Retail janitors brace for busy holiday weekend with no holiday pay

November 22, 2023 by

Contracts covering about 8,000 members of SEIU Local 26 will expire this winter. (file photo)

With shoppers are poised to swarm Black Friday sales across the Twin Cities, it means a busy weekend of work for the union members who clean local big-box stores. And they’ll be doing it – on Thursday, anyway – without holiday pay.

That’s something members of Service Employees (SEIU) Local 26 intend to address in contract negotiations with cleaning companies, set to begin in the coming weeks, workers said during a virtual press conference yesterday.

“Us working during the holidays, it brings a lot of income to the stores and to our companies, but I wonder why they don’t invest that money in us, the workers,” said Local 26 member Deyanira Rodriguez, a janitor with Carlson Building Maintenance who cleans Target and other stores across the metro.

“We are the ones who are doing the job. We deserve more. That’s the fair thing to do, and we are going to get it.”

Local 26 called the press conference to kick off a contract campaign that will prioritize paid holidays, affordable health insurance and higher wages for about 700 retail cleaning workers in the bargaining unit.

Retail janitors’ hourly wages begin at $14.50. Local 26 President Greg Nammacher said most members of the bargaining unit earn $15 per hour or less, and just 5% can afford to access the employer-sponsored health plan.

“Remember, it is these workers who were in the grocery stores during the pandemic when it was at its worst, when we didn’t even know what it was, cleaning up the discarded masks and gloves,” Nammacher said. “They were called heroes. It is time now to show it.”

Union members will look to build on gains they have made since joining SEIU in 2016, after a historic, six-year organizing campaign facilitated by the Twin Cities worker center CTUL.

Before unionizing, retail janitors’ wages began at just $9.50 per hour, and worker complaints of wage theft – as stores switched cleaning contracts, or as contractors outsourced work to subcontractors – were common.

Now, retail cleaning workers are among nearly 8,000 Local 26 members whose contracts are set to expire this winter. Earlier this year, these retail and office janitors, security officers and airport workers began strategizing together – and with members of other local unions who will be at the bargaining table this winter – about ways to leverage their collective strength for greater gains. The coalition unites about 20,000 union members in the public and private sectors.

“We’re not going to be silent anymore when many of the corporations in Minnesota made record profits during the pandemic,” Nammacher said. “It is time all these workers in these different sectors are able to move forward.”

For Rodriguez, that means being able to enjoy holidays at home with her family without taking a hit on her paycheck, or getting premium pay on the holidays she does have to work.

“One of the things I remember about Christmas when I was a kid, it was so beautiful to welcome Christmas with a very warm hug within our family,” she said. “Now, I would like to be able to offer that to our kids.”

Filed Under: Labor Voices, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

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.

Filed Under: Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Strikes surge nationwide

March 2, 2020 by

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.

Some 4,000 Twin Cities janitors walked off the job Feb. 27 for higher wages, paid sick days and other demands.

HealthPartners brought 1,800 nurses, technicians and other caregivers at its metro-area clinics to the brink of a strike before reaching a last-minute deal.

And next Tuesday, 3,600 union educators, frustrated by the district’s refusal to consider their student-centered contract proposals, could go on strike in St. Paul.

Strikes have been in the news a lot here lately, but it’s not just a local phenomenon.

According to labor market statistics released by the federal government last month, the number of U.S. workers who participated in major strikes surged in 2018 and 2019.

On average over those two years, 455,500 workers joined major strikes or work stoppages involving 1,000 or more people. That’s the highest two-year average in 35 years, and more than the total number of striking workers in the previous six years combined.

The numbers suggest that, despite low unemployment and steady economic growth, the U.S. economy isn’t as great as some would claim, particularly not for working people.

St. Paul teachers Remi Eichten (L) and Mary Rddad prepare signs for a potential strike beginning March 10. The #RedForEd movement to restore public school funding sparked strikes across the country, with some 237,400 educators joining strikes in North Carolina, West Virginia, Los Angeles, Chicago, Kentucky and Oregon last year, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, the nation’s highest-ranking labor leader, said the strike surge reflects a “sea change” taking place nationwide.

“Working people, completely fed up with an economic and political system that does not work for us, are turning to each other and using every tool at our disposal to win a better deal,” Trumka said. “Because of the courage of every worker who said enough is enough, we all stand on a stronger foundation today. Solidarity works. And we’re just getting started.”

Despite healthy corporate profits, wage growth has been slow since the economy emerged from the Great Recession. The 2017 tax cut, which President Trump promised would raise average household wages by $4,000, has overwhelmingly benefited corporations and the wealthy instead.

