Food service and janitorial staff at the Pentagon are going on strike Wednesday morning, opening a new front in the ongoing fight to get President Obama to end the federal government’s practice of paying poverty wages to contract employees at federal facilities.

The Pentagon employees’ walkout follows similar strikes by service workers at federally owned, privately operated facilities in Washington, DC, such as the Ronald Reagan Building, Union Station and the Smithsonian museum food courts. It also comes after wage theft charges against employers at the Reagan Building and the train station. The expansion of the campaign to the Pentagon comes almost exactly eight months after the first strikes led to retaliatory firings by employers, indicating that efforts to intimidate workers did not succeed.

The workers in question are on the payroll of companies like Dunkin Donuts and Taco Bell, but in a sense their real employer is the federal government. The government hires fast food, retail, security and janitorial companies to service contracts for federal properties. Those contracts give the government a chance to set wage and hour terms for the on-the-ground workers who will actually cook the food and haul the trash. Federal contracts of this sort actually prop up more low-wage jobs than notoriously low-paying companies McDonald’s and Wal-Mart combined. At present, three in four of these workers make less than $10 per hour, and four in 10 rely upon public assistance despite working a full-time job. The same contracts funnel a total of $24 billion per year to the CEOs of the companies that pay their workers so poorly to staff public facilities.

Of the myriad of accolades bestowed in the franchise industry, an Entrepreneur Franchise 500 award is among the most prized. That is why it is a supreme honor for JAN-PRO Franchising International to be awarded the #1 in commercial cleaning, fastest growing commercial cleaning franchise, and #12 overall franchise in Entrepreneur’s 35th Annual Franchise 500 rankings for 2014. Entrepreneur also ranked JAN-Pro a Top 30 Global Franchise. And the honors continue, because JAN-PRO also recently received high satisfaction reviews from its Master Owners in a survey conducted by Franchise Business Review.

In the $2.1 trillion dollar franchise industry, competition is intense among franchise businesses around the country. To organize the rankings, Entrepreneur divides the award categories by type of industry, providing a clear scope from which the rankings may be pulled. In the commercial cleaning section, 18 franchises were analyzed. Therefore, the winning accolades provide JAN-PRO with not just a more established reputation, but a tangible way for clients, prospects, and JAN-PRO owners to track observable progress when compared to their competition.

“We operate in an industry that can seem a lot more exciting than the janitorial category, so when we receive this kind of recognition, it is particularly gratifying for all of us,” says CEO and President of Premium Franchise Brands, Rich Kissane.

According to Entrepreneur, franchises make up for 3.4 percent of all U.S. GDP and 10 percent of new U.S. jobs, thus making franchising a strong force in the U.S. economy. To measure their growth in the franchise industry in another dimension, JAN-PRO recently participated in a survey via the Franchise Business Review (FBR) in December 2013 that determined their franchise owners overall satisfaction with the brand in which they invested. There was a 79.89% overall satisfaction rating among their surveyed franchisees, against the FBR Benchmark for 2013 of 69.68%, which is another source of great pride to Kissane.

More at source: PRWEB

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Las Vegas-based Brady Industries has acquired the Tucson operations of Fulton Distributing, a supplier of food-service and janitorial supplies.

Brady plans to continue the company’s Tucson operations at 2425 N. Huachuca Drive, Suite 191, and retain the half-dozen employees there, Brady marketing director Daniel Wood said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Brady Industries is a third-generation, family-owned company founded in 1947 in Las Vegas. The company serves six Western states through 10 distribution centers, including one in Phoenix. Fulton Distributing, based in California, has been serving clients in Southern Arizona for about four years.

Source: AZ Star

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ST. LOUIS COUNTY (KSDK) – Water main breaks have been a growing epidemic in Missouri and Illinois since temperatures hit below zero earlier this week.

The bursting pipes have lead to water gushing into area neighborhoods as well as homes, and one area company deals with cleaning up the mess left behind.

NewsChannel 5 reporter Ryan Dean spoke to Nick Matheny of ServPro in north St. Louis County Wednesday morning about their service calls and how homeowners can protect themselves from having a busted pipe this winter.

