Silver Spring, MD—The federal government recently settled a charge against a Lee Development Group contractor, Beltway Cleaning Services, that requires Beltway to pay nearly $30,000 in total back wages for 17 workers. The settlement comes after the Federal Government issued a complaint that Beltway unlawfully discriminated against workers for supporting a union at the Lee Plaza building at 8601 Georgia Ave. in Silver Spring.
“In this hard economy, low-road employers have been taking advantage of vulnerable workers, and Beltway’s mistreatment of cleaners is just outrageous,” said Maryland State Senator Jamie Raskin (D-D20). “Many elected leaders have urged the Lee Development group to use only responsible and law-abiding cleaning contractors. So as we celebrate the ground breaking of the Fillmore, I feel confident that they will see the importance of this moral and legal imperative.”
After Beltway began cleaning Lee Development Group’s 8601 Georgia Avenue offices, the custodial company unjustly refused to hire all but one of the 32BJ SEIU members who previously maintained this building. Beltway paid the new cleaners poverty-like wages and few meaningful benefits.
Beltway was charged with discriminating against union supporters, threatening to call police on workers because of their support for the union, and refusing to recognize and bargain with the union.
“All workers have the right to form a union—free from management’s interference,” said Jaime Contreras, 32BJ SEIU Capital Area Director. “These men and women’s families suffered because of the company’s unjust behavior and now they are getting justice.”
Beltway admits no guilt to the charges in the settlement with the National Labor Relations Board. Under the NLRB settlement, Beltway must offer employment to all of the former cleaners and pay union wages.
But Beltway’s troubles are not over. State agencies are currently investigating complaints filed against the company. The complaints allege that Beltway is not deducting social security or state unemployment insurance taxes from all of the workers’ wages. It is also alleged that Beltway has required at least one employee to work past the end of his shift without clearly compensating him for this time.
With more than 120,000 members in nine states, including more than 15,000 in the Washington D.C.-Metropolitan area, 32BJ SEIU is the largest property service workers union in the country.
updated 9/2/2010