Youth climate strikers and other environmental activists picketed in solidarity with striking janitors, whose contract demands include getting contractors to commit to green cleaning practices.

Executive pay, meanwhile, continues to outpace the wages of average working people. In 2018, CEOs at the largest publicly traded companies earned, on average, 287 times more than the median employee.

Historically, worker frustration has boiled over onto the picket line when working people feel they have leverage, said historian Peter Rachleff, co-director of the East Side Freedom Library in St. Paul.

The low unemployment rate likely has emboldened people to stand up for themselves and risk employer retaliation, knowing they can easily find another job. Frustration, meanwhile, has been building for decades, as gains in productivity have failed to trickle down into workers’ paychecks.

“Much of this productivity growth has also emanated from a growing intensification of work, which has made life on the job harder and more stressful,” Rachleff said. “So workers are not only generating more wealth, which is being captured by their employers, but they are also just plain working harder.”

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Twin Cities workers plan May Day actions for better working conditions, immigrant rights

April 26, 2017 by

Home Depot janitors staged a strike on Trump’s first day in office.

Workers have unveiled plans to strike, rally and march May 1 for better wages, safe working conditions and respect on the job.

At a press conference last week outside a Minneapolis Home Depot, local organizers said International Workers’ Day takes on added urgency this year, given the “current political climate and mass mobilization of communities all across the state and country.”

As they did on Inauguration Day, janitors who clean Home Depot stores, organizing with the Twin Cities worker center CTUL, will stage a one-day strike May 1, kicking off a series of related actions:

  • Picketing outside Home Depot, 1520 New Brighton Blvd. NE, Minneapolis, 9:30 a.m.
  • University of Minnesota AFSCME members’ contract campaign kickoff, Morrill Hall, 100 Church St. SE, Minneapolis, noon.
  • Mesa Latina rally, Minnesota Capitol, St. Paul, 1:30 p.m.
  • Resist from Day One March, East Phillips Park, 2399 17th Ave. S, Minneapolis, 4:30 p.m.

Home Depot uses subcontractors that hire janitors at low wages with no benefits. Some subcontractors have faced lawsuits alleging wage theft. It’s an approach CTUL members like Luciano Balbuena, who cleans a Home Depot store as an employee of the contractor Kimco, consider the “Trump model” of business.

“We have been fighting for fair wages, benefits and the right to organize for several years now and are still forced to survive with poverty wages,” Balbuena said. “Other retail janitorial companies have improved wages and other standards, but our companies refuse to meet those basic standards.

“We are not afraid of our bosses, nor are we afraid of Trump. When we unite and come together to make changes, we can win. That is what we will do on May 1st, because it is time for our hard work to be recognized.”

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Dreading Trump? Turn your anger into action at four Twin Cities inauguration protests

January 13, 2017 by

occupybanks-cwaWe’re a week away from seeing former reality-TV boss Donald Trump – a megalomaniac with a track record of not paying his employees, fanning the flames of bigotry and making “locker-room talk” about sexual assault – assume the highest office in the land.

Whether the impending Trump presidency scares the hell out of you or makes your blood boil, one thing is certain. You are not alone.

Trump’s approval ratings are historically low for an incoming president, and his inauguration will spark protests, marches and collective action from coast to coast.

In the Twin Cities, labor unions have endorsed several planned events, including a show of solidarity with students at an all-immigrant school in St. Paul and a one-day strike by Minneapolis janitors who work at Home Depot. (The retailer’s founder is a major Trump donor.)

Here’s a rundown of inauguration events on our radar. Our comments section is a great place to share anything else Trump-related that’s in the works locally.

Thursday, Jan. 19

• Members of St. Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28 will lead a rally outside LEAP High School, which serves students new to the U.S. Parents, students and community members will join teachers in calling for public schools to serve as “sanctuaries” that protect students from bullying, racism and deportation.

The “Rally to Protect Our Students and Our Public Schools” will start at 3:45 pm. outside LEAP High School, 631 Albert St. N.

Friday, Jan. 20

• In the early-morning hours of Inauguration Day, janitors who clean Home Depot stores in the Twin Cities will go on strike, protesting not only the poverty wages paid by their cleaning-contractor employer, but Trump’s anti-worker agenda as well.

Striking workers are members of the Twin Cities worker center CTUL. Join them on the picket line beginning at 5:30 a.m. at the Quarry store, 1520 New Brighton Blvd., Minneapolis.

• Friday afternoon, organizers plan to march in opposition to Trump’s “racisit agenda,” from the intersection of Lake Street and Nicollet Avenue to Minneapolis City Hall. The “Resist from Day 1” march will begin at 2 p.m., with plans to reach City Hall by 5 p.m.

