The new economics of downtown real estate and the reality of inflation’s effects on lower-income workers collided Monday, with more than 4,000 janitors who clean Twin Cities office buildings walking off the job on Monday.
The janitorial workers, waving signs and chanting “We are the union” and “Shut it down,” picketed throughout the day Monday in front of several downtown Minneapolis buildings, including Ameriprise Financial, IDS Center, Hennepin County Government Center and the Minneapolis Public Service Building. Lengthy negotiations between their employers and their union, SEIU Local 26, over the weekend failed to resolve differences.
Unless there’s a down-to-the-wire agreement, about 1,000 nursing home workers will strike Tuesday. A group of Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport workers will follow on Wednesday. About 400 Minneapolis Public Works employees also have authorized a strike. St. Paul teachers could strike next week.
“All those groups set a deadline back in October to take action in March,” said Greg Nammacher, president of SEIU Local 26. “What is different here is that we are trying to coordinate and bring things to a head at the same time, because we do believe we are more when we are together.”
Some of the groups, including janitors who work for retail stores, security guards and airport service workers, reached agreements with their employers last week.
But the workers who clean many of the biggest office buildings in the Twin Cities did not. They work for dozens of employers including ABM Industries, Marsden Services and Harvard Services. The employers say the union is seeking too much, especially during a sensitive time when the office real estate market is struggling amid lingering effects from the pandemic and the rise of remote work.
Abel Mendiola, who has worked cleaning buildings for 17 years, started walking the picket line at 7 a.m. Monday. He earns $15.54 an hour, he said.
“It’s hard to pay the rent and bills,” he said. “Food and electricity are very high.”
