It's Official!

Today, it was announced by the SEIU that 70% of the custodial workers employed at UM by UNICCO have signed cards asking the SEIU to represent them. The University and UNICCO have both declared themselves satisfied with the results, and UNICCO and the SEIU will now begin bargaining for a contract for the approximately 425 janitors and groundskeepers.

You can read the SEIU press release here.

Other coverage is supplied by the Miami Herald, CBS and the South Florida Business Journal.

After a press conference at which the results of the card check were announced, a delegation of workers, faculty, students and clergy went to Sunset Mall to deliver a message to Simon Property Group, the Mall's owner. Father Frank Corbishley explained to a representative of Simon Property Group that although janitorial staff at the Mall are employed by UNICCO, a three-way conversation between workers, UNICCO and SPG was essential, since SPG can choose whether or not it will contract with UNICCO for its services. You can just see the top of his head here as he reports back on the meeting.

After this, a busload of workers, students, clergy and union people hopped on a large bus heading for Broward County, where they went to meet workers and community activists from Nova.