Several unions and labor organizations have endorsed the action, including AFSCME Council 5, SEIU Local 26 and the St. Paul Regional Labor Federation.

Saturday, Jan. 21

• In solidarity with the Women’s March on Washington happening the same day, activists will stage the “Women’s March Minnesota” in St. Paul, culminating with a rally on the Capitol grounds. The Minnesota Association of Professional Employees and IATSE Local 13 are co-sponsors of the march, set to launch at 11 a.m. from St. Paul College.

Filed Under: Politics Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Janitors, teachers protest Kohl’s during back-to-school rush

August 23, 2016 by

Janitors and their supporters march along County Road B2 in Roseville, near Rosedale Mall.

Janitors and their supporters march along County Road B2 in Roseville, near Rosedale Mall.

 

Looking to build on recent victories at Target and Best Buy, retail janitors in the Twin Cities put the pressure on Kohl’s Saturday – during the busy back-to-school shopping season – to do right by the workers who clean its stores.

Janitors brought busloads of supporters, including union teachers, nurses and construction workers, to Kohl’s locations across the metro area Aug. 20, a day of action that culminated with a march to the Roseville store that briefly shut down traffic on County Road B2.

Kohl’s janitors, who are organizing with the Twin Cities worker center CTUL, have been pushing Kohl’s to address concerns about its Twin Cities cleaning contractor, Kimco, for more than two years. They want the retailer to join Target and Best Buy in signing onto a policy ensuring the chain’s cleaning contractors treat workers fairly.

Esteban Miranda cleans the Kohl’s in Blaine.

Esteban Miranda cleans the Kohl’s in Blaine.

Kimco employees at the march described working long hours for low wages, with no voice on the job.

Esteban Miranda, a two-year Kimco employee who cleans the Kohl’s in Blaine, earns minimum wage and receives no paid sick days or holidays. He has to work multiple jobs to help support his family of four.

“We’re fighting for a Responsible Contractor Policy so that they will listen to our voices,” Miranda said. “That’s why we’re here, and we’re going to keep up the fight.”

Standing shoulder to shoulder with Miranda during the march in Roseville were several members of St. Paul Federation of Teachers Local 28. SPFT President Denise Rodriguez called it a “cruel irony” that Kohl’s rakes in 15 percent of its profits during the back-to-school shopping season, while many of the janitors who clean its stores can’t afford new clothes for their children.

St. Paul Federation of Teachers Vice President Nick Faber speaks at a rally outside Kohl’s in Roseville.

St. Paul Federation of Teachers Vice President Nick Faber speaks at a rally outside Kohl’s in Roseville.

When parents work multiple jobs or lack access to earned sick and safe time, SPFT Vice President Nick Faber added, it creates barriers to success for their children.

“We see older brothers and sisters not coming to school because they have to stay home with younger siblings who are sick,” Faber said. “We see students who can’t concentrate because they’re hungry. We see students who can’t concentrate because they haven’t slept.

“Kohl’s needs to recognize the importance of their janitors in creating an inviting climate for spending money, and they should be ready to share it with those janitors.”

CTUL, a Spanish acronym for Center for Workers United in the Struggle, reached a historic agreement with Target two years ago in which the retailer agreed to do business with contractors that do not force janitors to work seven days a week, allow formation of safety committees made up of at least 50 percent workers and provide protections for workers to join a union without fear of retaliation.

Best Buy agreed to a similar policy in June.

Filed Under: Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Kohl’s janitors plan public action during back-to-school rush

August 17, 2016 by

A delegation of retail cleaning workers approached a Twin Cities Kohl's store in May 2015 to voice concerns over working conditions maintained by the retailer's cleaning contractor.

A delegation of retail cleaning workers approached a Twin Cities Kohl’s store in May 2015 to voice concerns over working conditions maintained by the retailer’s cleaning contractor.

Looking to build on recent victories at Target and Best Buy, retail janitors in the Twin Cities will put the pressure on Kohl’s this weekend – during the busy back-to-school shopping season – to do right by the workers who clean its stores.

Janitors organizing with the Twin Cities worker center CTUL want Kohl’s to join Target and Best Buy in signing onto a responsible contractor policy, which would ensure the chain’s cleaning contractors treat workers fairly.

CTUL, a Spanish acronym for Center for Workers United in the Struggle, plans to protest outside “various stores” locally Saturday before bringing together janitors, teachers, parents, children and other supporters for a community march in Roseville. The march will begin at 3:15 p.m. at the intersection of Fairview and County Road B2, ending at the Kohl’s store on County Road B2.

[Click here to RSVP for the event on Facebook.]

