Outbreak adds urgency to janitors’ push for sick pay

March 4, 2020 by

Ahmed Kahsay, a janitor at MSP Airport, speaks at a press conference called by his union, SEIU Local 26, to discuss the coronavirus, as Local 26 President Iris Altamirano (R) listens.

The coronavirus outbreak has Edith Patiño worried not just about her family’s health, but her ability to pay the bills, too.

After eight years working as a janitor for Minneapolis-based Harvard Maintenance, Patiño gets just four days of earned sick and safe time per year. When she runs out, Patiño said, she often goes to work sick rather than lose hours toward her paycheck.

What would it mean to miss work for two weeks while recovering from COVID-19?

“I am the head of my household,” Patiño said. “It would be detrimental. I would have to ask for government assistance, which I don’t want to do and have never had to do. But if I can’t work, I have no other option.”

Public response to the epidemic has put a grim spotlight on limited access to paid sick time in the U.S., particularly for low-wage workers like Patiño.

According to federal labor-market statistics, 73% of all private-sector workers had access to paid sick leave last year, but less than half of workers in the lowest 25% of earners. Access to paid sick time also was lower among workers in service occupations, who are most likely to interact with the public, making containment of the outbreak more challenging.

As news broke today that two passengers arriving at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport had been asked to self-quarantine, the union representing 4,000 Twin Cities janitors, including about 200 who clean the airport, carried a new sense of urgency into contract negotiations with local cleaning contractors.

Among janitors’ top demands is an increase in their earned sick and safe days, to a minimum of six per year.

Iris Altamirano, president of Service Employees International Union Local 26, said union members “will be on the front lines” of preventing the virus from spreading in Minnesota. “Our workers are being given new tasks to do right now, like wiping down chairs, doorknobs and other surfaces,” Altamirano said.

About 4,000 janitors across the Twin Cities, members of SEIU Local 26, went on a 24-hour strike over unfair labor practices last week.

Should they fall ill from the virus, janitors want their union contract to provide basic protections for themselves and their communities, like paid sick time and affordable health insurance. Altamirano said the union hopes to use its leverage at the bargaining table “to tackle something bigger than just us.”

“We know right now we’re under threat, and we are part of the solution to containing that virus,” Patiño added.

If negotiators fail to make meaningful progress on those demands and others in contract talks scheduled through Friday, the union’s 4,000 members, who staged a 24-hour strike last week, plan to begin an open-ended strike over unfair labor practices Monday.

“We are coming into these negotiations very hopeful we can land a settlement but preparing to do whatever we have to do to get a fair contract,” Altamirano said.

Local 26 members in negotiations are employed by over a dozen different subcontractors to clean corporate office buildings across the Twin Cities. They voted unanimously Feb. 8 to authorize a ULP strike over the companies’ practices of stalling and refusing to give information, and to settle a fair contract.

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Retail janitors win agreement with Best Buy on eve of shareholder summit

June 14, 2016 by

Workers celebrated outside Best Buy's corporate headquarters in Richfield this morning, hours after the company agreed to use responsible cleaning contractors inside its stores.

Workers celebrated outside Best Buy’s corporate headquarters in Richfield this morning, hours after the company agreed to use responsible cleaning contractors inside its stores.

 

A protest planned by retail janitors today outside Best Buy’s corporate headquarters turned into a celebration after executives agreed to partner with workers on efforts to ensure people who clean the company’s stores have safe and fair working conditions.

The agreement, reached late last night on the eve of Best Buy’s annual shareholder meeting, puts the Richfield-based corporation on track to join Target in implementing a Responsible Contractor Policy, organizers with the Twin Cities low-wage worker center CTUL said.

Target approved the policy two years ago, and it includes provisions ensuring a safe and fair process for workers organizing for a voice on the job. The agreement with Best Buy, according to CTUL, will ensure “a responsible janitorial contractor” cleans Best Buy stores.

Outside the shareholder meeting today, janitors and their supporters from the community praised Best Buy for doing right by workers who clean its stores.

