Meet the workers: Craig Jones

“My parents say it wasn’t always like this,” says Craig Jones, a Cincinnati janitor. “There used to be good jobs in Cincinnati.”

As a janitor employed by cleaning contractor Professional Maintenance, Craig works hard. Limited by his employer to working just 6 hours each day, Craig is paid just $6.85 an hour, which amounts to $10,000 per year, most of which goes to rent.

“There are a lot of days when I just don’t eat,” says Craig. Throughout the year, Craig relies on government assistance just to get by. But during the holidays, Craig also resorts to additional sources of food: charity from local churches and community centers and occasionally, leftovers from tenants of the large downtown office building Craig cleans. “Maybe there was a meeting and they let me have the leftover food,” he says. “It’s a good day when that happens.”

Craig knows the toll his job is taking on him, the never-ending stress of living hand-to-mouth. But Craig is even more concerned about the fate of his community. A rap song that Craig recently recorded with his cousin expresses his views:

Oh, look at all the lonely people

For the trials and the tribulations we’re facing/

Oh, look at all the lonely people

For the miles of smiles and frustrations/

Oh, look at all the lonely people

So may people not embracing their generation/

... we need a solution.

For neighborhood problems from gangs to gloom, from heroin to the health care crisis, Craig already has a solution in mind: fighting together for good jobs with health care. “I’m not leaving Cincinnati,” Craig says. “Cincinnati is my home and this is were I want to take my stand.”