Housekeepers and custodians, fearful as campuses reopen, demand more protection from their schools - The Washington Post

Housekeepers and custodians, fearful as campuses reopen, demand more protection from their schools - The Washington Post

Housekeepers and custodians, fearful as campuses reopen, demand more protection from their schools 

After about two months off the job, Gliny Gonzalez, a 51-year-old housekeeper at the University of Maryland in College Park, was finally called back to work last month. But even after 14 years, she suddenly felt unprepared.

There was some training, including on updated cleaning procedures and ways to prevent exposure to the novel coronavirus. But Gonzalez, who speaks Spanish, understood only “a tiny bit” of the English instructions, she said. She was given gloves and a surgical mask to last her through the week.

The work itself made her nervous, too. She was called back to clean dorms as students and families arrived on the campus to remove belongings left behind when campus emptied. She was told they’d wear masks. But that wasn’t always the case, Gonzalez said.

“I was worried I’d get infected,” she said in an interview around the time she returned to work. And despite her best attempts to stay safe, Gonzalez contracted the virus and was admitted to a hospital last week, said Stuart Katzenberg, a leader from the College Park chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents 3,400 College Park employees, including housekeepers, bus drivers, administrative assistants and other campus staff.

Gonzalez lives in Lanham, Md., with her 18-year-old son and three friends, but she believes she got sick at work. She spends most of her time in College Park, working in close quarters with other housekeepers, she said. State health officials will be notified about positive cases so they can start contact tracing, but Natifia Mullings, a university spokeswoman, did not say whether that process has started.

As campuses announce plans to reopen in the fall, service workers, many of whom are people of color, have been summoned to the front lines. Maintenance workers and custodial crews are being called back to work with little preparation, their union says. And housekeepers like Gonzalez are tasked with washing floors and sanitizing surfaces to keep the community safe even when they don’t feel safe themselves.

“People on campus are very, very concerned,” said Todd Holden, interim president of CONTINUE READING: Housekeepers and custodians, fearful as campuses reopen, demand more protection from their schools - The Washington Post