Saturday, February 23, 2013
Blanca Jimenez works for Diversified Maintenance Systems cleaning the Kmart big-box store in Burnsville.
Blanca Jimenez is among scores of Twin Cities cleaning workers who are vowing to walk off their jobs as early as Sunday at local big-box stores in a dispute with their employers, contract cleaning companies. Jimenez and some 400 other workers have signed petitions asking that the contract cleaning companies recognize their right to organize and open labor discussions with Centro de Trabajodores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL). In an interview with Patch, Jimenez said she has been working for contractor Diversified Maintenance Systems at the Burnsville Kmart store for the past two years. But the experience has been less than fulfilling, Jimenez said. "I don't like the way the company treats us," said Jimenez, 40, originally from Mexico. Through…
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
The contract cleaning workers perform services at big-box retailers including more than a dozen Target stores in the Twin Cities area, including the Burnsville store.
Retail cleaning workers who serve Target and other stores in the Twin Cities have vowed to walk off their jobs as early as this Sunday if their employers continue to refuse to open discussions with them and the Centro de Trabajodores Unidos en la Lucha (CTUL), according to the workers' group. The CTUL said it is a Minneapolis workers center that has been organizing the workers for more than two years. In a press statement, the group said it has set a its strike deadline for noon Feb. 24 for retail cleaning contactors like Diversified Maintenance Systems, Carlson Building Maintenance, and Eurest Services. The workers group, which claims to represent at least 400 cleaners, said it wants to start discussions with the employer groups, which …
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Workers are fighting back as the annual shopping bonanza encroaches ever more on Thanksgiving—but will bargain-hungry customers subvert their crusade?
Retailers are raring to go this year: Target, Walmart, Toys 'R Us, Kohl's and a host of other stores will be opening early—on Thursday, not Friday. All are hoping that consumers will fight off the food coma in favor of big bargains, but the incursion into Thanksgiving Day has employees seeing red. Minnesota's own Target is subject to a petition started by a Target worker from California, which has garnered over 350,000 signatures so far. There are It's not the first time that Target's Black Friday ambition has brushed up against employee resistance. Last year, Target's midnight opening was the subject of worker protests. In 2012, Target upped the ante by scheduling its annual doorbuster opening at 9 p.m. on Thanksgiving evening, when the …
Saturday, November 17, 2012
News that the manufacturer, Hostess, is going out of business has sparked a buying frenzy at Burnsville stores.
Follow us on Twitter | Like us on Facebook | Sign up for our daily newsletter| Blog for us South metro residents better hurry if they want to get one last taste of the Hostess brand's iconic, Space Age pastries—Twinkies, Ding Dongs and the like. Supplies at local stores are running low and may be gone by the day's end. Friday, company officials announced that Hostess would fold and begin the liquidation process immediately, thus bringing an abrupt end to some of the nation's most loved (and hated) sweet snacks. The news comes after less than a week of strikes by Hostess workers, who walked out on Nov. 9 in protest of a proposal that would cut wages by 8 percent and benefits by 27 to 32 percent, ABC news reported. About 18,500 workers will …
J.A.Buendia
3:27 pm on Monday, February 25, 2013
Devil's Advocate, It seems to me that you're whining about people whining. Is it whining for a worker to stand up for their legal right to organize? The fact that there are other people who may be worse off is no excuse for defending the indefensible. Why do anything to stop the beating of children? After all, there are a lot of kids out there who are tortured worse and even killed. Good for you… more ›