Protests continue at M Financial Plaza, a JP Morgan Chase-owned building that dumped its union janitors

With drums and chanting, janitors and their allies protested at M Financial Plaza again twice in recent weeks, challenging the building’s switch to using a non-union janitorial company.

At issue is the decision by property manager Arke Management to not renew its service contract with ABM at M Financial Plaza in Portland’s Pearl District. ABM employees are members of SEIU Local 49, and are guaranteed fair wages, quality health insurance for themselves and their children, retirement contributions, and enforceable policies to foster respect on the job. 

To replace them, Arke Management brought in Millennium Building Services, a company with a history of troubling labor conditions, in late 2023. Since then, Arke Management and building owner JP Morgan Chase & Co. have ignored requests to choose from one of the many union-represented janitorial companies in the Portland area to clean M Financial Plaza, despite a series of protests.

JP Morgan Chase & Co. is the largest bank in the world, and the building’s anchor tenant, M Financial Group, primarily serves “ultra-affluent” clients.

SEIU Local 49 and their allies made themselves heard in the lobby and in front of M Financial Plaza on Feb. 27, engaging passersby and M Financial Plaza tenants and clients. An M Financial Group representative came out to speak with the group and promised to raise the issue with upper management. 

“We will not stop until JP Morgan and Arke Management do the right thing at M Financial Plaza,” said Georgina Lázaro, a janitor and SEIU member. “We are going to keep coming back until they go back to using a union janitorial company here. Every janitor deserves decent wages and benefits and respect.” 

“I know what it’s like to work for Millennium Building Services,” said Dora Colbert, another SEIU member. “When I worked there, they rarely gave raises.  After 11 years, they paid me only about $9 an hour. There was harassment at work, and they fired people for stupid reasons, even for calling out sick, which is something we had a right to by law.” 

“But then we won our union at Nike headquarters,” Dora said. “We pushed for better treatment and Nike brought in ABM, a union company. That has helped me a lot. Now I’m making $19.70 an hour, and I can express myself and talk with my coworkers without feeling afraid. That’s why we are standing up for the people who clean M Financial Plaza.”