WASHINGTON - About 40 day labor cleaners and their supporters treated baseball fans to a "Sweatshop Carnival" protest at RFK Stadium in Washington DC on May 20. The workers, members of the United Workers Association, seek a living wage of $9.06 and the establishment of a workers cooperative through which to contract with Baltimore Orioles management for work.

The cleaning workers' protests began in the summer of 2003 when the UWA publicized that workers were making $4 an hour at Camden Years under the subcontractor Aramark. Orioles owner Peter Angelos made a promise that cleaners would be paid a living wage, according to UWA spokesperson Tom Kertes. In 2004, Aramark was fired and Knight Facilities Management was contracted and agreed to a Code of Conduct. However, the workers are still only paid $7 per hour. UWA workers traveled to Washington today "to spread the word and build our organization," said Kertes.

Earlier in the day, the cleaning workers and their supporters attended a community cook-out with gospel music hosted by the Agape House in East Baltimore. In DC, The UWA, some attired in blue-denim overhauls and yellow shirts with push brooms, gathered at the Metro stop then marched to RFK Stadium where they held a picket outside of the stadium.

Indymedia spoke to Britney who was holding a sign "Baseball Billionaires for Poverty." The daughter of a stadium cleaning worker, Britney said her mother is a single parent with three children to raise. Her mother "needs more money" to raise a family of four, she said.

"Strike!" someone called out, as a supporter of the UWA workers hit a black and white image of Peter Angelos with a "baseball." The supporter, a resident of West Baltimore, linked the issue of low wages to broader urban issues. "It's not just about Angelos. Low wages hurt the community. You get problems in the streets like drug traffic. Why would someone accept a $6 per hour wage when they could make $200-300 a day dealing drugs. Workers need a living wage!"

Ernest "Bear" Lindsay has been involved in the struggle from the beginning. "In March we traveled to Saginaw, Michigan to meet with Knight Facilities Management to propose the establishment of a workers-owned and operated co-op. Knight agreed to the idea with 20 jobs to start. But Angelos has blocked the project," said Lindsay. The UWA trip to Michigan followed the route of the Underground Railroad, the historic route traveled by escaped slaves to freedom in the 19th century.

Lindsay also noted that when the 2006 baseball season started, Angelos made a quarter million dollar donation to soup kitchens. "This could have been applied towards a living wage for cleaning workers. If you give a man a fish you can feed him for a day," said Lindsay, "but if you teach him to fish, he can live a lifetime."

Indymedia spoke to Jazmine Lopez who was waiting for a bus outside RFK Stadium. A high school counselor and DC resident, Lopez said "If you only make a minimum wage, it's hard to keep body and soul together. As a worker, I support the protesters."

Brian Brunkow, a Washington Nationals fan and teacher, said "I'm not sure even a co-op can help temp workers. They need something stronger to help them. They need a union."

We asked Todd Cherkis, a UWA organizer, why the cleaning workers don't organize a union? Cherkis said that during the Clinton administration there was a legal ruling, the Sturgis Decision, which gave temp workers some rights, workplace and grievance rights, including collective bargaining rights when integrated into a larger union bargaining unit . However, the National Labor Relations Board under the Bush administration overturned this decision. The UWA approach has been to establish a corporate Code of Conduct and a worker's cooperative, according to Cherkis. The proposed co-op, he said, will cut administrative overhead, enabling the Orioles management to pay a $9.06 living wage while not increasing their own costs.

Further meetings with Orioles management are planned for this week.

[Photoessay to follow]