Security Officers and Window Cleaners Kick Off 2007 Contract Campaign

Bargaining Teams Elected, Contract Goals Ratified

On Saturday, November 10th, over 130 Security Officers, Window Cleaners, and community supporters packed into a union meeting to kick off our 2007 Contract Campaign. The Security Officers and Window Cleaners of our union, SEIU Local 26, elected their bargaining teams and voted unanimously to ratify their contract goals for upcoming negotiations.

Our security officers' bargaining team will represent officers from contractors in both Minneapolis / St. Paul and the suburbs, including: ABM, Allied Barton, American, Avalon, Securitas, and Viking. The window cleaners' bargaining team will represent cleaners from contractors Columbia, Marsden, and MSI. We come to the bargaining table in a spirit of collaborative problem-solving to seek win-win solutions to workplace issues. As always, providing quality service is a paramount concern to all parties.

Our contract goals reflect national standards for all property service workers to raise standards in our industry. Twin Cities officers now join thousands of security officers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago and Washington, DC in bargaining for these standards across the country, and janitors here in the Twin Cities made significant progress towards them last year. They include:

·         Affordable Healthcare for Ourselves and Our Families
·         Income that Can Support our Families
·         Improved Training and Safety

Achieving these goals will be a win-win result for all involved by helping to reduce turnover and increase the quality of service as a result, leading to greater tenant satisfaction.