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 International Janitorial Cleaning Services Association

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IJCSA Updates & Industry News

  • 08 Mar 2016 9:33 AM | IJCSA - (Administrator)

    A deal reached early Monday averted a second walkout and will be voted on this weekend. 

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    Janitors and Twin Cities employers have reached a tentative contract agreement that would raise wages 12.3 percent over four years, union officials said.

    The deal was reached shortly after 1 a.m. Monday and averted a second walkout after a one-day strike by janitors last month.

    Janitors will vote this weekend on the pact, which has the recommendation of the union's bargaining committee, said Josh Keller, spokesman for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 26.

    More at source: Star Tribune

    Find A Janitorial Service Here.




  • 03 Mar 2016 1:27 PM | IJCSA - (Administrator)

    This story updates our Rape on the Night Shift investigation.

    Simon Brooks was broke and homeless after his idea for a Scrabble-like app failed. He kept sticking around the startup accelerator where he’d been working and eventually found his next idea.  

    The accelerator wanted him to clean the bathroom. At first, he was offended. But then he looked into it, and, as Brooks recently told San Jose Inside, he found an industry built on low wages and workplace abuse.

    Brooks’ company, Squiffy Clean, is paying higher wages and offering equity to his first 25 cleaners. It’s also sending workers out in teams to prevent sexual abuse.

    “We go out in a group,” he told San Jose Inside. “Safety in numbers. We want to do better by our people.”

    Brooks credits our investigation into the sexual abuse of night shift janitors, Rape on the Night Shift, for his decision. The investigation uncovered serious sexual abuse in the janitorial industry and the failure of companies large and small to prevent it. It was a collaboration between Reveal, the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley, KQED, FRONTLINE and Univision.

    More at source: Reveal News

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  • 01 Mar 2016 12:57 PM | IJCSA - (Administrator)



    Most of us are used to finding lists of ingredients on food, medicine, even cosmetics, but you might not realize there is no requirement to list all of the ingredients on the labels of cleaning products.

    Many of those products are a part of daily life, used to clean our homes, workplaces, and schools. A lot of cleaning products carry legally required warning labels about poison or eye or skin irritation, but most do not list all ingredients on the label.

    More at source: ABC

    Find A Green Cleaning Service Here

  • 23 Feb 2016 7:20 AM | IJCSA - (Administrator)


    With Stanford’s janitorial workers’ regional contract up for renegotiation this April, the Stanford Student and Labor Alliance (SALA) held an open meeting for new members last Sunday to rally support for the SEIU Local 1877 workers’ union. More than 40 people packed into the Asian American Activities Center to discuss upcoming actions for the janitorial staff in academic buildings.

    According to Cenobio Hernandez ‘18, one of SALA’s three leaders, the workers’ union has taken the lead in the drive to seek a contract more favorable for workers, while SALA and other Stanford students are playing a supporting role. According to a questionnaire done by the workers’ union, some of the largest concerns of the workers include wages, job security and workplace harassment — particularly sexual harassment.

    Since workers are contractually forbidden to strike on campus, a large part of student and faculty support will be shown through rallies and petitions.

    “In the past, the administration has been able to use students as an excuse, saying that students want academic buildings to be open longer, so workers’ hours have to be changed,” Hernandez said. “Our voice has been used in a way that dismisses workers’ positions, so we need to show that we are with the workers.”

    More at source: Stanford Daily

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  • 18 Feb 2016 6:38 AM | IJCSA - (Administrator)

    Hundreds of janitors staged demonstrations at the airport, other major employers in metro area in 24-hour strike. 

    People walked holding signs in a circle during a one-day protest for local janitors a outside the U.S. Bank building on Wednesday, February 17, 2016, in Minneapolis, Minn.

    Janitors across the Twin Cities metro area walked off the job and took to the streets Wednesday in the midst of tense negotiations with cleaning companies over wages and working conditions.

    The 24-hour strike was the first by subcontracted union janitors in the Twin Cities in decades, according to Local 26 of the Service Employees International Union, which represents roughly 4,000 janitors in the metropolitan area.

    More at source: Star Tribune

    Find A Janitorial Service Here



  • 15 Feb 2016 2:42 PM | IJCSA - (Administrator)

    Cleaning with lemon and vinegar


    Window cleaner

    Mix equal parts of distilled white vinegar and water. Apply to windows with a sponge. Wipe clean using a squeegee. (Remember to wet the squeegee blade first so it won't skip.)

    Blinds

    To clean washable blinds, mix 1 cup ammonia, ½ cup white distilled vinegar, ¼ cup baking soda and 1 gallon of warm water. Using a sponge or cloth, wipe blinds with mixture. Rinse with clear water.

