The Facts:

University of Miami’s UNICCO janitors earn far less than their union counterparts at other schools. Unionized janitors who work for UNICCO in other cities earn higher wages and are provided health insurance. At Harvard University in Boston, UNICCO janitors earn between $13 and $14 an hour and have fully paid health insurance. But they didn’t always. Janitors won the higher wages and benefits as the result of a two-year campaign on their behalf by students, the community, and SEIU.

You Do the Math Unicco janitors' raise (still below poverty-level) $372 a month Cost to janitors to provide health insurance for their families $493.50 a month

• Wages are not enough to meet even basic medical needs. University of Miami janitors earn as little as $51 a day, turning prescription drugs into a luxury, and basic preventive health care out of their reach. For example, a janitor earning $51 a day must work more than two days to pay for a 45 ML supply of a popular antibiotic, and half a week to pay for a potentially life-saving mammogram. 

• In FY04–05, Florida spent $14 billion on Medicaid, and residents of Miami-Dade County alone accounted for 20 percent of participants statewide. 

• In addition, Jackson Memorial Hospital, the county’s sole public hospital resource, uses close to a quarter of its operating costs on “charity care”— more than $164 million.  This is a tremendous drain on hospital finances—and does not include Medicare or Medicaid expenses.

• Lack of basic coverage can lead to financial ruin if serious illness occurs. Illness can mean financial disaster for already struggling families. Doctor’s visits and prescriptions for such chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma, or heart disease can run into the thousands of dollars for uninsured families. In fact, according to a recent study, a third of uninsured people in families with trouble paying the bills do not “get needed prescription drugs.”   Unfortunately, lack of basic treatment for these conditions can lead to catastrophe if an expensive medical emergency such as insulin shock, respiratory failure, or a heart attack occurs, leading families to make difficult decisions about budget priorities. The same study cited above noted, “Of all families with medical bill problems, 63.1 percent reported difficulty paying for other basic necessities—such as rent, mortgage payments, transportation or food—as a result of their medical bills.” 

Living without a safety net: 

• When sick or injured, janitors at the University of Miami who do not have health insurance, must rely on a patchwork of emergency rooms, home remedies, and free clinics for treatment, or forego health care altogether—even though a number of these workers service the university’s teaching hospital.

• Basic life-saving preventive care such as regular check-ups, mammograms, or screening for high cholesterol, high blood pressure or other heart disease risk factors are a luxury that janitors without health insurance, and who earn so little, do without.