February 18, 2016 - 5:30am to 7:00am
Retail janitors who work for contracted companies cleaning stores like Macy's, Lunds & Byerly's, Kohl's, and Sears have been organizing with CTUL for over five years, demanding fair wages, fair working conditions, and a voice in the workplace. While workers have won significant progress, there are still many serious abuses in the workplace from wage theft to poverty wages to unsafe working conditions.
On Tuesday, Feb. 2, workers braved the worst snowstorm of the year to announce a Feb. 17th Strike Deadline - if cleaning companies refuse to open sincere dialogue, workers will walk out on strike on Feb. 18th demanding fair wages and an end to wage theft in the industry.
Union office building janitors with SEIU Local 26 recently voted overwhelmingly to to authorize their bargaining committee to call an Unfair Labor Practice Strike if a fair contract hasn't been reached by Feb. 14th!
Union janitors with SEIU Local 26 and non-union janitors organizing with CTUL are standing up to RECLAIM OUR DREAMS!!
A quick sampling of conditions workers face in the contracted cleaning of stores in the Twin Cities:
- Capital Building Services Group, which cleans Macy's and Herberger's stores. There is an ongoing class action lawsuit in Minnesota regarding multiple alleged violations of federal and state labor law, including: minimum wage violations (complaints of wages as low as $4-5 an hour), lack of overtime pay, failure to provide paystubs and more.
- National Floor Maintenance, which cleans Lunds & Byerlys stores. Over the past fifteen years, there have been at least six United States Department of Labor investigations that have uncovered violations of federal labor law impacting over 1,000 workers.
- Kimco Services, which cleans Kohl's, The Home Depot and JC Penny stores. In March 2015 Kimco settled a lawsuit brought by three former supervisors who oversaw the cleaning of Kohl’s, Home Depot and other stores in the Twin Cities metro area. According to the lawsuit, supervisors apparently had to work up to 35 hours a week off the clock.Diversified Maintenance Systems (DMS), which cleans Sears and Kmart stores. In 2014 DMS paid $675,000 to settle a class action lawsuit regarding unpaid wages in the cleaning of stores throughout the Midwest. Nationally, DMS has settled at least 10 private lawsuits over the past 15 years, and there have been at least six investigations by the United States Department of Labor regarding violations of minimum wage and overtime laws.
7th and Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis
MN