RELEASE: Labor union and environmental group unite in call for change at Daimler Trucks North America
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 24, 2018 Contact: Rae Dunnaville, 503-919-1960, raed@seiu49.org A janitors’ labor union and air quality activists have teamed up to advocate for Daimler to change its approach to community engagement. PORTLAND, OR — Portland-area janitors and their allies have criticized Daimler (OTCMKTS: DMLRY) for hiring a low-wage, non-union janitorial contractor to clean its new headquarters and nearby buildings. Now air quality advocates and a janitors’ labor union have teamed up to advocate for Daimler to change its approach to community engagement. Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) recently issued a notice to Daimler Trucks of North America that the company’s truck production plant in Portland may release unlawful “nuisance odors” into adjacent neighborhoods. DEQ’s regulatory action follows years of complaints by area residents, including…
Daimler Trucks of North America Continues Indifferent Reaction to Serious Allegations Against Service Contractors
“U.S. Security is the most unprofessional company I have ever worked with!” -Security Official, Delaware Courts Daimler Trucks of North America received public funding, to the tune of $20 million in state and local assistance, to construct their headquarters building, completed in 2016. As part of the agreement, Daimler committed to create good jobs for their employees. It appears that they’ve followed through with those commitments, at least for their direct employees. The agreement left out any requirements that workers who clean and secure Daimler’s headquarters, employees of service contractors, also enjoy good jobs. In the case with Millennium Building Services, the company Daimler contracts with to perform janitorial…
Daimler Challenged for Contracting US Security Associates, Millennium Building Services
When Daimler decided in 2016 to keep its headquarters in Portland, they gained nearly $20 million in public subsidies to build a beautiful new building. Daimler committed to create good jobs – and for some workers, they did. But when it came to the mostly immigrant women who clean the building and the security officers who protect it, Daimler has ignored workers’ and community concerns. Now, the janitors who work for Daimler’s cleaning contractor, Millennium Building Services, are speaking out. Millennium janitors have reported poverty wages, illegal interrogation, and coercion. They’ve won back pay after filing claims of wage theft and lack of access to earned sick time. A list…
Justice for Janitors Day: Oregon Moves to Protect Vulnerable Workers
June 15 marks an important anniversary for janitors and security officers across the world. Each year, janitors across the country mark the occasion with major actions to continue to fight for good jobs. In Portland, members of the janitor’s union, SEIU 49, visited premier property managers and building owners to highlight the changing landscape of janitorial services in Oregon. Delivering copies of the new report, Cleaning Up Oregon’s Janitorial Industry, janitors put property owners ON NOTICE of the new licensing requirement for janitorial services in Oregon, and that, in some cases, their current contractors appear not be licensed to preform janitorial services. In 2017, the Oregon Legislature took an exciting…
REPORT: Cleaning Up Oregon’s Janitorial Industry
July 1, 2018, a new Oregon law will hold janitorial contractors and their customers responsible for fixing longstanding problems in the industry, including sexual harassment and assault, discrimination, and wage theft.
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