GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) undefined After a tip to ReportIt, Target 8 went undercover to discover a man with a wild name, a shady past and a nude house cleaning business that local police are also checking out.

The questionable business being run out of an office at Brookfield Office Plaza on 28th Street is owned by a man named Sexual Sin Blue.

That wasn’t always his name undefined he grew up in Lansing as Reginald Jones. Target 8 never learned precisely why he changed his name.

It could have something to do with his business, which is, “as he explained it, naked house cleaning,” Grand Rapids Police Department Lt. Pat Merrill said.

Blue has been running Craigslist employment ads for Grand Rapids, Muskegon and the Detroit area for his Exotic Five Star Professional Maid Service, a business he started in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

The ad says “Exotic means ‘NUDE’ house cleaning for high-profile clients.”

Grand Rapids police detectives show up at Sexual Sin Blue’s office Friday to find out what he was doing and offer some advice: namely, that he should have talked to city licensing and zoning officials first.

“The type of business we’re talking about got our attention. We said, ‘Wait a minute: Has this gentleman talked to anybody? Because this is probably not going to fly.’ He’s going to want to run it through first. Don’t want to waste a bunch of money try to start a business here that’s going to be shut down,” Merrill said.

Target 8 went undercover to fill out an application. Blue said the job was just house cleaning. He did not mention anything about it being nude.

He told another Target 8 investigator he was running a regular cleaning service for rich clients as well as the nude cleaning gig.

And he asked the undercover applicant for $25 to run a criminal background check on her.

That, the Better Business Bureau says, should be a red flag.

“If someone asked me to pay them $25 to do a background check on me and I was applying for a job with them, I would turn around and walk out the door,” West Michigan BBB President Phil Catlett said.

Catlett said people looking for a job should be wary of online employment ads that want money upfront, a practice he says is becoming more common.

“But,” he qualified, “From a credible employer, highly unusual.”

And Blue does have some credibility problems. He has a long history of passing bad checks in Michigan along with fraud, larceny, trespassing, property destruction and prostitution charges. When he was in California, police got him for auto theft, grand theft, larceny and soliciting for prostitution.

When Target 8 went to talk to him with cameras rolling, he declined to comment and shut his office door.

Police say he hasn’t paid his rent on his office space and the landlord is trying to get him out. They say Blue told them he’s thinking about his next move.

More at source: WoodTV

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The cleaners, who are members of the Service Employees International Union, work for Ottawa-based Evripos Janitorial Services. The company has contracts to clean a number of federal government buildings in the region.

The workers are asking for more money and better benefits as part of negotiations on a new contract that are set to begin next month.

The union says it is also planning to “take action” on behalf of another group of its members who also work for Evripos.

It says the company refused to negotiate with unionized workers when it won a contract to clean a federal building in Gatineau and instead relocated most of the workers to non-unionized sites.

More at source: OBJ

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General Secretary of Apklindo Tommy Hardjana stated that many investors are still unaware of the future prospects of the cleaning services sector in Indonesia despite large property development (including apartment complexes, office space, hospitals, hotels and malls) that has been evident in recent years, particularly in and around the bigger cities. Currently, there are about 1.5 million cleaning services companies active in Indonesia but due to robust demand, the sector still offers plenty of business opportunities. Moreover, many of these companies are small companies that cannot offer the best professional services as they lack good equipment and skills. Apklindo is planning to introduce a certificate for cleaning services companies that meet specific criteria for professional licensure.

More at source: Indonesia Investments 

Maid of Earth LLC, a family-owned and operated cleaning company, has teamed up with Cleaning For A Reason to bring eco-friendly cleaning services to women battling cancer.

"As a local business, we feel it is our responsibility to give back to our community," said Owner Katie Birch in a news release. "Our partnership with Cleaning For A Reason will help women have more time to spend with their friends and family. We hope our services can alleviate some of the stress that accompanies cancer and that we can help to create a healthier environment for healing."

Maid of Earth is a company that cleans homes and small offices using eco-friendly cleaning products that are plant-derived, non-toxic and effective.

The company teamed up with Cleaning For A Reason, an international nonprofit foundation based in Lewisville, Texas, that aims to help women battling cancer through cleaning service donations.

Maid of Earth will clean two homes per month for four consecutive months at no charge.

Since 2006, Cleaning For A Reason has donated more than $4 million in free services.

For more information, or to apply for a free house cleaning, visit Cleaning For A Reason

More at source: M LIVE

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Precinct 1 Commissioner Margie Gonzalez had put the item on the agenda, she said, because of complaints about the quality of the cleaning around the courthouse. After meeting with the office manager for L&L Janitorial, Gonzalez said she was still getting complaints.

She suggested hiring two full-time custodians for the county, and said she felt the commissioners would have more control over their work.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Richard Miller said he too has also received several complaints about the cleanliness of the courthouse.

