As seen in the Connecticut Post. 

With time running out on negotiators, almost 4,000 janitors in Fairfield and Westchester counties were prepared to greet the New Year by walking picket lines.
Instead they got a belated Christmas present — a settlement.

Negotiators from Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ met representatives from a collective of cleaning companies in White Plains, N.Y., on Friday in what a union official said could have been the last day for talking.

"We'll have to do what we have to do," said Ubaldo Diaz, a Bridgeport resident and member of Local 32BJ's bargaining committee. But Friday they struck an agreement by 10 p.m. that raised salaries from $10.50 an hour to $12.50 over four years and promised more full-time positions, and gave dental and vision coverage and life insurance to part-time workers in Westchester County, N.Y., and Fairfield County.

The salary increase is 19 percent, said Kurt Westby, director of the Local 32 BJ in Connecticut.

"The members are very happy with this contract," he said.

He added, "In Fairfield County we won a training fund and a legal fund, two funds that will help our members. We also had a couple of sick days and holidays added."

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