News

This is the day that - each year - cleaners and security workers mark as a reminder of our struggle for global justice and equality. It was first celebrated in the United States in 1990 and was established after cleaners in Los Angeles were beaten by police during a peaceful demonstration against a multinational cleaning firm. Pressure from cleaners who belonged to unions in other countries helped the Los Angeles cleaners eventually win justice.



UNI Global Union Property Services is encouraging all affiliates to organise activity and demonstrations to celebrate International Justice Day. This year, we are asking affiliates to prioritise linking the day’s events to existing campaigns. Here are some suggestions:



1. HSBC and Santander Banks

UNI Global Union is campaigning to win a global agreement (incorporating a Responsible Contractor Policy) with both of these banks. International Justice Day provides us with an opportunity to focus upon the RCP aspect of this campaign with two multinational employers that hire contract cleaners and security guards across the globe. We need to collect more evidence of worker abuses in cleaning and security to expose bad practises, as well as exerting some pressure through global publicity.



So, we are asking affiliates with these banks present in their countries to organise information gathering exercises and publicity events targeted at these multinationals and their cleaning and security contractors.



2. Commerce

We are working with UNI colleagues in Commerce to support global campaigns in Metro, Tesco in Turkey and Shoprite. We know that cleaners and security workers in commerce suffer from many workers abuses and International Justice Day provides us with an opportunity to reinforce these campaigns with clients and contractors through our RCP.



We are asking affiliates to organise actions in support of cleaners and security workers in these areas.



3. Other global and national campaigns

Affiliates are encouraged to organise actions on 15 June in support of other ongoing global and national campaigns in the cleaning and security sector.





Please let us know your plans in order that we can co-ordinate activity and provide added publicity.



Over the next few days, we will be developing and distributing materials to support your actions. We ask all affiliates to organise activity and to send us photographs, short reports and, where possible, videos as soon as possible after the actions.



For more information, please contact nigel.venes@uniglobalunion.org