MAYOR JOHN DESTEFANO TO TAKE A STAND WITH NEW HAVEN BUILDING CLEANERS FIGHTING FOR A FAIR CONTRACT

– Rally Comes Days After Building Cleaners Authorized Their Bargaining Committee to Call a Strike if Necessary –

WASHINGTON, D.C. – December 21, 2011 – (RealEstateRama) — The New Haven mayor will join building cleaners rallying for fair wages at 4 p.m. Wednesday at the corner of Church and Elm streets downtown. The rally comes as the December 31st contract expiration date  ticks closer for the more than 2,000 building cleaners in New Haven and Hartford represented by 32BJ. Building cleaners began their contract talks with employers in mid-November. But with the two sides still far apart, the building cleaners voted last week to authorize their bargaining committee to call a strike if a fair agreement cannot be reached.

32BJ members clean some of Connecticut’s most important corporate centers and landmark buildings including New Haven City Hall, the State Capitol, Travelers’ Tower and Wesleyan University. Commercial real estate in the New Haven-Hartford area is a more than $700 million industry.

With more than 120,000 members in eight states and Washington, D.C., including 4,500 in Connecticut, 32BJ SEIU is the largest union of property service workers in the country.

For more information, visit www.standwithbuildingworkers.org .

Contact:
Maia Davis:
212-388-369; 201-396-4444
Eugenio Villasante:
212-539-2940; 646-285-1087