By Evalynn Fae Taganna Romano for Yes! Media.
Broadcast version by Eric Tegethoff for Washington News Service reporting for the YES! Media-Public News Service Collaboration


When the pandemic hit, I adjusted to remote work as a University of Washington graduate student while my mother, who is a UW custodian, continued to rise at 3 a.m. each day. She and her co-workers were charged with laying a foundation of safety from COVID-19 while worrying about how the virus would affect their health. At UW, many custodians are immigrants and refugees. Many are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Because of long-standing systemic health and social inequities, they are at increased risk of getting sick and dying from COVID-19.

Together, my parents have worked more than 58 years as custodians. So, I've long been aware of the pride and challenges of their work. But the pandemic made clearer than ever how overworked and undervalued custodians are.

It's past time to honor custodial work with hazard pay, livable wages, protection, and care. Given that more than half of custodians are BIPOC-many of them are also immigrants-making these investments in custodian well-being is a critical step toward advancing racial justice.

To show my deep gratitude to my mother and her colleagues, during much of the pandemic, I delivered weekly breakfasts, cloth masks, and thank-you notes during their 4:45 a.m. clock-in. I collected donations and partnered with a local shoe store to provide over 200 custodians with comfortable, safe shoes. But I knew they needed more.

To learn about the health impacts of their work and shine a light on this often invisible profession, I facilitated a photography-based storytelling project with 16 custodians from September through October 2020. What I learned about their working conditions shocked me.

Custodians suffered from aching feet and backs. They worried about harsh cleaning chemicals and contracting the coronavirus. They mourned a colleague who died from COVID-19. They spoke of long commutes and expensive parking, and being unable to afford living in an increasingly expensive and gentrifying Seattle. They also shared painful stories of racial discrimination and feeling belittled by people they encounter during their shifts.

One custodian told me, "[Just] because they [have] a higher education ... it doesn't mean that they can just ... put us down just like that. I mean, we accept it! That we are custodians, but at least show us some respect, as we show them respect too. What if we don't clean their room? And then they gonna go complain. But us, we cannot go complain how they treat us."

Sadly, challenging work conditions are also common for the nearly 2 million custodians working across the U.S.

Custodians make an average of $31,410 per year, hardly a living wage. As a result, many hold second jobs. I know the toll of this firsthand. My father held a second job as a factory worker for years before he passed away. Salaries are even lower for women, and they often face an added burden of balancing work with caregiving duties.

When I was born, my grandmother had to immigrate from the Philippines to care for me so my parents could work through the night on the swing shift, which is from 4:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. During the day, my grandmother was a caregiver for older adults. This balancing act is far too common a stressor for families trying to survive custodial worker wages.

Health disparities due to systemic racism and other social determinants of health inevitably affect a high proportion of custodians. On top of that, 2019 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that custodians working in buildings suffered almost 34,000 nonfatal occupational injuries and illnesses involving days away from work-likely an underreporting of incidents.

Another more recent 2020 Washington State study found that custodians routinely experienced mistreatment, including discrimination, sexual harassment, and retaliation, that led to physical and mental health strains. Additionally, the pandemic has worsened risks due to COVID-19 exposure and the heightened demands of cleaning protocols.

Despite their challenging working conditions, the custodians I connected with through my photography project expressed pride in a job that sustains their lives, and now more than ever, the lives of others. When asked what they need to get through this challenging time, one custodian shared, "It is very important for every person to smile [at us]. They should give us a little bit [of] respect and care for the custodians so our job will be easier. ... Some people, they just look at us, you know, a little bit different from them, but we are just the same too. We work hard for everybody."

Based on my experience being raised by custodians and through my photography project, I've gained a deeper understanding of how to uplift custodial worker rights. Custodians need employers and policymakers to ensure social and racial equity with the following investments and changes:

Offer hazard pay and a livable wage ($15 per hour, or even more in expensive localities).
End the custodian gender wage gap by ensuring equal pay across genders.
Offer public transit subsidies, or offer free parking in regions with poor access to transportation and limited affordable housing.
Ensure safety from COVID-19 infection, including access to effective personal protective equipment and vaccines and enforcement of universal masking policies.
Offer opportunities for rest and rejuvenation, including adequate break rooms.
Provide ergonomic equipment, such as lightweight, height-adjustable mops, proper harness fittings for vacuum backpacks, protection from harmful chemicals, and comfortable shoes.
Offer paid sick leave for vaccination, symptoms of ill health, COVID-19 testing, and caregiving duties.
Offer affordable, flexible child care.
Offer high-quality, accessible health care.
Protect workers from discrimination and harassment by creating a culture that promotes respect and psychological safety for all workers. Even with those changes, workers need avenues for voicing concerns to managers without fear of retaliation. UW recently launched a bias incident reporting tool where employees can anonymously make such reports. This promising solution should be available to custodial and other low-wage workers everywhere.
Offer robust access to interpretation services and translation of health and work-related materials.
Have ongoing safe, respectful conversations with custodians to co-create solutions that serve unique needs within their workplace context (e.g., better understand the immediate needs, supports, and obstacles faced by custodians, including those in our undocumented community).

