DES MOINES, Iowa undefined The Des Moines Fire Department responded to a large fire Wednesday morning that heavily damaged a family-owned business.

The fire broke out around 3:00 a.m. at 1244 2nd Avenue in a textile warehouse, just a few blocks north of Mercy Medical Center.

The building is owned by a janitorial products business, Commercial Bag and Supply Co.,. Officials say the building where the fire first started is likely a total loss. An attached building to the north suffered smoke and water damage, and another attached building to the south was not damaged.

It took firefighters more than an hour to put out the blaze. The warehouse was filled with burlap and plastic materials which are highly flammable. The dense smoke and flames created a challenge for firefighters. They say they could only put out the fire while on top of the roof because of the limited access by the other buildings into the warehouse.

Investigators are still on the scene trying to determine what caused the fire. They say no one had been in the building since around 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday. Damage to the buildings is estimated at $400,000.

Commercial Bag and Supply Co. was founded in 1948 and employes 10 people.

More at source: WHOTV

“I was so grateful that they were here. That they finally came and started the cleanup,” Joyce Zoller told CBS 2′s Hazel Sanchez.

Zoller was thrilled to see a dumpster outside of her home in Neponsit, on the Rockaway Peninsula. Crews were finally on hand to clean out her neighbor’s house 19 months after it was flooded by Superstorm Sandy.

Zoller said that her cries for help were fruitless until now.

“I just pushed every button that I could push, and I’m just grateful Hazel, for all that you’ve done to help,” she said.

Last week, CBS 2 showed viewers disturbing pictures of moldy garbage piled up inside of the house that had been abandoned by its owner after the storm.

City records said that HSBC bank took ownership when the home went into foreclosure. The bank was issued multiple violations for allegedly leaving the home to rot.

More at source: CBS

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Lawmakers and union officials on Thursday voiced concerns about the MBTA’s plans to cut nearly 30 percent of its janitorial workforce.

Contracts awarded by the MBTA Board to SJ Services and American Building Maintenance call for a cut of 29 percent, or 90 workers, of the cleaning staff starting on Sept. 1, 2014, according to SEIU 32BJ, a union backing the workers.

Members of the remaining workforce, which currently numbers 300, could also have their hours cut.

“I want to say shame on [the state Department of Transportation] and shame on the administration that would balance the budget on the backs” of the lowest paid workers in the state, said Sen. Ken Donnelly (D-Arlington).

Transportation Secretary Rich Davey told the News Service in April that the contracts have performance-based standards, instead of staffing-based standards, for cleanliness, and he expected the companies to use more advanced cleaning techniques to meet the standards. Staff reductions are allowed in the contracts.

The MBTA’s board, struggling with a massive debt load and an aging infrastructure, voted in May to hike fares by an average of 5 percent.

More at source: Dorchester Reporter

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An 11-year-old student at a Berkeley elementary school contracted whooping cough after purportedly cleaning bathrooms as a punishment for alleged bullying.

Magdalene King’ori, the mother of the LeConte Elementary School fifth-grade student, claimed her son cleaned the bathrooms for a total of six days after a bullying incident April 30 in which he was a bystander. King’ori learned about the punishment May 14, a week after it started.

After King’ori found out about her son’s punishment, she filed a complaint to the school. The school, King’ori said, did not inform her of the bullying incident or subsequent punishment.

According to Berkeley Unified School District spokesperson Mark Coplan, the students who were accused of bullying were given various options for their punishment, such as sweeping or picking up trash in the auditorium, playground or bathroom. There was no thorough cleaning or scrubbing involved in any of the punishments, Coplan said.

More at source: Daily Cal

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The department’s investigation was initiated based on a referral from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.  The investigation found that Commercial Cleaning Systems required work-authorized non-U.S. citizens to present specific documentation issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in order to verify their employment eligibility, while U.S. citizens were permitted to present their choice of documentation.  The INA’s anti-discrimination provision prohibits employers from placing additional documentary burdens on work-authorized employees during the hiring and employment eligibility verification process based on their citizenship status or national origin. 

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) -- Workers at Rio de Janeiro's two airports declared a partial work stoppage beginning at midnight Wednesday, on the eve of the opening match of the World Cup. Rio's Galeao international airport is expected to be one of the country's busiest during the monthlong soccer tournament. The walkout also would affect Santos Dumont airport, which provides domestic service, including flights to Sao Paulo, where the first World Cup game was being held Thursday. Unions representing workers at the two airports including check-in counter clerks, baggage handlers and janitorial staff have been seeking for months raises of at least 5.6 percent and special bonuses tied to the World Cup.

Read More At Source: ABC

Following four years of protests by labor groups, Target Corp. says it will update the language in its contracts with third-party janitorial vendors to better protect the rights of sub-contracted workers.

"This is the first policy of its kind in the retail janitorial industry," said Veronica Mendez, co-director of Minneapolis-based labor organization Center of Workers United in Struggle (known by its Spanish acronym CTUL), in a news release.

"It's a victory not just for the estimated 1,000 retail janitors in the Twin Cities, but for all the low-wage workers of color fighting for a place at the table in deciding the future of work."

The nonunion workers don't work for Target, but the document spells out guidelines for how Target chooses contractors.

More at source: Twin Cities

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OWEGO, N.Y. -- Lockheed Martin will lay off 40 employees from its janitorial and cafeteria staff, the company confirmed Tuesday.

Those services will be contracted out starting on July 21.

Company officials said its a cost-saving move for the company that has happened at other Lockheed facilities.

A spokesperson said workers who are let go may have a chance to land a job with the vendors that will be servicing the campus.

More at source: Binghampton

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Two janitorial companies, NLP Janitorial and Coast to Coast West, were slapped with more than $1.5 million in citations by the California Labor Commissioner for allegedly engaging in multiple wage violations, including failure to provide rest or meal breaks, or pay minimum wage or overtime wages, and misclassifying 52 workers as independent contractors. In a news release, Labor Commissioner Julie Su said, “There is a high cost to unfair competition, and these 52 workers bore the brunt of it when their earned wages were stolen from them. Honest janitorial employers struggling to compete against scofflaws also pay.” The two janitorial companies compete for cleaning services to hotels, resorts, theater chains and restaurants.

A still photo taken from a video clip of Topless Maid truck parked on Sierra Madre Boulevard, near Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena. For weeks, a pink truck advertising topless maids for $99 has been parked at various locations on Fair Oaks Avenue in South Pasadena and in Pasadena. South Pasadena has been inundated with complaints, some of which say the service is really another way to move prostitution into the city's limits. (Photo by Walt Mancini/Pasadena Star-News)