Minneapolis, MN – On May 21, four retail cleaning workers and four of their supporters started a hunger strike to demand justice. The goal of the hunger strike is to get Cub Foods management to start negotiating with their retail cleaning workers for better wages and working conditions. The hunger strike was kicked off with a large rally at noon. Later in the afternoon, a large group of Danzantes joined the protest and performed.

The hunger strikers and supporters have set up a round-the-clock encampment at the highly visible Lake Street and Minnehaha Avenue intersection in south Minneapolis, in front of a shopping center where there is a Cub Foods store. They will have a protest action there every day from 10:00 a.m. until noon and again from 5:00 until 7:00 p.m. and are encouraging people to join them. Supporters can also stop by anytime between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. every day to show their solidarity.

Retail cleaning workers at Cub Foods and other major retail chains in the Twin Cities are mostly immigrant workers. They work overnight shift cleaning large grocery stores. Ten years ago, Twin Cities retail cleaning workers earned an average of over $10 per hour and had four workers cleaning on a shift. Now the retail corporations have contracted out cleaning to outside cleaning contractors. They pit these contractors against each other by every year taking the lowest bid for a new contract, driving down wages every year. Now retail cleaning workers doing the same work make around $7.50 per hour and only have two workers cleaning on a shift. In other words, double the workload for less money.

The Campaign for Justice in Retail Cleaning was launched in November 2010 by the Center for Workers United in Struggle (CTUL, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha). They are demanding that all the major Twin Cities retail stores adopt a code of conduct industry-wide to establish improved wages and working conditions for all retail cleaning workers.

The campaign is targeting Cub Foods first, trying to get them to lead the way by agreeing first to a code of conduct. Until now, Cub has not only refused to negotiate, but has reacted with hostility to the campaign. They fired cleaning worker Mario Cololly, who was one of the workers leading the organizing campaign. Then their security guards tackled and pepper sprayed nonviolent protesters doing a street theater skit protesting Mario’s firing. In the face of Cub’s refusal to negotiate, CTUL decided to launch a hunger strike.

Check for updates on the hunger strike and the campaign for justice in retail cleaning at http://ctul.net/hunger-strike

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Minneapolis, MN – In a packed press conference March 17, retail cleaning workers with the Center of Workers United in Struggle (CTUL, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha) and their allies called upon Cub Foods to put an end to retaliation, violent reactions to peaceful protests and to meet with cleaning workers. The workers are demanding that Cub establish a code of conduct ensuring fair wages and working conditions for all workers who clean their stores.

On March 15, allies of CTUL conducted a non-violent protest at Cub Foods. A security guard reacted with violence, aggression and indiscriminate pepper spraying of protesters, shoppers and even two small children. Several people were assaulted and one woman sent to the hospital as a result of this violent reaction.

Over the years, Cub Foods, along with Lunds and Byerly's food stores, has been undercutting the wages of cleaners by forcing the bids of their cleaning contractors lower and lower. These stores are saying they are saving money. However by going with the cheapest bid, the workers' wages have been dropping, the amount of workers is being cut and working conditions are getting more dangerous. The number of workers is going from four to a team to three or even two to do the same amount of work. Workers are forced to work with hazardous chemicals without protection. Many workers put up with these conditions because they don't want to get fired. Over the past year, CTUL has waged a campaign to bring Cub Foods to the table. They’ve sent petitions and had numerous rallies and press conferences with workers speaking out about their conditions and politicians offering their support. Cub has ignored all of this.

Mario Colloly Torres, a cleaning worker and one of the leaders organizing against Cub, spoke about the conditions at Cub. “Workers have tried to talk with Cub for better wages and working conditions,” hhe said. Torres and others went to the Cub Foods corporate office to present a letter to the CEO and they also filed charges with the United States Department of Labor regarding unpaid wages and signed a letter addressed to their employer demanding an end to reported intimidation and threats against workers organizing. Cub responded by firing Torres. Cub stated they took pictures of Torres ‘sleeping.’ Torres stated, “I was on break. What, Cub now doesn't want workers to take a break that we are entitled to?”

Jesus Castillo, cleaning worker and member of CTUL, spoke, “While working at Lunds, conditions have been getting worse for the workers. Over a year and half ago while working, we had four workers to clean the store. We have to do same amount of work with less people.”