“I’m happy that Best Buy has heard our voices and has taken a leadership role to improve the janitorial industry here in Minnesota,” said Jose Gonzalez, an employee of KBS who cleans an area Best Buy store. “I am confident that janitors who clean Best Buy will be able to begin a dialogue with our employer and improve our working conditions.”

One year ago, workers like Gonzalez banged on drums, carried signs and chanted slogans outside the annual shareholder meeting. Today, they quietly reflected on how far their campaign to raise wages and improve conditions for retail janitors – now entering its seventh year – has come.

“This news makes me very happy,” said longtime CTUL activist Maricela Flores, who cleans an area Target store as an employee of Carlson. “Today, because of our struggle to bring these injustices to light, Best Buy has listened to our petitions and is showing leadership by agreeing to contract a responsible janitorial contractor to clean their stores.”

Cleaning workers and supporters demonstrated outside Kohl's, urging the retailer to follow Best Buy's lead.

Cleaning workers and supporters demonstrated outside Kohl’s, urging the retailer to follow Best Buy’s lead.

The victory gives Flores and other workers a shot of momentum as they push other retailers to join Target and Best Buy – momentum they wasted no time putting to use.

After leaving the Best Buy campus, workers crossed the bridge over I-494 to demonstrate inside and outside a Kohl’s store. Two CTUL activists, employees of the cleaning contractor Kimco, described the conditions they face cleaning Kohl’s stores, including long hours and low wages with no voice on the job.

Workers have been pushing Kohl’s to address concerns about the cleaning contractor for more than two years.

It might not be Kohl’s, but other major retailers in the Twin Cities may be on the cusp of giving janitors less cause for protest and more cause for celebration. CTUL organizers today credited Herberger’s for taking “positive steps” toward implementing a policy similar to the one Best Buy approved.

“We hope that other stores will follow large corporations like Best Buy and Target in working to recognize the need for change in the retail janitorial field in Minnesota,” Flores said.

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Workers to legislators: Finish the job on transportation, bonding

May 26, 2016 by

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Lori O’Malley, president of a small construction business in Le Center, speaks to the importance of stable transportation funding, especially in rural economies.

 

Construction workers and contractors formed a united front at the Capitol today in support of a special session allowing state legislators to compromise on two shared priorities – transportation and infrastructure – left unaddressed when session adjourned Sunday night.

Lawmakers “still have time to finish,” Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council President Harry Melander said at a press conference this morning, flanked by dozens of tradespeople in hard hats.

“We’re requesting that, with the leadership of the governor, legislators find a long-term solution to the state’s transportation crisis and pass a strong bonding bill that will provide not only needed infrastructure repairs in the Metro Area, but in greater Minnesota,” Melander said.

Such a compromise already is “on the table,” according to Dave Semerad, head of the Associated General Contractors of Minnesota. It likely would involve some general fund money from a sales tax on auto parts, dedicated license tab fees, a local option to pay for transit projects and Met Council reform.

Harry Melander, a former industrial tech teacher, said there's still time for lawmakers to earn "a passing grade, not an (incomplete) on our state’s report card.”

Harry Melander (R), a former industrial tech teacher, said there’s still time for lawmakers to put “a passing grade, not an (incomplete) on our state’s report card.”

“All that’s lacking is political courage,” Semerad said. “Now’s the time for leadership, not partisan bickering and political games.”

Much is at stake in finding a compromise. The AGC’s 350 employers statewide rely on public investments to create jobs for 50,000 union tradespeople.

Lori O’Malley, president of a small construction business in Le Center, warned that without stable and continuous funding for transportation and infrastructure, “the industry will react, and those reactions will take a long time to recover from.”

With each year lawmakers wait to pass a long-term transportation plan, more of the state’s roads and bridges fall into disrepair. Already, more than half of Minnesota’s roads are more than 50 years old, and 40 percent of the state’s bridges are more than 40 years old.

“Our mission is to build a better Minnesota, but without long-term and sustained funding, it cannot be accomplished,” Semerad said.

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UPDATE: With strike deadline looming, janitors reach landmark tentative pact

March 3, 2016 by

 

Members of the Minneapolis RLF's People of Color Union Members Caucus rally in support of janitors' contract campaign.

