The 1,500 local janitors covered under a new union agreement ratified Saturday will earn at least $9 an hour by 2012, less than similar pacts signed in recent months in Ohio. Like the Indianapolis contract, the Ohio pacts end in 2012. Under contracts negotiated by Washington, D.C.-based Service Employees International Union, the minimum for that […]
The first citywide union contract has been struck following negotiations between 1,500 janitors and five big companies that clean local businesses. The Service Employees International Union plans a ratification vote tomorrow at Central Christian Church in Indianapolis, the union announced this morning. Leslie Mendoza Kamstra, of the SEIU’s Indianapolis office, said she could not disclose […]
Service Employees International Union Local 3 is backing local janitors as they restart contract negotiations April 16 with
five of the largest janitorial contractors in Indianapolis. SEIU now is taking direct aim at Lilly, health insurer WellPoint
Inc. and even some local hospitals, hoping they will pressure the janitorial contractors to come to terms.
The Service Employees International Union, which has organized janitors in Cincinnati, Columbus, Ohio, and now Indianapolis, begins negotiations today on behalf of 1,500 local janitors after years of contentious organizing efforts. Companies participating in the Indianapolis negotiations are ABM Industries Inc. of San Francisco; Group Services France of Paris; Mitch Murch’s Maintenance Management Co. of […]
A union that’s organizing janitors in Indianapolis and other cities plans to deliver 100,000 candy hearts to Central Indiana Corporate Partnership at noon today to represent the number of people in Indianapolis the union says are without health insurance. Central Indiana Corporate Partnership is a not-for-profit of CEOs of the region’s largest corporations and university […]
Itâ??s been a busy day for the movement in Indianapolis to organize janitors under the Service Employees International
Union.
The union announced that it plans to begin negotiating with several janitorial firms operating in the Indianapolis
areaâ??a huge victory for the…
Several janitorial firms operating in the Indianapolis area have agreed to negotiate a contract with the Service Employees International Union, which has been holding protests and other events downtown for two years to try to force the talks. Meanwhile, a clergy group that backs the union is taking its campaign against Indianapolis-based HDG Mansur Group […]
Of all the topics I could have chosen to write about this week, the one I kept coming back to was the whole issue of “living wage.” You guys are a pretty sharp audience by the fact you read this publication, so maybe one of you can help me figure out the living wage crowd. I just don’t get them. If you saw last week’s IBJ, you probably read Michael Dabney’s story on the ongoing efforts by the Service Employees…
Waste baskets won’t overflow at Market Tower because janitors who clean the building went on strike late yesterday, according to an attorney who represents the company contracted to clean the building, Executive Management Services. The attorney, Dave Swider, said other employees from the Indianapolis janitorial firm will be brought in to perform the work. “We […]
Janitors working in Market Tower downtown walked off the job yesterday in their ongoing attempt to organize under the Service International Employees Union. Union backers have complained for months that the company that cleans the tower, Executive Management Services, is discouraging its workers from joining the union. Both the union and the Indianapolis janitorial company […]
When I heard that someone in my hometown of Richmond won $314 million in a recent Powerball drawing, it made me want to offer some unsolicited advice to our new multi-millionaires. Unfortunately for many lottery winners (and others who come into major wealth), they end up playing the same sad songs. After having a few lottery winners as clients, I’ve noticed many similarities in their experiences. It starts out great. One’s wildest dreams can be funded and realized. When one…
A clergy group that’s trying to help a union organize an Indianapolis janitorial company planned to stage another protest at noon today in front of Market Tower downtown. To accommodate the protest, the city closed Market Street between Monument Circle and Illinois Street for two hours. The closing prompted building manager Kevin Branch, of Colliers […]
A union that’s aggressively sought to organize the city’s janitors unsuccessfully tried to intervene in an Indianapolis Power & Light case before state utility regulators. IPL’s lawyers mopped the floor with the tenacious union-this time, anyway. The Service Employees International Union Local 3 wants IPL to expand its energy-efficiency and low-income customer assistance program, arguing that IPL and other utilities need to do more to help lower-income workers afford service. Attorneys who argue before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission said…
Salespeople dread dead-end leads. They’re eager to pitch to CEOs, so they’re livid when the prospecting process leads to meetings with janitors. “You can’t make a bad sales rep good just by giving him good leads,” said Bill Johnson, CEO of Indianapolis-based startup LeadJen. “But you can tell quickly if your message is [reaching] the people you want to hear it.” Johnson knows the dilemma well. He has two decades of experience selling software and is best known locally as…
Six Midwest clergy were arrested today at Market Tower downtown for protesting what they said was resistance from an Indianapolis company to increasing compensation for janitors. The group, called Indianapolis Clergy Committee, led by the Rev. Darren Cushman-Wood, pastor of Speedway United Methodist Church, said Executive Management Services would not take part in a process […]
Public health priorities, executive salaries and the “gold rush” of health care construction were among the topics tackled Sept. 21 in the latest installment of Indianapolis Business Journal’s Power Breakfast Series. IBJ reporter Tom Murphy moderated the panel discussion, attended by some of the area’s foremost health care experts. Following is an edited transcript of the often-spirited discussion, which included a brief interruption by protestors seeking medical insurance coverage for janitorial staff who clean Anthem Inc. buildings. IBJ: Can you…
This column has been too glum recently. That is the result of observing what happens in the General Assembly where the many good things done (for example: a stiffer open alcohol container bill) are outweighed by the silliness (daylight-saving time). Let’s take a rest and praise some people who are doing something noble and important. A coalition of clergy, civic groups and labor unions are trying to get higher wages and benefits for janitors in the Indianapolis area. Currently, most…
