The group of 11 scientists and engineers has been testing the system since Sept. 8. That was the day, accompanied by a press boat, fans and the cheering family of Boyan Slat, the 24-year-old Dutchman and CEO of The Ocean Clean Up who came up with the idea after dropping out of college, that the system was towed unassembled out from under the Golden Gate Bridge to a spot off the California coast.

There, it was assembled and tested for seaworthiness for 2½ weeks.

“It was the first time the entire system had been put together. There were a lot of theories about how it would work, but real life is always different,” Ferrari said.

The trial went well, so the system was disassembled and towed to its final placement 1,200 nautical miles out, halfway between the West Coast and Hawaii to the middle of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It took almost two weeks to sail to the spot, where the staff once again put the device together and began testing it.

More at source: USA Today

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More at source: Labor Notes

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CLEARWATER — A Pinelllas County customer is suing a janitorial service company, alleging negligence caused his fall in a Home Depot store.

Elliot Pinto filed a complaint on Sept. 27 in Pinellas County Circuit Court against Diversified Maintenance Systems Inc., alleging the defendant failed to maintain Home Depot's premises in a reasonably safe condition.

According to the complaint, on Feb. 18, 2017, Pinto went to the Home Depot store, 10550 Park Blvd., Seminole, when he slipped on the substance that appeared to be standing water, causing him to fall and sustain injuries. 

Pinto says Diversified Maintenance is responsible to ensure that the floor of the store was not left in a slippery and dangerous condition. The plaintiff alleges Diversified Maintenance Systems failed to warn invitees of the danger of a slipping substance and failed to correct, or adequately correct the dangerous condition of the substance that appeared on the Home Depot floor.

Pinto seeks trial by jury, damages in excess of $15,000, plus interest, court costs and attorney fees. He is represented by attorney Paul Gross of Morgan & Morgan in St. Petersburg.

More at source: Florida Record

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SEIU organizers told IndyStar contract negotiations with SBM Management Services, the company that contracts the staffers to Downtown companies, have stalled. SEIU organizers say it comes down to SBM asking Lilly for funds to help cover the cost of raises and benefits.

Perkins, a 36-year-old single father of two, works 80-hour weeks at two janitorial jobs to make ends meet. Among the group removed by police Thursday, Perkins told IndyStar before the demonstration that he felt compelled to speak up.

“This new turn, this new movement, this new fresh air of confidence," he said, "and making sure that we get the message across that we’re just as human as y’all are."

More at source: Indy Star 

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In a ruling that may affect many industries, a three-member panel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has held that a group of subcontracted janitors in San Francisco were justifiably fired after engaging in secondary picketing at the building where they worked. Preferred Building Services, Inc., 366 NLRB No. 159 (Aug. 28, 2018). The Board ruled the employees engaged in conduct unprotected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) when they urged the building’s tenants to “take responsibility” and help improve the janitors’ working conditions. The Board said the workers essentially were pressuring the building to cease doing business with their employer.

Background

The janitors worked for Ortiz Janitorial Services (OJS). OJS had a contract with Preferred Building Services, Inc. Preferred contracted with building management companies in the San Francisco Bay Area to provide janitorial services, and it often fulfilled its obligations by subcontracting work to various other entities, including OJS. In fall of 2014, building management company Harvest Properties contracted with Preferred to service one of Harvest’s buildings. Preferred, in turn, subcontracted the work to OJS.

More at source: Lexology

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As a result, employees haphazardly doused floors and restrooms, judging whether a surface was clean by how it looked and smelled. They wasted cleaning products and caused more dirt to accumulate, Ivey said, because the puddles of cleanser attracted residue.

“It used to be we were eyeballing measurements of chemicals, thinking, ‘Oh, it should be such-and-such,’” said Elsie Tucker, who has worked as a cleaner and supervisor at BART for 20 years and will take over training now that Ivey’s contract is up.

More at source: San Francisco Chronicle

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Really what this is all about: whether workers are allowed to leave for greener pastures or their bosses are given the green light to put up such high fences around them that they’re forced to stay. In other words, it’s about power: who has it and who doesn’t. Or, more precisely, whom we give it to and whom we don’t. 

If we create a legal framework that puts workers on an equal footing, then they can go get a raise without having to wait for their employers to deign to give it to them. But if we don’t, then those bosses, secure in the knowledge that their employees can’t easily leave, can get away with offering only minuscule pay increases, if that.

More at source: Washington Post

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The anonymous tip that brought state investigators to the former Cantrell Funeral Home at 10400 Mack Avenue revealed nine bodies in a cardboard box, and two inside a trash bag placed in a casket. 

The building's new owner, who purchased it about a month ago, said the interior smelled horribly, and he'd removed four dumpsters of garbage as he started renovating it into a community center. 

Officials on Sunday still had no answers to why the bodies were there, and none of the identities of the infants or their relatives had been disclosed. 

Lisa Croff, spokeswoman from the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office, said the office is working with Detroit police and other agencies to get the infants and families identified.

More at source: Detroit Free Press

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Robots are poised to disrupt every single industry, starting with more workers being replaced from assembly line factories by industrial robots. Next, self-driving cars have already logged nearly two million miles 

on public roads, and soon robots will mix our margaritas at our favorite bars, collect our garbage, and stock supermarket isles more efficiently.  They will also look after our elderly. But getting humans out of harm’s way .. 

More at source: Forbes

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