Lessons from a Landmark Campaign: An Interview with Stephen Lerner on Justice for Janitors.

This article focuses on the development and impact of the Service Employees International Union’s (SEIU) Justice for Janitors (J4J) campaign, led by Stephen Lerner from the mid-1980s until 2011. J4J innovatively organized immigrant janitorial workers through militant direct action, leveraging financial pressure on building owners via pension fund investments and expanding organizing efforts nationally and globally. The campaign faced internal resistance, challenges in local leadership, and strategic debates over organizing approaches, including the shift toward “mega locals” and expansion into security workers and private equity targets. Lerner emphasizes that successful labor organizing requires combining worker-led activism with strategic leverage on employers, rejecting quick fixes in favor of comprehensive, large-scale campaigns that address structural economic power.