on the plight of Hollywood's janitors, union organizers have created their own award competition to recognize the studios with the best and worst records. Union officials acknowledge that janitors at most major studios earn fair wages and benefits. But they allege that others work in illegal and unsafe conditions and struggle to support their families because of low wages and a lack of health insurance.

A janitor at Canoga Park High School has been charged with molesting a child, and police Wednesday said they were trying to determine if there were other victims at any of the nearly 40 schools where the man had worked in the last two decades. Jose Dejesus Guzman, 40, was arrested June 6 at his sister's home in Arleta on suspicion of committing lewd and lascivious acts on two children under 14, police said.

Children of Orange County janitors may be in for a leaner Christmas this year because a grinch broke into an office and stole about 300 toys. Santa Ana police Wednesday said they had no leads in the theft early Tuesday from the offices of Service Employees International Union Local 1877 on North Sycamore Street. The toys, of which about 150 remain, were to be passed out at a party Saturday to children of some of the 4,000 janitors represented by the union.