In Bread and Roses, his first film in the United States, he continues to deal with the plight of people not among society's privileged. So one of the smugglers takes Maya to an apartment, planning to rape her under the guise of her paying for his services. Obviously this has worked for him before, but Maya turns the tables. Joining her sister, Maya is thrilled that Rosa, a janitor, has gotten her a job in the same office building. Naive Maya has no idea of the real truth or cost of her new job.
Conditions are tough.
The janitors have never won anything, and they have too much to lose to get in any conflict with the bosses. Maya is one of the few exceptions. As she gets more involved with Sam's plans, she also becomes attracted to him. Laverty got the idea at a Los Angeles bus stop where he was surrounded by women workers from all over Latin America. Loach and Laverty based the story around the ongoing Justice for Janitors campaign, which was active during the time he was shooting this film.