Thousands of Twin Cities janitors have reached a tentative deal after striking, picketing and rallying last week following months of bargaining, the SEIU Local 26 announced on its Facebook page Saturday.
Commercial janitors subcontracted to clean buildings across the Twin Cities reached the agreement at 4 a.m. Saturday morning on the heels of a 20-hour bargaining session that began Friday morning. This was the first bargaining after a historic three-day strike at more than 100 buildings earlier this week.
Most of the janitors work as subcontractors for companies such as ABM, Marsden and Harvard to “clean buildings housing some of the richest corporations in the world,” the union wrote on its Facebook page.
The tentative agreement will go to union members to review and vote on later this week.
“We fought extremely hard and we got the best deal we’ve ever got because we were willing to go out on strike,” said Mike Bartos, a janitor with Marsden. “We won a retirement plan and higher raises, and we helped expand union rights. We are proud of how hard we fought and are going to be ready to come back in four years to keep winning more of what we deserve.”
The tentative deal calls for an increase of wages for all workers to $20 an hour, fully employer-paid 401K account for the first time, life insurance for the first time, increased sick days and floating holidays, lower healthcare costs and more.