    Automatic coffee makers

    To dissolve minerals and oily build-up, fill the reservoir with white distilled vinegar and run the coffee maker through a brewing cycle. Empty the carafe. Rinse away vinegar residue by running a full reservoir of water through the brewing cycle. (As always, follow manufacturer's care instructions.)

    RELATED: 23 ways to clean your home (and yourself) using lemons

    Kill grass

    Forget store-bought grass and weed killers. Pour full-strength white distilled vinegar on unwanted vegetation. Reapply as needed.

    Keep cut flowers fresh

    Fresh flowers last longer if you add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar and 2 tablespoons of sugar to the water in a 1-quart vase. Trim stems and change water every few days or when water starts to get cloudy.

    No-wax floors

    For rinse-free cleaning, mop using a solution of ½ cup of white distilled vinegar to a half-gallon of warm water. Change water as it gets dirty.

    Microwave

    Boil a solution of ¼ cup of white distilled vinegar and 1 cup of water in the microwave until steam forms on the window. Wipe away food residue.

    Hair rinse

    After every few washings, remove shampoo build-up by rinsing hair with a solution of 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar (either white distilled vinegar or apple cider vinegar) and 1 cup of water. Adjust amount of vinegar to suit your hair type. Less vinegar for dry hair; more vinegar for oily hair. A second rinse with plain water is optional. Hair will be silky and shiny.

    Cleaner dishes and glasses

    More at source: Today

    Find A Green Cleaning Service Here. 


  • 01 Feb 2016 10:57 AM | IJCSA - (Administrator)

    SHOCKING! 


    Two Tennessee police officers Tased a middle school cleaning woman they mistook for a burglar early this month.

    Now, some of criticizing the officers' use of force.

    The Chattanooga Times-Free Press reported the two Collegedale police officers responded to Ooltewah Middle School on the night of Jan. 11 and noticed one of the doors to the building open.

    The officers entered the school with their guns drawn to look for intruders. They didn't know if a cleaning staff was working that night, but they did find some cleaning supplies outside a restroom.

    While checking a room that has two entrances, a woman walked into the same from the opposite entrance. She wasn't carrying anything.

    The officers asked the woman to identify herself, but she appeared to not understand English.

    According to the officers' report, she refused to stop and show them her identification. She replied "no" to every question they asked both in English and Spanish.

    The woman then left the room and began to walk quickly down a hallway. When one of the officers yelled the Spanish word for stop, the officers claim she began to run away.

    The officers proceeded to chase her through the school's cafeteria, down a flight of stairs and outside into the parking lot.

    Find a cleaning service here. 

    More at source: Al.com



  • 27 Jan 2016 5:37 AM | IJCSA - (Administrator)


    IJCSA performed a phone poll of 200 potential cleaning customers in the United States. The calls were random and made both to potential commercial and residential clients. We already knew the answers that the poll would provide but we made the calls anyway. Our question was very simple. "If two cleaning services submitted a price quote to clean your home or business and the prices were roughly the same price, and one company was certified and the other company was not would you pick the certified cleaning company or the non certified company?" Ask yourself the same question. The results: 187 potential customers picked the certified company. Don`t wait till your potential client asks you for a certification. Turn in your company education and training certificates with all estimates and proposals. 

    All Certification Courses Included With Membership          

    Find A Certified Cleaning Company Here


  • 26 Jan 2016 8:30 AM | IJCSA - (Administrator)


    Girsch's top five tips are:

    1. Maximize your hanging space with slim-line hangers
    2. Don't stack clothes, file them
    3. Color-code using ROY-G-BIV
    4. Display accessories like a boutique
    5. Bin other accessories or loose items

    About NEAT Method (from website)

    NEAT Method is a lifestyle service committed to providing a more luxurious and smartly appointed living space. We recognize that life gets hectic and that maintaining an organized home can become a challenge. NEAT Method will design a customized solution that is not only effective but sustainable.

    More at source: Fox News 6 

    Find A Cleaning & Organizing Service Here


  • 25 Jan 2016 7:44 AM | IJCSA - (Administrator)

    Tony Carnes uses the new green cleaning floor waxing system at Carpenters Middle School

    Walk into any of Blount County Schools’ 23 buildings, and you won’t smell the strong ammonia, lemon or pine odors people often associate with cleaning products. Instead, Blount County has replaced harsh chemicals with safer and more environmentally friendly products and practices over the past five years.

    “Many people went through the years thinking that clean has a smell,” said Gary Farmer, the schools’ facilities director. “Clean does not have a smell.”

    More at source: Daily Times

    Find A Green Cleaning Service Here. 


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