Meet the workers: Jean Simpson

55-year-old Indianapolis janitor Jean Simpson understands that if children are to be successful, they need guidance and encouragement. But children’s lives these days can be chaotic, especially when surrounded by poverty, alcoholism and drug abuse. “I tell my grandchildren to not worry about what’s going on around them, to just concentrate on your goals,” she says.

Jean was on disability for a pinched nerve in her neck. But she decided that as a loving grandmother, she must take responsibility to provide for her four grandchildren. In need of additional money, Jean took a job cleaning for the Mitch Murch Maintenance Management Company at the Lilly Technology Center owned by the Fortune 500 pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, who markets medicines in 143 countries worldwide and takes in annual revenues of more than $14 billion.

Despite Eli Lilly’s commitment to “help people live longer, healthier and more active lives,” the workers who clean their buildings do not have health insurance.

“Mitch Murch promises benefits, including health care, after 90 days on the job,” says Jean. “It’s weird, I never met anybody who worked there more than 90 days.”

For nearly 90 days, Jean worked cleaning bathrooms at Eli Lilly. For 6 hours a day she picked up trash, swept, mopped, dusted stalls, wiped mirrors and sinks, and replaced paper towels and toilet paper. Supervisors urged her constantly to work faster and faster. She was paid just $8.00 an hour.

During Jean’s probation period, her supervisors gave her high marks for her work. According to Jean, that changed when she told her supervisors that she was due to undergo surgery for breast cancer.

On Good Friday Jean’s supervisor gave her permission to leave early. “When I came back on Monday, they walked me to the front door and asked for my badge,” she says. “I got fired. I was shocked.”

Jean is now back on disability and the prognosis for her cancer is uncertain until her surgery.

In the meantime, Jean has joined with other janitors in Indianapolis to form a union and improve standards in the cleaning industry. “Even if I die, other people will come along and things will be better for them,” she says.