Editor’s note: The annual Mosaic Journalism Workshop for Bay Area high school students is a two-week intensive course in journalism. Based at San Jose State University’s Spartan Daily newsroom, Mosaic students report and photograph real stories under the guidance of professional journalists.

On the 30th anniversary of the Justice for Janitors campaign on June 13, Patricia Ocana told her frightening story.

“I didn’t feel safe,” Ocana said, referring to the harassment and disrespect she felt two decades ago when she was a young janitor working alone in San Jose.

She continued to work, afraid, until she stumbled upon the campaign organized by the Service Employees International Union, Local 1877 in San Jose.

At least 80 enthusiastic supporters marched three blocks to commemorate an ugly event that inspired the creation of the unionizing campaign — the day Los Angeles police officers beat up a group of janitors protesting low wages, dangerous working conditions and lack of benefits.

While many in the crowd celebrated what they considered 30 years of success, others seemed frustrated by lingering problems on the job: low wages, long hours and sexual harassment.

Representatives from other labor unions and Latino community activists spoke about a problem that has come forward in recent years: sexual harassment and mistreatment of women on the job.

“We have to stick together more than ever,” said Riko Mendez, a Service Employees International Union (SEIU) official.

Janitors of different ethnic and racial backgrounds fought for equal opportunity and safe working conditions.

Now middle-aged with medium-length hair, Ocana was a featured speaker. She was a janitor for 20 years cleaning high-tech offices and other buildings. She eventually rose in rank with the union to become an organizer.

Leading the chant, “No justice, no peace,” she and the marchers headed for the Robert F. Peckham Federal Court Building. Most said they were happy with the expressions of solidarity but had mixed emotions because of the problems they still face on the job.

Salvador “Chava” Bustamante did not attend the anniversary demonstration, but he was there at the beginning of the effort to unionize janitors in the early 1990s.

“I was fortunate enough to work with them when they started,” he said. Bustamante worked in the agricultural fields for several years beginning in 1968 and said the experience made it possible to relate to today’s urban janitors in Silicon Valley.

He became an organizer for the SEIU in 1974. He said he realized and understood what a big difference he was able to help make.

For example, he said, since its start, many more janitors have joined the union. Today, some 60% of the estimated 6,000 janitors in Santa Clara County belong to the union. Thirty years ago, Bustamante said, the union represented only 30% of the janitorial workforce. He also said the number of janitors with medical coverage grew from 4,000 to 10,000.

He said, “They no longer have to take money out from their pockets” for health care.

As the anniversary celebration ended, the crowd applauded with expressions of optimism.

“I think this event commemorates 30 years of struggle against very powerful groups by some of the most vulnerable people out there,” said Andrés Quintero, chief of staff for San Jose city Councilwoman Maya Esparza. “It’s their victory that was placed 30 years ago and the struggle has not finished.”