When the Hartford Courant ended its contract with eight unionized janitors in October, the state’s largest newspaper landed on “Union Santa’s” naughty list.
Dressed in a Santa costume, SEIU 32BJ field organizer Wojciech Pirog delivered a bucket of coal to the paper’s Hartford headquarters on Friday. Pirog was joined by some of the former janitors, who lost their jobs two weeks ago.
Ramon Garcia, one of the former cleaners, said the Courant’s publisher Richard Graziano, deserved the coal.
“When we lost our jobs he shook our hands and told us it was nothing personal, only business. When it’s two weeks before Christmas, it’s really personal. Especially when you have a family and kids,” he said.
In October, a spokeswoman said the cleaning contract went to another company after a competitive bidding process and will allow the paper, which is owned by the Tribune Co., to remain competitive as a business.