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Just Another Day in the L|
The University’s Quiet Work Force
Marsha Tinnen, spokesperson for the houseke
By Tiffany Ashhurst
Ink Staff Writer
It was 6 a.m.
The yard lights were still on
and the campus was deserted. As I
walked toward Hanes Hall to meet
Annie Pettiford, I feared the
unknown. It was dark and deserted
and I wondered if 1 were to be
attacked would anyone hear my cry.
Finally reaching the building, I
was relieved to see shadows of
people as I drew near. These were
the housekeepers, whose job is to
keepourUniversilyclean.To many
people, the story of our 480
housekeepers ends here: they are
people associated with cleaning
only.
But in addition to their regular
duties, they arc waging a battle for
respcct and higher pay. I wanted to
meet with Pettiford in an aoempt to
understand better the woricing life
of a housekeeper at one of the
nation’s most respected academic
institutions.
Usually, Pettiford tries to get
out of bed between 1:30 and 1:45
a.m. and begins her eight-hour shift
at 4 a.m. On the morning in question,
she had been up through the night.
Pettiford says it takes 20 to 25
minutes to reach her campus jobsite
from Hillsborough. Arriving a few
minutes late to work could earn her
a write-up, but housing closer to the
school is too expensive. She parks
her car on Franklin SO'eet and walks,
in the dark, to her building; her son
sometimes accompanies her to ward
off potential attackers.
When she does walk alone, she
is not armed.
“I don’t carry anything, I just
pray," she said. “The only safety
precaution we have is that we are
supposed to call the police if there
is any trouble.
“But by the time they come,
the attacker would probably be
gone.”
On more than one occasion,
Pettiford has found strange people
in her and her co-workers
buildings, and when I greeted her
inside this morning, a radio was
blasting.
“I gel nervous about somebody
coming in because the door is
unlocked and that’s why (another
housekeeper) has the radio on.”
Every day, Pettiford must
meticulously clean the 2nd, 3rd,
and 4th floors of Hanes Hall. She
empties trash cans, mops the floors,
cleans bathrooms and classrooms
and vacuums some of the rooms
and hallways.
The bathrooms are the worst,
and at times
she has to
become a
plumber in a
clinch, she
said.
“There is
stuff
everywhere in
t h e
bathrooms,”
she said.
“When I come
in the morning,
the toilet is full
of stuff and
sometimes I
have to plunge
it myself.”
Pettiford
said she does
not bother the
offices of the
graduate
students too
much, except
to empty the
trash, because
they do not like
their items to
be touched.
And dirty
looks often greet her when she
comes into contact with the students,
she said.
Peeking into those offices, I
observed papers everywhere, half
eaten food, coffee-stained cups and
trash lying around on the floor.
Pettiford commented: “I wish
they had pride in the office to keep
it straight, because I see plenty of
roaches in the morning.”
The housekeepers get two 15-
minute breaks at Sand 10a.m.,not
long enough to do anything,
Peuiford said. Not even eat.
“Most of the time, I am so busy
trying to stay on schedule that I can
never make my fu^t break,” she
adds. “If anyone gets caught taking
an extra five minutes or so they will
get written up.”
Pettiford began talking about
her housekeeping colleagues, who
have formally asked student groups
to support their push for higher
salaries, circulated a notice
expressing their grievances (see
page 10) and scheduled various
rallies. Last semester. Students for
the Advancement of Race Relations
and the Student Environmental
Action Coalition co-sponsored a
cook-out to help make public the
housekeeper’s demands.
Low wages have been one of
their chief grievances. Some earn
as low as $ 11 ,(XX) annually and are
forced to hold two or three extra
part-time jobs.
But at rallies and meetings,
many people are timid about voicing
iheir discontentment, Pettiford said.
“Whenever we have open
session meetings, nobody ever says
a word,” she noted. “I can recall one
nneeting where there were almost
2(X) people and you could hear a
straight pin drop at the meeting.
They are too afraid to get fu'ed.
“I found out that the only way
to see changes is to speak up for
what you believe in.”
After being with Pettiford for
a couple of hours as she went
through her rounds, I sensed that.
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Myron Piui/Black Ink
The housekeepers, SARR and SEAC held a cook-out last November.