Housekeeping staffers selflessly serve ULV community
Campus Times
December 5, 2003
Cardona dreads cleaning the monstrous stairs at Brandt Hall. They are always
dirty and no matter how hard she tries, they never stay clean for more than
a day or two. She usually cleans the stairs last, since they take longer than
the rest of the building.
Imagine having to wake up at 6 a.m. to drive to a job where the only thing
to look forward to is cleaning someone else’s mess. This is what Isabel
Cardona does every day on her way to Brandt Hall.
Cardona, like the other 26 members of the Sodexho custodial staff at the University
of La Verne, is often viewed as just a cleaning lady, but few members of the
ULV community understand what these employees go through.
A native of Zacatecas, Mexico, Cardona, 38, arrived in the United States in
1984. She has been married for 19 years and has three children ages 18, 16 and
9 months.
After gathering their cleaning supplies, the housekeepers depart to their
respective cleaning stations in the various buildings on campus.
Mercedes Araujo, housekeeper for Stu-Han residence hall, came to the United
States at the age of 16 from Mexicali, Mexico. It was then that she found a
job working in the fields of Fresno, Calif. After that, she moved to Los Angeles
to work at a furniture factory.
Araujo wakes up at 5 a.m. to begin the commute from El Monte to La Verne to
report to the housekeeping office by 7 a.m. each weekday.
“I come with the willingness to work,” Araujo said. “I know
it won’t stay clean, but I have to give it my all. I do this to put my
family ahead. It’s heavy work, but I like it.”
“You get used to this job after a while,” Cardona said.
“It is almost like your house – no one bothers you and you get no
words of encouragement.” Cardona said.
The first task of the day is to take out the trash. Cardona has to pick out
the empty food containers by hand and load them into a separate bag. Instead
of lugging the heavy bags down from the third floor, she throws them down to
the ground from the third floor stairs.
Cardona said that she finds numerous alcohol bottles in the trash every Monday,
which makes the bags heavy.
But this task is easy compared to cleaning the walls after the all male residents
on the second floor wrote all over them the night before or even cleaning chocolate
smeared on to the walls of the bathroom, again, by the resident of the floor.
Brandt’s second floor is a big problem for the ULV custodial department,
said Judith Galvez, who manages the housekeepers for Sodexho.
“I know it is my work, but you feel bad when people do these things on
purpose,” Cardona said. “Some people don’t understand how long
it takes to clean all this up,”
At another residence hall, Araujo has to battle with the cleaning issues of
Stu-Han.
She said she has had to clean up vomit in the women’s bathroom. But,
she added, it is not as bad as it was last year.
For the housekeepers at ULV, benefits are limited.
In Cardona’s case, dental insurance is provided to her and the rest of
her family while medical insurance is only extended to Cardona and her nine-month-old
baby.
In her four years working here, her income has remained steady at about $7
per hour, only 25 cents above minimum wage.
"Starting off with $7 an hour is fine, but after three or four years
it is unacceptable," said Jackie Avilez, sophomore. "This is physical
labor. After four years, you should make $9 to $10. They are here for a long
time.”
“I stay here because it is close to home,” Cardona said. “I
could leave and then what? I can’t find another job. Once you come here
you stay here.”
Often the housekeepers are forced to eat their lunch in either a laundry room,
outside, or the residence hall lounge. But Cardona said that some of the residents
throw her unwelcoming glances.
When the clock strikes 3:30 p.m., it is time to go home to her house on First
Street and Wheeler Avenue.
Ideally, the weekend offers an opportunity for a break from work and school,
but for Araujo, Cardona and the rest of the housekeeping staff, the weekend
does not offer that needed break. Instead they continue the daily tasks at home
that they do at work.
Cleaning and doing laundry consume Saturday afternoons.
On the weekends, Araujo said she enjoys spending time at home with her husband
of 11 years and her two daughters, ages 13 and 17. Whenever there is spending
money available, she said she likes to take her daughters out.
Cardona said she spends time taking care of her baby after she is done with
her weekend cleaning.
Although the job can be hard, there are the few appreciative residents who
recognize the housekeeping efforts.
Isabel Cardona usually starts her work days on the first floor of Brandt
Hall women’s restroom and works her way up to the third floor. She never
considers her job done because there is always something more to clean.
The office of Human Resources is the last place Cardona cleans before her work
day ends. She sweeps the central stairs daily and takes out the trash. She says
the Hanawalt House is easier to clean than Brandt Hall.
Finally, at 3 p.m. Cardona clocks out. At this hour she worries not only about
things that have to get done at home, but what will happen in the halls and
restrooms before she returns to work, especially on the second floor of Brandt
Hall.
Once home, Cardona does not relax. Returning to three children and her husband,
her cleaning routine starts all over again. Yesenia is a 16-year-old Bonita
High School Student. Her son, Gabriel, was born in January, 2003. Her 18-year-old
son is attending adult school for his General Education Degree. Her husband
works with the landscape maintenance staff on the University campus.