Members of the Minneapolis RLF’s People of Color Union Members Caucus rally in support of janitors’ contract campaign.

 

Union janitors in the Twin Cities reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract with area cleaning contractors after a marathon bargaining session ended in the early-morning hours March 7. The settlement prevented janitors from staging a second strike.

About 4,000 janitors, 90 percent of whom are people of color, will see their wages increase by 12.3 percent over the next four years as a result of the new contract – proof, union leaders said, that collective bargaining can be an effective tool in fixing the Twin Cities’ alarming racial disparities.

Maplewood resident Brahim Kone, who works as a janitor in downtown St. Paul and served on SEIU Local 26’s bargaining team, said the new contract includes “the largest raise in decades for Twin Cities janitors, moving full-time workers like myself over $15 immediately.”

“This is a big win for our union and a big win for our community,” Kone added. “Janitors stood together through many months to win what is right, and we are so excited for this victory.”

In addition to wage increases, the contract extends full health benefits and paid-sick days to part-time janitors, improves health insurance coverage while protecting low premiums, and includes a new “just cause” clause that protects janitors from being fired without reason.

"If contractors want a strike, they'll have one. And we'll all support the janitors," St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper said.

“If contractors want a strike, they’ll have one. And we’ll all support the janitors,” St. Paul Regional Labor Federation President Bobby Kasper said.

Landmark safety language

The contract also includes landmark language to address workload concerns.

A report released earlier this year found staffing cuts over the last decade have created dangerous, backbreaking conditions in the industry, with many janitors cleaning the equivalent of 20 homes in one night on the job. And building-cleaning and maintenance occupations had the highest rate of lost time due to work-related injury or illness in Minnesota during 2014.

New protections in the contract will give janitors a voice in assessing the safety of their workloads. The contract also calls for a professional study of the workload issue by the University of Minnesota.

Lucia Guaman, a janitor who works for Harvard cleaning RBC Plaza in Minneapolis, said a supervisor once responded to her workload concerns by telling her to “vacuum with one hand, mop with the other and dust with your mouth.” That’s likely to change under the new contract.

“People were intimidated to discuss workload or even report when they get injured,” Guaman said. “Now we have an avenue to fix this crisis, and we hope this means we no longer will hear stories about janitors too hurt and sore from work to play with their children.”

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Striking janitors: ‘We do the dirty work, we deserve a better wage’

February 17, 2016 by

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Union janitors are setting up picket lines across the Twin Cities today, raising the stakes in their fight to win a $15 minimum wage and address alarming workload issues.

The one-day strike over unfair labor practices will impact nearly 200 office buildings in the area before the day is done, according to Local 26 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents about 4,000 janitors in contract negotiations.

Although employed by several different cleaning contractors, members of Local 26 work inside the offices of the state’s corporate elite, including Medtronic, U.S. Bank, 3M and United Health Group.

The day’s first picket line popped up at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Janitors marched and chanted slogans in several languages outside the drop-off area at Terminal 1.

Terry Groce, third from left, walks the picket line with other MSP Airport janitors.

Terry Groce, third from left, walks the picket line with other MSP Airport janitors.

Terry Groce, whose duties include waxing floors and separating compostable waste from garbage, said his wages haven’t kept pace with his ever-increasing workload during the two years he’s worked at MSP.

“We do more than people see to make the airport look good,” said Groce, who earns $14.80 per hour. “We do the dirty work. We work with chemicals. We work hard, and we deserve a better wage.”

Groce isn’t the only janitor being asked to do more without getting paid more. Reductions in the Twin Cities’ janitorial workforce over the last decade have created dangerous, backbreaking conditions in the industry, with many janitors cleaning the equivalent of 20 homes in one night on the job, according to a report released last month.

It’s dangerous work, too. Building-cleaning and maintenance occupations had the highest rate of lost time due to work-related injury or illness in Minnesota during 2014.

Janitors are seeking several gains in contract negotiations to remedy the workload crisis, including a greater voice over staffing levels and safety procedures, in addition to wages and health benefits that reflect the work’s dangerous and stressful nature.