He worked for National Maintenance but was laid off when Lunds hired Carlson Building Maintenance. Carlson told Lunds that they would be able maintain the high quality at a lower price. Castillo stated he knows that would be impossible since they have even fewer workers to do the job. Women have also been sexually harassed by the supervisor and the company is doing nothing about it.

“We did get a raise but only because the federal minimum wage was raised. We all need a raise,” Castillo continued, “Not just for the workers at National Cleaning Company but for all workers.”

Brandon Nessen, from the Spirit of Truth, a faith group, explained the violent encounter at a Cub Foods when peaceful protesters were attacked during a skit.

Torres talked about the next steps, “After all the organizing we and others have done and after our non-violent protests we have done, we have seen the violent side of Cub Foods. We are planning to give Cub Foods a two-month cooling off period. If Cub still refuses to come to the table, CTUL and allies will begin a hunger strike. This doesn't mean, we are doing nothing. This will give us more time to organize. We will be building for more events and bigger actions. We invite anyone to stand with us.”

#MinneapolisMN #CTUL #CentroDeTrabajadoresUnidosEnLucha #CampaignForJusticeInRetailCleaning #CubFoods

Minneapolis, MN – On March 2, Mario Colloly Torres was fired from his retail cleaning job at Cub Foods. Torres is a leader in the campaign for justice for retail cleaning workers. The campaign is organized by the Center for Workers United in Struggle or Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha (CTUL) in Spanish. CTUL is organizing low paid, mostly immigrant workers at major retail stores such as Cub, Lunds & Byerly's, Target, and Supervalu to fight for better wages, working conditions, and the right to organize.

While Torres works cleaning Cub Foods stores, a subcontractor, Carlson Building Maintenance, technically employs him. This is the case across the retail cleaning industry. The big retail stores contract out their cleaning to a series of subcontractors that constantly underbid each other to drive down wages and working conditions. Ten years ago in retail cleaning, workers made around $10 an hour. Today the average is $7.50 an hour. During the same period the average workload also doubled. It is a race to the bottom for workers.

After Mario's firing on March 2, CTUL immediately launched a campaign to fight back against the firing and to push forward the campaign. Mario responded to his firing saying, “They think that firing me will stop us from organizing. Instead, it will only make us fight harder! We will continue the struggle until we win fair wages, working conditions and the right to organize without fear of retaliation.”

On March 4, CTUL filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board stating that Carlson Building Maintenance along with Cub Foods fired Mario for organizing for better wages and working conditions.

CTUL also initiated a series of protest actions to confront executives of Carlson Building Maintenance and Cub Foods directly. According to a report by CTUL, 30 workers and supporters went to Carlson headquarters in White Bear Lake to speak with company president Nick Giese. Mario explained what had happened, and asked Mr. Giese to clarify if his firing was the company’s decision, or if it was the decision of a rogue supervisor. Mr. Giese chose not to have dialogue with Mario, and instead had one of his employees call the police. The workers then left there and went to a nearby Cub Foods store and marched together into the store, passed out flyers to customers who were curious about what was happening, delivered a letter to the manager, led a raucous round of chants, and left to plan next steps.

The next step is a series of protests this week to protest Mario's firing. CTUL is calling on people to support Mario and all retail-cleaning workers at the following actions. For each action, meet at CTUL at 2511 E. Franklin Ave. (inside of Bethany Lutheran Church) to go together to the protest site:

• Monday, March 7 – 6 pm – 8 pm
• Wednesday, March 9 – 11 am
• Thursday, March 10 – 6 pm
• Friday, March 11 – 5 pm
• Tuesday, March 15 – 10 am

The goal of the Campaign for Justice in Retail Cleaning is to demand that all the employers across the industry agree to a code of conduct for workers that clean their stores. Workers want guarantees on fair wages and working conditions, and the right to organize without fear of retaliation. The campaign began by targeting Cub Foods, whose workers face many of the worst conditions in the industry. CTUL is calling on Cub Foods to lead the way in the industry by agreeing to the code of conduct.

For more information on CTUL's retail cleaning workers campaign, visit www.ctul.net.

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