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A protest by UW custodians and their families yesterday made it clear to UW Custodial Services that swing-shift custodians would not move to the day shift without a fight.

Swing-shift custodians at the UW have been fighting to stay on their current shift of 4:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. since UW Custodial Services announced in March that the 85 custodians currently on the shift would be forced to move to the day shift.

As a lead in to yesterday’s special Board of Regents meeting, more than 100 people marched and chanted from Red Square to the Northlake Building, which houses the UW’s Custodial Services. The protesters blocked the front door of the building and demanded that Gene Woodard, director of Custodial Services, rescind his decision to move swing-shift custodians to the day shift or be fired.

“Gene has to go!” the crowd shouted repeatedly.

The protestors were composed of a broad scope of UW community members, including custodians, students, UW faculty and non-custodial staff.

“Time is running out,” said Mehereteab Mengistu, a swing-shift custodian who was present at the protest. “They don’t respect us.”

Swing-shift custodians are scheduled to start working the day shift this coming Monday.

The protest was fueled in part by a negotiation meeting that took place Wednesday between the union representing UW custodians, Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE) Local 1488 and UW Custodial Services.

In the meeting, UW Custodial Services made it known that they were firm in their decision to transfer swing-shift custodians to the day shift.

“There is no flexibility here,” said Salvador Castillo, executive vice president of WFSE 1488. “They [UW Custodial Services] have not agreed to leave more than eight people on swing shift.”

The prevailing concern among the protesters was the impact the move will have on custodians whose livelihoods depend on them working the swing shift.

“My wife works in the daytime, and I take care of my children when she’s working,” said Neztereab Seare, a swing-shift custodian of 20 years. “Also, if I go to the day shift, my salary won’t be enough because I have child support to pay.”

Concerns like Seare’s drove the protestors to speak directly to Woodard. The protesters shouted and demanded that Woodard come out of the building to speak. With no success, the protestors attempted to enter the building, but five UW police officers stopped them.

“We knew that they were going to march,” said Assistant Chief Ray Wittmier of the UW Police Department (UWPD). “We assigned a couple of light patrol generally to provide safety while they cross the street.”

However, the officers did allow three of the custodians to enter the building to see if Woodard was there. When they came outside informing the protestors that he was not there, they began shouting “coward.”

John Frazier, WFSE 1488’s newly elected president, had control of the megaphone during the majority of the protest.

“We’re going to start setting these up all the time until this thing is done and our people are okay,” he said. “Just to make sure that, at the end of the day, our workers are treated fairly.”

The protesters left Northlake Building with one final declaration.

“We’ll be back,” Frazier yelled into the megaphone.

The majority of the crowd moved on to participate in the special Board of Regents meetings to speak to the regents on behalf of the custodians.