***MEDIA ADVISORY***
for April 25 at 12:30 p.m.
CONTACT: Veronica Mendez, CTUL, 612-702-2120, veronica@ctul.net, or Eric Fought, 612-223-4744 efought@mnfaireconomy.org
Janitors Say They Worked Seven Days a Week with No Overtime Pay
Group Releases Report Documenting Problems in Janitorial Industry
MINNEAPOLIS– On Wednesday, April 25th at 12:30pm workers from Diversified Maintenance Systems, the cleaning contractor for retail stores including Kmart, Target, and Best Buy, will announce a lawsuit charging that the cleaning contractor required them to work up to 80 hours a week without overtime pay. Diversified Maintenance has been the subject of at least six private lawsuits and an investigation by the Department of Labor over its failure to pay overtime wages.
At the same time the workers’ organization CTUL (Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha/the Center for Workers United in Struggle) will release a report, “Dirty Business: Worker Exploitation in the Retail Janitorial Industry” that argues that low wages and other problems “pervade the retail janitorial industry in Minnesota and throughout the United States.” The report shows that many of the cleaning contractors hired by retail stores in Minnesota and throughout the United States regularly fail to pay overtime to janitors who work well in excess of forty hours a week.
WHAT: Press conference about janitors’ lawsuit for overtime pay and release of report showing problems in janitorial industry
WHEN: Wednesday, April 25 at 12:30 p.m.
WHERE: Outside of K-Mart Store, corner of Lake Street and Nicollet Ave. S, Minneapolis (10 West Lake Street, Minneapolis)
WHO: An attorney for Diversified Cleaning workers
Stephen Phillion, Associate Professor of Sociology, St. Cloud State University
Maria Cruz and Alejandro Quirino, Diversified Maintenance Systems workers
Mario Colloy, Organizer at CTUL (Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha)
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