Union janitors walk a picket line outside the Securian building in downtown St. Paul.

Union janitors walk a picket line outside the Securian building in downtown St. Paul.

Brahim Kone, who cleans the Minnesota Department of Human Services’ offices in St. Paul, said Local 26’s previous contract included language stipulating that employers would not put “unreasonable” workload demands on janitors.

“But what’s unreasonable?” asked Kone, a Maplewood resident who has worked as a janitor for the last 15 years.

“We need the language to be something solid, something specific. Otherwise the (contractors) will just keep increasing and increasing and increasing. I’ve seen it over and over again.”

Janitors’ previous contract expired at the end of 2015, and talks between to the two sides began in October 2015. According to the union, cleaning contractors have refused to address the workload crisis, instead offering a contract that would leave nearly half of the union’s members earning below $15.

Negotiations are scheduled to resume Monday.

“We’re out here showing the bosses that we’re serious, that we want them to do the right thing,” Kone said.

Non-union janitors in the Twin Cities, members of the worker center CTUL, plan a strike of their own tomorrow.

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Protesters to Best Buy: ‘Get out of the way so we can have justice’

June 9, 2015 by

Protesters demonstrate outside Best Buy's annual shareholder meeting.

Protesters demonstrate outside Best Buy’s annual shareholder meeting.

 

RICHFIELD – Inside and outside of Best Buy’s annual shareholders meeting today, Minnesotans called on the corporation to stop using its political clout to block policies that improve working families’ lives.

That includes proposed legislation in Minnesota that would provide workers and their families with the stability and security they need to ensure a healthy work-life balance – policies opposed by lobbying groups Best Buy helps fund.

Best Buy plays “an important role in the Chamber of Commerce and other business associations that have been opposing legislation that supports workers’ rights to take care of their families,” Veronica Mendez Moore, an organizer with the Twin Cities worker Center CTUL, told about 100 demonstrators at a rally outside the shareholders meeting.

CTUL, which has been supporting janitors’ campaign to improve wages and working conditions maintained by cleaning contractors that service big-box retailers, organized the protest with faith groups, labor unions and progressive organizations working to build support at the Capitol for basic worker benefits and protections.

The Working Parents Act, introduced by House DFLers last session and backed by labor, stalled after drawing swift opposition from the Chamber of Commerce and the Minnesota Retailer’s Association, another Best Buy-led lobbying outfit. The bill pulled together initiatives seeking to crack down on employers who commit wage theft, require fairness in employee scheduling and guarantee workers access to earned sick time and paid family leave.

Leticia Zuniga describes what happened as a delegation of workers and their supporters met with Best Buy executives during the shareholder meeting.

Leticia Zuniga describes what happened as a delegation of workers and their supporters met with Best Buy executives during the shareholder meeting.

Too many of the jobs created during the current economic recovery don’t provide those benefits, janitor Hilario DeLeon told the crowd through a translator.

“Where I work we have no benefits at all,” DeLeon said. “We want to be able to have vacation. We want to be able to have paid sick days.”

DeLeon has cleaned the Target in downtown Minneapolis for seven years, and he said conditions deteriorate as contractors, looking to offer big-box retailers the lowest bid, seek new ways to cut costs. If Best Buy won’t agree to hold contractors to higher standards, he said, the company should at least stop using its clout at the Capitol to oppose raising the floor for everyone.

“We know that Best Buy has been getting in the way of our efforts,” DeLeon said. “We want Best Buy to get out of the way so we … can have justice.”

As protesters rallied outside, a delegation of activists gained access to Best Buy’s shareholder meeting by holding stock in the company or acting as a supportive shareholder’s proxy. Leticia Zuniga, a janitor and CTUL member who cleans Herberger’s, said a three Best Buy executives met with the delegation privately as well.

“We talked a lot about the problems there are in this industry: the rampant wage theft, workers not getting paid on time or with pay stubs, not knowing what hours they’re getting paid for,” Zuniga said. “We asked Best Buy to sign a responsible contractor policy, and they said they’d get back to us in a month.”

Ironically, the janitors who will clean up after today’s shareholders meeting are union members who enjoy many of the benefits workers inside Best Buy’s stores are fighting to win.

