Spotlight: Public Protests Highlight Troubling Developments at Brewery Blocks 1 and 4, JP Morgan’s Questionable Contracting Decisions
It is time for business leaders like J.P. Morgan to reimagine what Portland can be by investing in good, union jobs in our community. J.P. Morgan Asset Management owns commercial buildings Brewery Blocks 1 and 4 in the Pearl District in Portland, Oregon. Their property management team recently terminated its janitorial services contract with a responsible union contractor and instead awarded the contract to Millennium Building Services, a company with a worrisome track record regarding its working conditions. The union jobs provided by responsible contractors ensure that commercial real estate owners, tenants, and investors enjoy high-quality building services delivered by an experienced and highly trained workforce. In contrast, eliminating union…
Portland Janitors Stand Up to JPMorgan for Fair Pay and Good Benefits at Brewery Blocks in Downtown Portland!
Nearly a hundred Portland-area janitors and their allies demonstrated today outside M Financial Plaza and the Whole Foods Building, two office buildings in the Pearl District’s Brewery Blocks. The workers were protesting that the buildings’ owner, JPMorgan Asset Management – a subsidiary of JPMorgan which includes the largest bank in the U.S. – is using a non-union janitorial company with a history of violating workers’ rights. The union janitors first sounded the alarm about this decision in the fall when local property manager Arke Management decided to dump the union janitors who had long cleaned the buildings. After weeks of outreach by SEIU Local 49 and the community to Arke…
You’re a Mean One, Arke Management
The Grinch Who Stole Christmas: Arke Management Dumps Union Janitors in the Pearl District’s Brewery Blocks Just In Time for the Holidays Holiday shoppers are bustling through Portland’s Pearl District, buying gifts, eating and drinking—but not everyone is bringing the cheer. Just before the holidays, property management company Arke Management dumped the union janitors who used to clean M Financial Plaza and the Whole Foods Building, two of the landmark Brewery Block buildings adjacent to Burnside Street and Powell’s City of Books. “I’ve been working as a union janitor for eight years, and I’m 63 years old. I am so close to retirement, and I wouldn’t want to be…
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