JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY -- Starting next May 1st cleaning workers of five major shopping malls will receive a substantial pay rise following an agreement reached by the union that represent the workers and one of the biggest commercial property companies in the country.

In Garden State, cleaners working at the malls Menlo Park, Edison; Brunswick Square, East Brunswick; Rockaway, Morris County; Livingston, Essex County and Newport in Jersey City.

"I feel very happy after receiving the news about the increase in wages. Like many of my colleagues, many years that has been working with the minimum wage and without any kind of benefit, "said Panamanian Jasmina Villalobes, working the past 13 years in Menlo Park mall in Edison.

The new contract was signed recently between the union which brings together workers Cleaning, the local 32BJ and the company Control Building Services, a subcontractor that employs the bulk of personnel performing cleaning services and maintenance to business properties group Simon Property, one of the largest in the US.