Earlier this year, the 7 Investigation team knocked on the doors of several Treasure Valley homes on a meth property list where, legally, no one is supposed to live until they are properly cleaned.

We found people living in some. Others were unoccupied, like the apartment in this story. Over the past few months, KTVB followed the owner's costly quest to get off the list of homes that are made unlivable because of former meth labs.

More at source: KTVB

At Salary.com, the arithmetic is based on the time and value of all the various jobs moms take on, including laundry-machine operator, janitor, van driver, cook, facilities manager, psychologist and CEO (of the entire household). The results show that stay-at-home moms put in one honey of a workweek: 94.7 hours. After factoring in duties and corresponding approximate wages ($36.85 hourly for the “psychologist” role, $13.11 for “cook” responsibilities), a stay-at-home mother is worth an average of $17.80 per hour, or $112,962 annually.

MINNEAPOLIS - The workers who clean major retail stores like Kmart, Target and Best Buy often face shocking conditions of exploitation, including heavy workloads, long hours and lost wages, according to a new study of the industry and a lawsuit against a major cleaning contractor. The information was released Wednesday by CTUL, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha/the Center for Workers United in Struggle, a community organization that works for fair wages and better conditions for retail cleaning workers, many of whom are recent immigrants.

Last fall, workers employed by Diversified Maintenance Systems, a cleaning contractor for retail stores including Kmart, Target, and Best Buy, filed suit, charging that the cleaning contractor required them to work up to 80 hours a week without overtime pay. Diversified Maintenance has been the subject of at least six private lawsuits and an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor over its failure to pay overtime wages.

More at source: Workday Minnesota

Pittsburgh, PA, April 27, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Pittsburgh residential cleaning company, Mr. Maid announced the opening of their commercial cleaning division.

“After cleaning houses numbering in the thousands during the past 7 years,” said owner Jim Jones. “We are going to use our expertise to offer the same high quality cleaning work that our community has come to expect to the commercial community in and around the Pittsburgh, Pa. Area.”

More at source: pr.com

Zep Inc.'s (ZEP) fiscal second-quarter earnings rose 13% as the commercial cleaning-products company reported improved sales in many of its markets while higher materials costs hurt margins.

Chief Executive John K. Morgan said increased sales in segments such as automotive, home improvement retail, vehicle wash offset volume declines within end-markets such as government, institutional and janitorial.

The company--whose products range from Armor All Professional products used at car washes to insecticides sold by mass retailers--has been grappling with soft demand from small-business customers and high commodities prices that have outpaced its ability to raise prices

More at source: Wall Street Journal

Jairo Hernandez of Lynn, Mass., filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board's regional office in Boston against the Service Employees International Union Local 615. He filed the charges for himself and his coworkers at Complete Cleaning.

SEIU Local 615 officials claimed collective bargaining privileges with Complete Cleaning even though workers nearly unanimously oppose the union hierarchy in their workplace, according to the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which is providing free legal assistance for the workers in the case. Under federal law, it is illegal for a union to claim such a status without the consent of the majority of the employees.

More at source: Legal News Online

In a case that promises to be a bureaucratic nightmare for police, a kleptomanic caretaker in the southern German city of Stuttgart has admitted stealing around 25 tonnes of office supplies over several decades, and keeping them in his flat.

As well as ordinary office supplies, the 69-year-old man collected cleaning materials, dozens of brooms and brushes, toilet paper, whole rolls of paper towels, aluminium boxes and ladders.

He filled his living room with his haul, and when that was full, stuffed his cellar, storerooms and a garden shed full of the stolen stationery and supllies. Initial estimates have valued the accumulated booty in the six figure region, but he apparently had no intention of selling it.

More at source: The Local DE

Nine janitors were fired from a downtown Toronto office building after a change in management undefined and they believe it’s because they wanted to keep their union.

Amphora Maintenance Services fired the workers after it took over cleaning services from Hallmark Housekeeping at 8 and 10 King St. E., according to a union complaint filed with the Ontario Labour Relations Board. The workers and their union are holding a rally in protest outside the buildings Monday at noon.

A company can legally fire previous contractors’ employees, but the union alleges that Amphora only did so because the employees were reorganizing, SEIU Local 2 representative Diego Mendez said.

More at source: Toronto News

Court records say a state investigator determined that Gibbs charged state sales tax for his cleaning services for about 18 months but didn't turn over the money to the state.

More at source: The Republic

ZURICH, Mar 27, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Exelerate® ZTF, a patent-pending cleaning solution that dissolves low trans fat oil residue from processing equipment and surfaces, is now available to food manufacturers throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Exelerate ZTF’s thixotropic gel technology clings to equipment and surfaces to help dissolve low trans fat soils, making it easier to remove soils in hard-to-reach areas, including fryer hood vents, walls, ceilings and plant catwalks.

“The increased use of low trans fat oils in food processing operations has created new cleaning challenges,” said Andreas Weilinghoff, senior vice president and general manager of Ecolab Food & Beverage, EMEA. “As the oil mist from frying and baking processes comes into contact with equipment and surfaces, extremely stubborn soils build up, making surfaces very slippery and difficult to clean. Exelerate ZTF offers the optimized cleaning performance necessary to help avoid low trans fat oil residue.

More at source: MarketWatch