Workers have been pushing Kohl’s to address concerns about its Twin Cities cleaning contractor, Kimco, for more than two years.

At a demonstration in Richfield earlier this year, two Kimco employees and CTUL activists described the conditions they face cleaning Kohl’s stores, including long hours and low wages with no voice on the job.

By contrast, in an agreement reached with CTUL two years ago, Target pledged to do business with contractors that do not force janitors to work seven days a week, allow formation of safety committees made up of at least 50 percent workers and provide protections for workers to join a union without fear of retaliation.

CTUL announced the day of action in a press release this week:

“Retail janitors organizing with CTUL will protest at Kohl’s stores in the Twin Cities during the “Back to School” season to highlight calls for Kohl’s to implement a Responsible Contractor Policy. This policy would ensure their janitorial contractor treat janitors fairly. The protests at various stores will culminate in a community march in Roseville at 3:15pm.

“For Kohl’s, Back to School season means more money. During Back to School sales, Kohl’s rakes in about 15% of their yearly profits ($673 million last year).

“But for retail janitors contracted to clean Kohl’s, Back to School season just means extra work maintaining stores during one of the busiest times of the year. Despite the hours and effort they put in, janitors who clean Kohl’s are paid poverty wages and often can’t afford to shop at Kohl’s for their own children.

“Low wages impact retail janitors’ families throughout the year. Children living in poverty are less prepared for school because their parents don’t have the resources to give them the support that all students deserve. They may go to school hungry. Their parents may work two jobs, making it impossible for them to be home and help with homework.

“This year during Back to School season, join retail janitors, educators, and students in the fight for fair wages and working conditions for all families. When parents make a living wage, their kids have a better chance of success in school.”

Filed Under: Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , ,

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.”

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Retail janitors pledge strikes will continue until conditions improve

February 18, 2016 by

web.CTUL-strikeA day after union janitors walked off the job in an unfair-labor-practices strike, non-union janitors organizing with the Twin Cities-based worker center CTUL did the same, picketing early this morning outside Macy’s on the Nicollet Mall.

It marked the seventh time in the last three years CTUL janitors, who clean big-box stores, car dealerships and other retail properties, have gone on strike to protest low pay, backbreaking conditions and rampant wage theft in the industry.

Luciano Balbuena, who cleans an area Home Depot, said the strikes would continue until cleaning contractors engage in a meaningful dialogue with workers about their concerns.

“We have been demanding from our companies for some time to respect what we’re asking for, and they refuse,” Balbuena, an employee of the cleaning contractor Kimco, told supporters on the picket line. “I hope this strike is the last we’ll have to have, and we will win fair wages and working conditions.”

Organizing through CTUL, a Spanish acronym for “Center of Workers United in Struggle,” has led to significant victories for retail janitors in the past, including a Responsible Contractor Agreement with Target that sets scheduling, safety and other standards the retailer’s Twin Cities cleaning contractors must meet.

And earlier this week, CTUL janitors who cleaned Macy’s and Herberger’s stores won $425,000 in unpaid wages and damages after settling a class-action lawsuit against Capital Building Services Group.

The back-pay is welcome, CTUL member Jesus Sanchez said, but it shouldn’t take a lawsuit for janitors to get paid for the hours they work.

“Wage theft is an all too common problem for retail janitors,” Sanchez said. “We don’t need a band-aid. We need a cure. And that cure is a voice on the job, union rights and $15 an hour.”

CTUL strikers on the picket line outside Macy’s in downtown Minneapolis.
Demonstrators take over an intersection in downtown Minneapolis during morning rush hour.
Striking CTUL member Luciano Balbuena: “I hope this strike is the last strike we will have to have.”
Striking janitors and their supporters prepare to march.

After walking the picket line for nearly two hours before dawn, striking janitors from CTUL and SEIU Local 26 marched alongside allies in the labor, faith and progressive community, blocking traffic at several downtown intersections during rush hour.

Protesters called on corporations to do their part in addressing Minnesota’s racial and economic disparities – among the most glaring in the nation.

“While Minnesota houses some of the wealthiest corporations in the country it also houses some of the worst racial and economic disparities in the nation,” said Donna Cassutt, Director of Minnesotans for a Fair Economy, which organized the march. “Minnesota’s largest corporations harm communities of color when they pay poverty wages, don’t invest in our schools by paying their fair share and practice toxic banking practices that pollute our environment and extract wealth from our communities.

“These corporations have the ability to powerfully impact our communities if they stand up and do the right thing by paying a living wage.”

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

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

February 17, 2016 by

web.Local26-strike.msp1

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.

Filed Under: Organizing, Union Events Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
Next Page»