Window cleaners seek union representation

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_3137

Wednesday 20th June 2007 07:44 PM
Window cleaners seek union representation
19 June 2007
MINNEAPOLIS - Workers who hang from skyscrapers, cleaning windows on some of the area's largest and tallest buildings, are seeking union representation.

Employees at MGS Professional Building Maintenance on Tuesday presented owner Michael Sweat with cards showing that a majority of the company's workforce want to be represented by Service Employees International Union Local 26.

Sweat rejected their request, but said he would meet with workers at a yet-to-be-determined date, said Eric Salmonen, a window cleaner helping in the organizing effort.


SEIU Local 26 Program Director Greg Nammacher and workers at MGS present owner Michael Sweat with cards showing a majority of workers want a union.

"We marched right into his shop, up to his desk," said Salmonen. "Going into this meeting, we had union cards signed by seven of 13 (MGS employees). As we were leaving, another guy signed on."

Window cleaners are a small but significant part of Local 26, which represents primarily janitors and security guards, Salmonen said. He works at MSI, a unionized window cleaning company that employs about the same number of workers as MGS.

The two largest window cleaning companies in the Twin Cities – Columbia Building Services, Inc., and Marsden Building Maintenance – are also unionized. But many smaller companies, such as Minneapolis-based MGS, are not.

FULL story at link.