Luis Lopez, owner of L&L Janitorial, said he has never received any complaints in writing about his company. He added that the complaints are coming from people who have an agenda.

More at source: Alice Echo

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Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins on Tuesday proposed raising the minimum wage for private employees who do contract work for the county.

Full-time workers who handle janitorial duties, security and other labor would be paid at least $10.25 per hour under the policy. Currently, many of those employees are paid at or slightly above the federal minimum, which is $7.25 per hour.

“We all do better when we all do better and everyone gets a chance to get ahead,” Jenkins said. “And when you are making $8 an hour cleaning out a toilet, you don’t have as much of a chance to get ahead.”

The exact details of the proposal still need to be ironed out, officials said. But Jenkins said he envisions including a minimum among the specifications it requires when it seeks bids for contract work. The Commissioners Court considered one such bid during Tuesday’s meeting, approving janitorial services for the county’s Health and Human Services building.

Jenkins abstained from the vote because the contractor planned to hire a janitor who would work 40 hours per week at $8 per hour. That adds up to over $16,000 per year, with no medical benefits. The others members of the court unanimously approved the contract.

More at source: Dallas News

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Empire Janitorial Sales and Services Inc. of Metairie has paid more than $277,500 in back wages to current and former workers employed by subcontractor Acadian Payroll Services LLC, the result of an investigation into overtime pay violations, the U.S. Department of Labor said this week.

The Labor Department said 233 janitorial service workers were wrongfully classified as independent contractors and were not paid overtime wages for working more than 40 hours in a week. The janitors worked at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center and other sites.

Federal law requires employees to be paid time and one-half after they work for 40 hours in a week, but the janitors were paid a regular rate for the overtime, the department said.

More at source: Nola.com 

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Parents of students in the Francophone North-East school district are breathing a little easier, now that asbestos in several of the schools has been cleaned up.

A recent environmental review found asbestos levels high enough to warrant removal at 21 of 38 schools in the district.

École La Croisée, built in the 1970s, was among the list of schools, said principal Josee Gaudet.

Staff and parents were told of the issue soon after it was discovered, and while the threat was minor, many parents were alarmed.

Some brought their concerns to the district, while others went to the parent council, headed byAmelie-MaudeBoucher.

"I was, in the beginning, a little bit scared because you're aware of everything that's going on with that kind of chemical product. But right in the beginning, we were reassured," said Boucher.

She was told the asbestos content was low, that it would be cleaned up quickly, and that there was little risk to her two children.

"You cannot be obsessed with that because that means you can be obsessed with Windex, with any cleaning products you have in your house. Because all of these are chemical products at well," she said.

The evaluation at École La Croisée found crumbling or damaged floor tiles, exposing students to the chemicals inside. The old tiles have since been replaced.

Renovations at other schools have ranged from minor repairs to plumbing upgrades undefined all done after school hours.

It's not yet known how much the repairs have cost, said district spokesperson Annie Levesque.

It was a complete overhaul of one of the district schools on the AcadianPeninsula last year that prompted administration to take a closer look at its buildings, instead of the current visual evaluations by janitorial staff, she said.

"The last ones from an expert firm was in 2004 so that's why, after Pokemouche, that we wanted to have the list of 21 schools with asbestos materials in them evaluated," said Levesque.

District officials say there are no reports of unsafe exposure to date and that they will continue to monitor the region's aging schools.

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Source: CBC

ServiceMaster (NYSE: SERV) (NASDAQ: SERV) filed a registration statement with theSecurities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. The proposed maximum offering price is $100 million. The company plans to list under the symbol "SERV" but has not selected an exchange.

The offering is being made via J.P. Morgan, Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley.

ServiceMaster is a leading provider of essential residential and commercial services, operating through an extensive service network of more than 7,000 company-owned, franchised and licensed locations. The company's mission is to simplify and improve the quality of our customers' lives by delivering services that help them protect and maintain their homes or businesses, typically their most highly valued assets. They have leading market positions across the majority of the markets they serve, as measured by customer-level revenue. The company's portfolio of well-recognized brands includes Terminix (termite and pest control), American Home Shield (home warranties), ServiceMaster Restore (disaster restoration), ServiceMaster Clean (janitorial), Merry Maids (residential cleaning), Furniture Medic (furniture repair) and AmeriSpec (home inspections). They serve approximately five million residential and commercial customers through anemployee base of approximately 13,000 company associates and a franchise network that independently employs an estimated 33,000 additional people.

For the year ended December 31, 2013, on a pro forma basis for the TruGreen Spin-off, the company had operating revenue, Adjusted EBITDA and income from continuing operations of $2,292.9 million, $449.9 million and $42.4 million, respectively. Terminix, the largest segment, represented approximately 57% of the 2013 operating revenue on a pro forma basis.