Ricardo Chavez, a member of the Service Employees International Union who works inside the corporate headquarters, joined the protest. He earns a fair wage with good benefits, predictable scheduling and access to paid sick days.

“But I know my brothers and sisters that work cleaning Best Buy’s stores right next door don’t have access to any of these benefits,” Chavez said. “Thousands of workers all over the state do not have access to these benefits, and all of us deserve them.”

Indeed, about 1 million workers in Minnesota do not have access to paid sick and safe time to care for themselves or their family members, TakeAction Minnesota Director Dan McGrath said, yet policies requiring employers to provide sick days are generally popular among voters.

“These corporations are created for people to make money,” Pastor Doug Mork of Cross of Glory Lutheran Church said. “They shouldn’t be cutting back our democratic voice.”

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Janitors set new strike deadline, accuse cleaning contractor of wage theft

May 20, 2015 by

CTUL member Maricela Flores speaks at a press conference announcing a class-action lawsuit seeking unpaid wages for workers who cleaned Macy's and Herberger's stores in the Twin Cities.

CTUL member Maricela Flores speaks at a press conference to announce a class-action lawsuit seeking unpaid wages for workers who cleaned Macy’s and Herberger’s stores in the Twin Cities.

Janitors who clean big-box and department stores in the Twin Cities announced two key developments in their campaign for better wages and working conditions today, setting a new strike deadline and filing a class-action lawsuit to recoup wages allegedly lost to wage theft.

Members of with the Twin Cities worker center CTUL took legal action in Hennepin County against cleaning contractor Capital Building Services Group, alleging janitors who clean Macy’s and Herberger’s stores were paid less than minimum wage and did not receive overtime pay, among other offenses.

Eight current or former Capital employees joined the class action, which could grow to include other workers as the lawsuit advances. Several plaintiffs gathered for a press conference to announce the suit outside Macy’s store on Nicollet Mall in Minneapolis.

Leyla Yusuf, a former Capital employee, said the company did not provide paycheck stubs with information on wages, hours and overtime to its employees. When she suspected she was not being paid in full, she demanded to see a pay stub.

“The reason I got fired is because I asked for my check stub,” Yusuf said through a translator. “I spoke up, and I’ll never be silenced. We are here to get it right.”

Strike deadline set

The lawsuit comes roughly seven months after CTUL reached a historic agreement with Target Corporation on a policy to ensure safe conditions, fair wages and basic protections for all workers inside Target’s Twin Cities stores – even those who work for other companies, like subcontractors.

Target’s influence in the local retail market sparked hope that the policy would have a ripple effect throughout the industry. Instead, workers say the two contractors that service area Target stores, Carlson Building Maintenance and Prestige Maintenance USA, are not abiding by the policy – and it’s holding back progress for all cleaning workers as a result.

Maricela Flores and Jose Cabrera, CTUL members who work for Carlson, reported being required to work seven days per week – a violation of Target’s Responsible Contractor Policy.

“I don’t have enough time to rest,” Cabrera said. “I don’t have time to spend with my family. Although Target created the new policy, we still have not seen necessary changes.”

The subcontractors also have failed to respect workers’ union rights, CTUL organizer Merle Payne said. “We’ve had a number of meetings where we’ve tried” to establish a pathway to organizing, Payne said. “But the companies aren’t really meeting in good faith.”

Now, CTUL members are giving Carlson, Prestige and six other contractors, including Capital, until June 9 to get serious about those meetings, or else they will call a strike. Fifteen retail chains, including Macy’s, Herberger’s, Target, Kohl’s and Sears, could be affected by the work stoppage.

Short-term, high-visibility strikes are gaining popularity among low-wage workers in the Twin Cities as a strategy for putting pressure on employers and attracting more support. If janitors walk off the job June 9, it would mark their fifth strike in the Twin Cities over the last two years.

“It’s too long that we’ve been waiting, too long that our petitions have gone without an answer,” Luciano Balbuena, a Kimco Services employee who cleans Home Depot stores, said through a translator. “If we don’t get a response, we’re going on strike June 9.”

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