More at source: KSDK

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Steam clean a microwave with a bowl filled with a sliced lemon in hot water. Run the microwave for five minutes and then towel off with a clean cloth.

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Clean and sanitize wood or plastic cutting boards by rubbing lemon juice over the surface, let sit for ten minutes, run with lemon to loosen stubborn bits and rinse.

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Clean silver with a paste of 3 parts baking soda to 1 part water. Run onto surface, rinse with warm water and dry with soft cloth.

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More at source: Fox News

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Read more at source: Digital Journal

By Chris Cordt

TULSA, Okla. undefined 

Mold problem expected to cost Ridgeway Rescue Squad some $250,000, said a report. My Cleaning Products gave out a tip to prevent such a huge mold removal expense.

Richmond, VA (PRWEB) January 06, 2014

A mold problem was discovered in Ridgeway Rescue Squad. According to a report from, it was going to cost the group some $250,000. In response to it, My Cleaning Products shared a method how the public could prevent such a huge mold removal expense.

Based on the report which was posted on January 02, 2013, the mold spread to the sheetrock, floor, ceiling tiles and other parts of the building, shared My Cleaning Products. It was discovered, it added, in March during the renovation of the kitchen.

It was said in the post that the determined cause of mold growth, which were water drainage issues, were already fixed, MCP related. However, it relayed according to President Darren Lockridge's statement that mold removal and some remodeling were still needed in the building.

Here is an excerpt from the post Mold Gets Ridgeway Rescue Squad in Money Crisis by My Cleaning Products.

“Mold, if not detected and removed early, could cost anyone a huge expense. Take, for example, the mold case in Ridgeway Rescue Squad building in Virginia. It is expected to cost the organization some whooping $250,00

More at source: Intelligencer

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As part of the company’s first annual Open Hearts Campaign that gives back to non-profits making a difference in the community, Maid Brigade – the Atlanta-based house cleaning franchise – has awarded $5,000 to Furkids.

Furkids is Georgia’s largest no-kill animal shelter, which provides a cage-free and loving environment for its rescued animals until finding them permanent homes.

“More than 10 years ago I found a stray mother cat with kittens and was unable to find a shelter to take them in – so I started Furkids,” says Samantha Shelton, founder and executive director of Furkids. “Since 2002, we have facilitated close to 9,000 adoptions and today we operate 13 full-time adoption centers throughout metro Atlanta."

With more than 26 non-profits in the running, the Open Hearts Campaign asked Maid Brigade Facebook fans to vote for their favorite charities. A total of nearly 6,800 votes were cast throughout the month of December. Furkids received more than 2,000 votes and was announced the winning organization last week via the Maid Brigade Facebook page.

In close second was Equest, which provides therapeutic sports riding classes and Hippotherapy to children and adults with physical, cognitive, and emotional disabilities. The Texas-based organization was awarded $500 from Maid Brigade.

“We wanted to give back in a big way to the local non-profits making a lasting impact in the communities in which Maid Brigade serves,” says Bart Puett, president of Maid Brigade. “The Open Hearts Campaign gave our customers a voice in which charity was chosen. It’s inspirational to see how these organizations have touched the lives of so many people.”

Headquartered in Atlanta, Maid Brigade is the only house cleaning service that is Green Clean Certified® with more than 400 franchise service areas in the United States and Canada. Established in 1979, Maid Brigade is the green cleaning industry leader and has a longstanding legacy of providing quality customer service and consistent and thorough cleaning using the most advanced techniques and equipment. The company has also implemented a consumer advocacy program in response to reports from the Environmental Protection Agency linking chemicals in traditional cleaning products to a wide range of health risks. For more information visit www.maidbrigade.com or call 866-800-7434.

Diamond Back Group, which provides janitorial services, is closing its local operation.

The business employs 45 workers, all of whom will be affected by the plant closing, a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice posted Monday on the state Department of Labor website shows. 

The filing lists the closing date as Dec. 31 and it is due to a contract termination. It also states the business is affiliated with Eastman Kodak Co. 

Kodak spokesman Christopher Veronda said Johnson Controls Inc., Kodak’s building management firm, has hired a new janitorial service firm and that incumbent workers will be offered interviews.