32BJ SEIU member Alba Vazquez at Monday's town hall meeting (Photos courtesy of 32BJ)
Alba Vazquez emigrated to America in 1977 from her native Uruguay, where a military dictatorship had seized power a few years prior. She settled in the Bronx with the hopes of building a safer, more prosperous life for her and her young family.
It wasn’t easy. Vazquez and her husband went their separate ways and she was stuck raising four children on her own. To make ends meet, she juggled three low-paying jobs. “It was awful, 18 hour days, no weekends, no vacation,” she said.
Ten years ago, however, Vazquez’s fortunes changed for the better when she landed a cleaning job at Madison Square Garden and became a member of 32BJ Service Employees International Union (SEIU). With a decent wage and benefits, she was able to provide for her loved ones.
“When I started to work at the Garden our lives changed completely,” said Vazquez, a softly spoken 53-year-old who lives on Hull Avenue near 204th Street.
Vasquez was speaking at a town hall meeting on Monday night at the Amalgamated Houses, a housing complex just south of Van Cortlandt Park. About 70 32BJ members had gathered to show their support for a City Council bill which would guarantee decent wages and benefits to cleaners, security guards, and other building service workers at new commercial and residential developments financed by city tax-dollars, and at buildings the city leases in the future.
