MSP swaps janitor service, leading to layoffs at St. Paul building maintenance company

Marsden Services is laying off 219 workers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport after the airport terminated its janitorial and window-cleaning services contract.

The layoffs, effective Dec. 31, come after the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) voted in August to select Texas-based FlagShip Aviation Services to handle its janitorial services. Marsden was one of three finalists considered but lost out to FlagShip, which will start a three-year contract Jan. 1.

Marsden had the airport contract since 2017, earning a renewal in 2020. The St. Paul-based company, which Skip Marsden founded in 1952, had revenue of $370 million in 2021, the company's website says.

Marsden notified the state of Minnesota's Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) of the job cuts as required under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act.

The "majority of staff will be offered employment with the new contractor," said Jeff Lea, a spokesman for MAC. The Service Employee International Union Local 26 represents 189 of the laid-off Marsden employees. And in Marsden's letter to the state, the company said it anticipated "many of the laid-off workers will have job opportunities with the incoming janitorial contractor at MSP Airport."

"They've committed to hire these people. They signed the union agreement," said Brahim Kone, secretary-treasurer of SEIU Local 26.

Damon Fraser, chief legal and administrative officer for Marsden, said the company is "disappointed in the decision" to change vendors but understands the business call. He added Marsden has offered jobs to some of the affected employees, and between those offers and the new contractors' retention of many others, Fraser said actual job losses in the transition will be minimal.

"We would anticipate it would be very, very few, if any," he said.

The 2023 MAC budget for janitorial and window cleaning is $16.9 million. FlagShip's agreement with MAC requires the company to pay employees a wage between $16.93 and $21.77 per hour, and the company must also adhere to MAC's worker-retention requirements.