These changes will have immediate, short-term costs. However, the low-wage labor shortage is making it even clearer that private sector employers must pay a living wage to be viable. Furthermore, a progressive tax on high earners can fund compensation for workers in public sector jobs. Investing in custodians' well-being will pay off in the long run by reducing health care costs, workers' compensation payouts, and turnover.

Despite the tremendous stress of the pandemic, my mother's satisfaction in her work remains, as it does with other custodians I've met throughout the years. The time is now for us to nurture a culture of care for those who care for our spaces, and to pay and protect them in a way that acknowledges their value as workers who are truly essential to our society.

See this piece's accompanying photo essay, The Dignity of Custodians. For more information and updates, you can follow the UW Custodian Project on Instagram, and visit the website.

Evalynn Fae Taganna Romano wrote this article for YES! Magazine.


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Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are aiming to appeal to labor groups on the campaign trail, especially in battleground states like Nevada.

Christofer Kimes, organizer for the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, lives just outside of Reno. He calls northern Nevada the "new Silicon Valley" and supports heavier union presence in the region to foster better wages, worker protections and benefits.

Kimes commended the Biden-Harris administration for being pro-union and pointed to policies such as the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act as proof.

He emphasized the conservative Project 2025's "anti-labor agenda" threatens the progress unions have made.

"They're sold an idea that if you make this guy that writes your paycheck, you make him richer and the company gets bigger, you're going to have all of this stuff that you have already, you have worker's rights," Kimes outlined. "They don't understand that Project 2025 is a direct repeal of a lot of that."

Project 2025 lays out a number of labor-related reforms, like outlawing public sector unions as well as investigating labor leaders. Kimes argued another four years of Trump would "decimate" unions.

In 2018, Trump signed executive orders weakening the ability of unions to negotiate contracts and cut the hours union representatives were able to tend to member complaints. Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025. Conservatives argue the plan is about government accountability.

Kimes is an independent, but added when people in his mostly conservative northern Nevada community find out he is a union organizer, they are skeptical. He acknowledged they have preconceived notions about what being pro-union means. Instead of approaching the conversations in a political tone, he uses a historical one.

"The moment you begin to have the political argument on the level that I'm at, people shut down and they don't want to hear it," Kimes noted. "People gave their lives so that you have Saturday and Sunday with your kids, you get a weekend, you don't have to work 80, 90 hours a week, that all comes from unions."

Kimes recognized there has been a significant decline in the number of workers represented by unions over the past several decades. The share of U.S. workers who belong to a union has fallen since 1983. In 2023, only 10% of workers were in a union, according to the Pew Research Center.


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A dozen Eastern Kentucky counties will receive a total of around $40 million in federal funding to connect working-age residents to resources and training for jobs in a region heavily impacted by the decline of coal mining.

State data show last year, Eastern Kentucky's unemployment rate was more than 7%, far higher that the Commonwealth's overall rate of around 4%.

Brandon McBride, executive director of the Appalachian Regional Commission, said federal investment is critical for boosting local workforce capacity.

"We want to make sure that Appalachians have the skills and workforce training that they need to take advantage of new opportunities that might be coming into the region," he explained.

The nonprofit Shaping Our Appalachian Region or SOAR is spearheading the project, in collaboration with major local employers Pikeville Medical Center and Appalachian Regional Healthcare, to build new training facilities. The funds will also be used to support businesses and nonprofits that focus on regional childcare, transportation and housing challenges - longstanding barriers to employment for rural and low-income communities.

Research shows job skills training can in some cases increase earnings by nearly 70%. McBride predicted future growth is expected in several industries.

"Right now we're seeing growth in tourism, IT and cyber security. We've also seen some growth in manufacturing, especially in the automotive space, and then we're also seeing growth in the healthcare industry," McBride continued.

According to SOAR, healthcare has been among the fastest-growing local sector. Over the past three decades, the number of private sector healthcare employers in Eastern Kentucky increased by more than 200%.

U.S. postal workers will rally across the country on Tuesday to bring attention to their working conditions. An Idaho postal worker helped start the event.

Sheri Butler with the United States Postal Service is a member of her local postal workers union based in Spokane. She lives and works in Coeur d'Alene.

She spoke out about understaffing at a USPS Board of Governors meeting last year. Then, the board limited public comments at its hearings to once a year.

So she started a letter-writing campaign, which has since turned into two rallies.

"It just kind of grew as more people became interested," said Butler. "The small idea of a letter-writing campaign turned into a larger movement called 'We Won't Be Silenced.' With this movement we are ending the silence and sharing why our stories need to be told."

Members at the American Postal Workers Union national convention in July then passed her resolution for a rally. Rallies are scheduled across Idaho - including in Boise, Caldwell, and Idaho Falls.

Workers will call for more public comment opportunities at Board of Governors meetings, better staffing and services, and more cooperation from management at the bargaining table.

Workers are also frustrated with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy's consolidation and reform plan for the post office - called Delivering for America - which is likely to slow mail delivery in many rural parts of the country.

DeJoy argues the changes are needed to improve the postal service's financial situation. But Butler noted that DeJoy has delayed the implementation of parts of his ten-year plan.

"He began to change his course once people started speaking up," said Butler. "Constituents are reaching out to their senators, and the senators are responding. We need the public to keep voicing their concerns loudly and pressuring USPS management to act in the best interest of the people."

Organizers have planned more than 120 rallies nationwide for Tuesday.