Officers Suspended, Trustee to Run Janitors’ Union Local

The Service Employees International Union on Thursday suspended 25 officers in its Local 399 and appointed a trustee to take control of the local, which has been crippled by a nasty spat between the president and his supporters and rival dissidents.

SEIU President John J. Sweeney said the protracted battle between the local and a group of dissidents must end because it had caused a breakdown of Local 399’s contract bargaining and representation of its 28,000 members.

Many building owners who used cleaning companies that had signed contracts with Local 399 and its janitors were taking advantage of the disarray to try and go non-union, said Leticia Salcedo, a union organizer.