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.

1-File a DBA in your county "Doing Business As" assumed name

2-Use your DBA to open a business checking account, deposit the miinimum to start.

3-Design a business card , and contact a local printer, start of with either 250-500 business cards.

4-Call and tell everyone you know that you have started a cleaning service, and to please tell their friends and family also.

5-Keep your business cards with you at all times, wherever you go whoever you meet tell them about your services.

6-Develop a flyer, or simple brochure, and go from business to business or door to door telling potential customers about your services.

7-Online list your cleaning service in as many free or paying directories as possible, yahoo local, google local info seek, etc you do not need a website to do this.

8-Accept jobs, take all the jobs you can possibly handle in the beggining, even if they are not the most high paying, you need to establish some references.

9-Buy only the equipment that you need on a "as needed basis", and rent equipment that you need in the beggining do not buy.

10-Follow up with your customer, ask them if they require any more cleaning from you, offer them a special.

11-Concentrate on promoting your business , call your local yellow pages and get prices for a moderate listing, in most cases from the time that you start your business it could be 6 months till the next yellow pages comes out, find out when the deadline for a listing is, even if you get the smallest listing, get a listing.

12-Keep promoting and improving your services, buy new business cards and flyers as needed.

13-Concentrate on your image- What are you reflecting to your customer. Do you have a logo? Are you in a t-shirt and jeans cleaning. What about estimates, do you have a logo prepared, what is your work vehicle like. Do the best you can to develop a universal package that represents you and your business. Uniforms, business cards, letterhead, website, equipment.. should all be clean and presentable.

14- Getting more customers on a low budget.

Join the Local Chamber of Commerce or a local business association.

-Mail some flyers out, daily stamp and stuff 10 envelopes with your flyers, information and cards or develop a mailer, a postcard that can be mailed to potential customers. 10 a day start with this amount that`s roughly 300 a month. Direct them to business and customers that need and can afford your service.

15- Follow up- If your using the yellow pages for addresses of your business mailer, or an on line directory, make a note of some of the accounts or customers you want, then call. Ask if they received your information, ask if there currently using a service, ask if you can come by and give a free estimate.

16- Going on estimates.1- Your goal is convince the customer that your service is better than the other service. 2- That your service offers more or a specialty service that they currently do not receive. 3-Your price is better than the other service they are currently using. Your goal is to write up proposals and estimates (lots of them) quotes on price and service. Make all your offers valid for 90 days. Make them competitive

17- Develop a promotion- Maybe there is something at this point that you are really good at, and fast at lets say for example: Window Washing- A good promotion that has worked for me in the past is that all commercial accounts get inside and outside window washing free monthly with every service agreement. I have known of services that for small offices provide the Toliet paper and hand towels at no cost included in the service agreement, regardless develop a promotion that sets you apart from your competition.

18- Follow up with friends and family, tell them of your success, tell them of new promos that you are offering.

19- Follow up on the estimates and quotes that you have written, If you did not get the job.. ask why, was your price to high, or are they still happy with the other service or person there using. Be polite tell the person you plan on being in business for the rest of your life. remind them the offer is still good for another 45 days etc. Tell them there is room for negotiation. Just keep contact close and friendly. (as you will be calling back)

20-Look at the supplies you are using, analyze the cost of chemicals and general cleaning materials. Are you getting the best deal. Ive known of many services that I call pharmacy fools. They will buy a windex from CVS or Rite Aid for 2.99 a bottle. I use this as a good example: your local janitorial supply stores have gallon bottles that are concentrate. You make almost 100 bottles of that windex for $12.99

21- Get online and if you have no work to do, link strategy. Back to Step #7 free directories can be found below, and with simple searches online. At this point you should have a website. You can build one yourself for free at freewebs. Keep on linking your website to as many service sites for free as possible.

22-Money, Money, Money- You at this point are hopefully making it, you must keep track of the money you are bringing in, money paying out (including yourself), and the money you are using for all your business supplies. It can be a general ledger for $5.00 at any Office Max or a computer program. You have to keep track.

23-Follow up with those estimates again, after about 30 days. The customer only has 15 days left till it expires. Let them know that you are still interested in being there service provider, let them know that you have the ability to further accommodate their needs by altering the estimate. negotiate and keep contact close regardless.

24-Daily tell 5 new people about your service. Whoever, wherever, whenever. Send them an email or give them a card tell them you can handle all their cleaning issues, tell them to tell a friend. If you have a good image, and good fair prices keep this up for the rest of your business life, and you will be very successful. 



Article from the E-Book that is included with membership. 

By Joe McAllister
CORRESPONDENT

Milwaukee County looks to spend hundreds of thousands more for janitors.... 

Where as Roombaundefinedarguably the most popular robot vacuum on the marketundefineduses a tried and true pre-programmed algorithm to randomly explore and clean the floors in your home. Neato's robotic vacuumsundefinedincluding its new BotVacundefineduse a built-in laser scanner to map a room and plan out the most efficient cleaning route.

So besides maximizing its battery life by avoiding cleaning the same area twice, the BotVac will actually remember exactly where it left off in a room when it has to automatically return to its base station to charge, and resume from that spot when it's good to go again. And since it cleans with a straightforward back and forth pattern, anyone who loves straight vacuum lines on their carpet will certainly want to upgrade.

SEXPAND

But navigation prowess isn't the only feather in the BotVac's cap. It's also a pretty great vacuum, boasting the largest rotating brush on any robot vac currently on the market, and the ability to clean less than half-an-inch away from a wall .... 

More at source: GIZMODO

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YAKIMA, Wash. undefined Workers at Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital will stage an informational picket this afternoon.

As the hospital moves ahead with a possible new partnership or affiliation, “it continues to stall on contract negotiations for healthcare workers,” SEIU Healthcare 1199NW said in a news release.

Memorial announced last year that it is seeking to affiliate with a larger health care organization to bolster its financial status in an increasingly uncertain health care industry.

Workers will picket before and after shifts, and during their breaks, according to the union.

More at source: Yakima Herald

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More at source: NY Daily News