A union representing janitors, security guards and other lower-wage workers wants to make sure working-class Cleveland will benefit from Mayor Justin Bibb’s proposal focused on improving downtown and developing the city’s waterfronts.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1 is in the early stages of speaking with the Bibb administration about including provisions in the mayor’s proposed Shore-to-Core-to-Shore Tax Increment Financing (TIF) District. The TIF district, which is intended to spur development, would include downtown and portions of the Near West Side.
The mayor’s proposal, which must be approved by City Council, is based on a large share of the new taxes generated in the district being used to provide the “funds necessary to transform the city’s lakefront, riverfront and public amenities throughout the city,” according to the administration’s proposal.
Preliminary discussions have taken place, and we at SEIU Local 1 are looking forward to continued collaboration toward reaching the end goal. There are opportunities to think creatively and boldly about something that benefits workers.
Yanela Sims, SEIU Local 1’s state director and vice president on the union speaking with the Bibb administration about the TIF district.
The union is focused on how the plan can help transform the economic lives of lower-wage workers. This could include setting a living wage, which would rise with inflation, for workers in the new buildings and other development that would take place in the district, said Yanela Sims, the union’s state director and vice president. About 75% of Local 1 janitors working downtown are Cleveland residents, according to the union.
“Preliminary discussions have taken place, and we at SEIU Local 1 are looking forward to continued collaboration toward reaching the end goal,” she said. “There are opportunities to think creatively and boldly about something that benefits workers.”
Unions negotiated community benefits before
It isn’t unusual for unions to negotiate with the city and developers for certain terms regarding development projects. The opportunity exists because development projects often receive public subsidies such as tax abatements. Cleveland’s Community Benefits Ordinance, updated in 2023, requires Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs) for projects receiving city financial incentives of at least $250,000.
“The City of Cleveland recognizes its unique role in ensuring that development projects directly benefit the communities in which they are built and that public dollars benefit the entire community, including historically underrepresented minorities, women and small businesses,” states information about the ordinance on the city’s website.
Construction unions have often been part of the CBA negotiating process. They often lobby to include union members on projects and guarantee that workers will not be paid less than a certain wage.
What SEIU Local 1 wants is a bit different. The union is looking beyond individual projects to setting standards for the entire district. Local 1 is also seeking an agreement that is more long term than many CBAs.
“We’re looking for something that will benefit workers beyond the build,” Sims said. “This is the only way that service workers like the janitors, the security officers and food service workers, who work more permanently at these properties, will be able to benefit.”
This is SEIU’s latest effort fighting for working-class Cleveland to benefit from downtown development. In February, the union lobbied nonprofit Downtown Cleveland, Inc. to urge building owners to support higher wages for downtown janitors.
The proposed TIF district would last 30 years
When combined with existing smaller TIF projects in the proposed district, the life of the district extends to 42 years, according to the administration. A city spokeswoman confirmed that the administration has met with SEIU Local 1. She said substantive conversations cannot occur until the TIF district is in place.
“While we have had discussions about community benefits implementation with respect to unions, we have not yet discussed this in connection with the Shore-to-Core-to-Shore TIF District,” wrote Marie Zickefoose in an email to Signal Cleveland. “As we move forward with the TIF district, the city will be seeking community benefits agreements that include and encourage strong labor participation.”
A TIF is a public financing method used to subsidize redevelopment, infrastructure and other community improvement projects. It does this by redirecting all or a share of new taxes generated by a TIF project or in a TIF district to redevelopment, infrastructure or other community improvement projects. Bibb proposed the Shore-to-Core-to-Shore TIF district in January.
Critics of TIFs say that diverting new tax revenue for specific uses can be problematic because it potentially shortchanges existing public programs and institutions, such as the schools. The TIF District, as proposed, will not divert taxes from the Cleveland Municipal School District. Some have raised concern that other institutions, including the Cleveland Public Library, Cuyahoga Community College and the Cleveland Metroparks, should receive tax protection similar to CMSD. Early on, many city council members feared the neighborhoods would be short-changed in TIF district-generated revenue. Council reached an agreement with the mayor in February calling for 35% of the new taxes generated to go to neighborhoods. Council had initially sought 50%.