Local 1877 of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) led more than 200 protesters, mostly janitors, on a march from Fair Oaks Park to the intersection of Duane and Stewart avenues. There they were met by 50 police officers clad in riot gear and wielding batons.

The union has been trying to unionize Team Services, the janitorial contractor for Yahoo!, since April. Team Services employs 200 people and sends about 35 to clean the Yahoo! campus.

The Santa Clara­based Team Services has said its employees are not interested in joining the union.

"Numerous Team Services employees have come to us asking help on fighting the union," said Ann L. Butler, the attorney for Team Services. "They said they have been harassed by the union and tricked by the union. They have been part of the union, or their friends and family have been part of the union in the past. And they don't want to be a part of it now."

SEIU representatives have said that Team Services is harassing its employees, threatening job termination if union leanings are detected.

The accusations and counter-accusations came to a head Aug. 12 when a Team Services janitor, Ricardo Olguin, was fired. Olguin was working closely with the union.

Butler, however, said that Olguin was fired because he violated a company policy. That violation was visiting with co-workers in a building other than the one to which he was assigned.

On the other hand, union representatives said Olguin's firing was intended to intimidate other employees and prevent them from seeking higher wages and a benefits package.

Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer Union members, surrounded by local police officers, walk down the streets of Sunnyvale to protest the salaries and lack of benefits given to janitors for Team Services, who work at Yahoo!.

Using the cast-off Olguin as its poster janitor, Local 1877 has filed a slew of labor law grievances against Team Services. Many are still pending before the National Labor Relations Board.

The march in Sunnyvale was directed at Yahoo!, not Team Services, because Yahoo! is the one making the decisions, said Tom Csekey, vice president of Local 1877.

"Yahoo! is using contractors that abuse their workers," he added. "If they tell Team Services to stop, they will."

Amy Dean of the South Bay Labor Council said she's appalled by the Yahoo! corporate response.

"I feel ashamed that I live in a community that's the wealthiest in the world, where corporate leaders can't see it in their hearts to give fair wages and benefits to their workers," Dean said.

But from the outset, Yahoo! representatives has said that the company is not a party in this labor dispute.

In an email to The Sunnyvale Sun, Yahoo! spokeswoman Emily Collins said, "This situation is about the Service Employees International Union's attempt to organize employees of our janitorial contractor, Team Services, Inc. We have been assured by Team Services that they will comply with the established legal procedures if their employees want to make the choice to have union representation."

South Bay politicians, including Mountain View Mayor Sally Lieber and Assemblywoman Elaine Alquist have publicly condemned Yahoo! for hiring Team Services and "shunning" the needs of the community.

Sunnyvale Mayor Fred Fowler, like Yahoo!, however, is staying neutral. Before the protest, he said, "The city has no part in this dispute - my only interest is that there is no major disruptions within the city."

The arrests at the protest were planned by the union. An SEIU representative called the Sunnyvale Public Safety department a few days before the march, according to Beth Trimarco of SEIU and Captain Byron Pipkin of Public Safety.

"We have no desire to arrest people," Pipkin said. "If they are violating the law and we decide it is an unlawful assembly, we will have to."

Fifty officers were assigned to cover the protest in addition to the officers patrolling elsewhere around town. Mountain View and Los Altos officers aided Public Safety.

"It is a drain on our resources," Pipkin said.

Seven union activists ultimately sat in a circle in the center of the Duane-Stewart intersection.

The seven - Liz Lee, Alison Webber, Kevin Brown, Fred Hirsch, Andrew Gross Gaitan, Carmen Inguez and Salvadore Bustamonte - were charged with the misdemeanor of failure to disperse.

Photograph by Jacqueline Ramseyer Riot police surround a group of sit-in protesters at the intersection of Stewart and Duane avenues in Sunnyvale. All seven people were arrested for blocking traffic.

"Most Yahoo! janitors want to join our union," she said. "There are some who said they don't. But what would stop them from wanting better wages and health benefits? Fear. Team Services is calling its employees at their home, interrogating them about union support, telling them they will be out on the street if they get involved with the union. This shows that what Yahoo! is doing is unacceptable to the community, and we will not be silenced."

Butler, the lawyer for Team Services, said the union is wedging itself into a staff unimpressed with union activity. She added that several Team Services employees had gone to the offices of Local 1877 and protested the SEIU.