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