Nancy Morin

Nancy Morin is doing her best to secure a better future for her children. But it's not easy.

As a janitor working for OneSource, Nancy is paid only $5.30 an hour and has no health insurance, sick days or paid vacation. "During my shift I clean the bathrooms on seven floors--that's about 50 toilets, and more than 20 sinks," she says. "I also have to scrub the floors, replace the toilet paper and paper towels, and refill the soap."

Nancy is a mother of two young boys aged one and two, and she's a widow. Her husband died tragically. "We were having lunch together at home one afternoon and he ran downstairs to get some drinking water from a sidewalk stand for us," she says. There he encountered an individual strung out on drugs making a scene. "When he tried to help calm him down he was stabbed to death," Nancy says. She was seven and a half months pregnant with their second child at the time.

"Before my husband's death, we lived in our own apartment," she says. But with his passing, there was no way she could afford to live on her own and support her two children making poverty wages. Earlier this year, she was forced to move in with her mother and stepfather in their one-bedroom apartment.

Things have not been easy in her new home. She sleeps in a small bedroom with her children and 8-year-old brother while her parents sleep on the pull-out couch in the living room with her other brother. "I feel trapped," she says. Nancy's stepfather pays the bills but takes all of the money she earns in return for letting her stay in the apartment. "I don't make enough money to move out, or buy my children clothing--the family has to share clothes."

In August, Nancy's mother bought her eldest son tennis shoes. She also bought Nancy's younger son new clothes for his first birthday. "It's nice to see my boys get some of the basic things they need, but I want to provide more for them," she says. "I want a brighter future with more possibilities for them."

Nancy hopes that she and other SEIU janitors will win better wages and access to health care soon so she and her family can begin to climb out of poverty. Her life has been hard, but she's not giving up. "I draw my strength from my two sons," she says, "and I hope things will get better through the union."

Nancy has been attending rallies and talking to other janitors. As she says, "I'm ready to fight."