Minneapolis janitors to picket in support of Houston strikers

Source: Workday Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS - Janitors in Minneapolis will picket Tuesday in support of the week-long, citywide strike by janitors in Houston. Picketing also is planned in seven other cities.

In Minneapolis, the action will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, July 17, at the US Bank building, 8th St. and Nicollet Ave. Service Employees International Union Local 26, which is coordinating the event, is asking supporters to sign up via its Facebook page.

Last week, hundreds of Houston janitors represented by SEIU Local 1 walked off the job in the first city-wide janitors' strike since 2006. Workers are concerned about attempts to undercut their health care coverage, the union said.

“Three contractors - Pritchard, Aztec and Eurest - have stopped making contributions to the workers' health and welfare fund,” Local 1 said. “Meanwhile, two others - GCA and ISS - have stopped withholding worker contributions to the fund, a potential indication that they too plan on not contributing to the health and welfare fund. The net result of this activity has been a sense of panic among the workers that their healthcare coverage is in peril. This morning, SEIU Local 1 filed unfair labor practice charges against each of the cleaning contractors.”

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_5288

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