Denver-area janitors successfully negotiated a new four-year master cleaning contract—the first contract to cover the entire Denver Metro area—which includes virtually every office building in the region. The agreement is mutually beneficial to both janitors and cleaning contractors, and is also good for tenants and building owners because it adds new incentives for long-term employment (which, in turn, increases the quality of service).

"There were a lot of us who started crying when we heard about the contract,” said Rita Jaramillo, an SEIU member and janitor for 12 years in Downtown Denver. “Wages are going up, and there will be 500 more people eligible for family health care. This is really going to change people’s lives—people who used to have to make impossible choices between food and medicine.”

Highlights of the new contract include:

Average annual salary increase of 4%.
Workers won across-the-board salary increases that average 4% throughout the Denver Metro area. A worker in downtown Denver making $10 per hour (after 18 months on the job) will end up making $11.60 at the end of the contract.

Expansion of family health care benefits at NO COST to workers.
There are currently 220 workers eligible for full family health care benefits (only full-time workers in downtown Denver were eligible under the current contract). At the end of the new contract, 500 more workers will be eligible for full family health care benefits in Cherry Creek, Aurora and the Denver Tech Center .

More full-time jobs.
All workers in buildings over 250,000 square feet will be automatically converted to full-time by 2012. More full-time jobs will eliminate the need for many to have second jobs and will allow workers to spend more time at home with their families.

Click on the links below to read stories about the new partnership between janitors and cleaning contractors:

Rocky Mountain News
Denver Post
Denver Business Journal

With the opening of economic negotiations, Denver janitors confront a historic moment that will set their wages and benefits for the next 3 years. To ensure this agreement works for everyone, workers and members of the community will express their support for health care and liveable wages in Dowtown Denver on June 17.

WHAT: A march through downtown Denver
WHEN:  Tuesday, June 17 at 3:30 p.m.
WHERE:  Civic Center Park – Corner of Broadway & Colfax

Supporters of working families will bring their efforts to improve the lives of thousands of Denver janitors to the Denver Tech Center next week. Currently only janitors in downtown Denver receive health care, so we will meet next week in the suburbs to make sure that our entire community has wages and benefits that can create a better future.

Where: Denver Tech Center --Belleview Light Rail Station
When: June 5, 11:30 AM

Call 303.478.0900 for more information.

Go here to see photos of our May 22 event.

Tomorrow, May 7, community members and workers will meet at 17th and Welton at 3:30 PM to demonstrate support for full-time jobs with health care for thousands of Denver families. Call 303.478.0900 for more information.

We will meet again on May 22 at 3:30 PM to continue our support, at a location to be determined. Keep checking this page for updates.

The historic campaign to bring pride and prosperity to the lives of more than 2,500 Denver-area janitors begins this week. Workers will seek to collaborate with cleaning contractors, property managers, and building owners to promote good jobs and quality service that strengthen the community.

Since the beginning of the current contract, which expires this summer, membership in the property services division of SEIU in Denver has grown by hundreds of workers. Today, more than 80% of large commercial office space in Denver is cleaned by these workers. The current contract negotiations will be the first that encompass the entire metro area.

Click here to download the campaign's first newsletter.