SEIU Local 36's organizing director, Autumn Weintraub, acknowledges this is part of the union's "Justice for Janitors" national campaign that is also targeting Boston Properties Trust and Chicago's Equity Office Properties in cities where it is also attempting to organize janitorial workers. Liberty is targeted here, Weintraub tells GlobeSt.com, "because it's the largest owner of buildings in the suburbs." She says, Liberty employs Downingtown, PA-based Budget Maintenance and New Jersey-based City Cleaning, two companies with which SEIU Local 36 has "labor disputes." The disputes, she acknowledges, are that the companies employ non-union workers.
According to Weintraub, SEIU members who work in Center City will receive $13 an hour, plus benefits, under their newest contract. This compares, she says, "with pay as low as $7 per hour in the suburbs," a figure GlobeSt.com was unable to confirm.
Jeanne Leonard, VP of investor relations for Liberty, tells GlobeSt.com, "It's our position that the janitors in question are employees of outside maintenance providers and it's not Liberty's place to interfere with those companies' practices, although we're monitoring the situation and respecting the right of the union to exercise its First Amendment rights."
Of the newsletter's contents, Leonard says, "SEIU has taken statements made by Liberty management approximately six months ago and extrapolated portions of them to suit its thesis. In general, the communication portrays Liberty as not being forthcoming to investors. I think Liberty has a history of being more than forthcoming with investors and the investor community is aware of that."
Weintraub says SEIU has a full-time researcher on staff "who obtains information on many companies in many cities for many campaigns. We believe that a company that is unresponsive to those who work for them acts in a similar manner in other areas of its business practices," she adds. Asked what results have come from the Liberty campaign and others, Weintraub says, "it's too early to know."
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