2009-09-18 Channel 5 coverage of Toyota janitors protest in North Hollywood

Hundreds of Janitors Protest in Front of North Hollywood Toyota Dealership, Asking Whether
Toyota Cares About California

Janitors who lost their jobs cleaning Toyotas national headquarters have been unemployed for over three months. Protestors call on Toyota to help them get their jobs back.

I have been out of work for three months now, and all I want is my job back. I want to support myself and my grandchildren who rely on me, said Teresa Olivera.

Olivera is one of 30 janitors who lost their jobs in a massive layoff of 40% of the staff who cleaned the Toyota national headquarters in Torrance, California. The janitors were employed by GCA Services, who is contracted by Toyota to clean their Torrance campus. The layoffs have left the janitors and their families with no way to pay rent or put food on the table.

To provide some support to the workers, over 250 of their fellow janitors—together with community supporters from across Los Angeles—marched and rallied to call on Toyota to tell their contractor to bring the janitors back on the job.

Protestors asked if Toyota cared about anything except how many cars they could sell in California. Toyota is leaving California workers behind, said Mike Garcia, president of the janitors union. They stood silently by as their contractor, GCA Services, put 30 hardworking janitors out of a job. Now they are closing their only car manufacturing plant in California, which will cost 35,000 California workers their jobs.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Toyota
• janitors
• protest