Organizing drive pays off for big-box janitors with landmark first contract

February 22, 2017 by
Retail janitors celebrated recognition of their union last fall after a six-year campaign.

Retail janitors celebrated recognition of their union last fall after a six-year campaign.

What’s the value of a union contract? For nearly 500 retail janitors in the Twin Cities, who made history last year by forming the industry’s first metro-wide union, it’s a cool $4.5 million in wage increases and paid time off over the course of their new, three-year contract.

Local 26 of the Service Employees International Union, which represented the janitors who clean big-box stores like Best Buy, Target, Macy’s and others in negotiations with cleaning subcontractors, announced the landmark agreement in a press release today, calling it a “path forward for working families” to combat rising income inequality.

“While working people are under attack right now from the billionaires in charge of our country, we are showing that we can win if we stick together and fight,” said Maricela Flores, an employee of Carlson Building Maintenance who cleans the Target in Shakopee.

The “vast majority” of janitors in the bargaining unit are people of color, according to Local 26, so the contract’s gains will help combat Minnesota’s yawning disparities between white workers and workers of color.

The contract goes into effect immediately, and many union members will see their hourly wages jump from $9.50 to $11. They include Lizbet Vega Lopez, a Carlson employee who has cleaned the Cub Foods in Brooklyn Park for 12 years.

“This was not an easy fight, but I am so glad we stuck together and now have a union contract that moves us forward,” Lopez said. “I hope others will see our fight and realize that no matter how difficult the challenge may be, you can win positive changes if you are willing to stand up to those in power.”

In addition to wage increases and PTO, workers won up to three weeks of vacation time, stronger workplace protections and job security, and guidelines for workload conditions when covering absences.

Retail janitors’ new union grew out of a six-year campaign facilitated by CTUL, a Twin Cities worker center. Workers and community allies pressured corporations like Target and Best Buy to take responsibility for low wages and unsafe working conditions inside their Twin Cities stores by signing onto a “Responsible Contractor Policy.”

The campaign continues at Kohl’s, Home Depot and other big-box stores.

“We are contracted to clean the stores of some of the biggest corporations in the world, so it was a big win just to get to the negotiation table with our employers, and now we have won gains that cannot be taken away,” Lopez said. “We weren’t waiting on Trump’s empty promises and scapegoating. We decided to fight back and win changes for ourselves, and hope others do too!”

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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.”

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

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.”

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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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