From today’s San Diego Union-Tribune:
In a win for county office janitors whose labor dispute has pulled in the Board of Supervisors, San Diego County will ask its janitorial contractors to protect working conditions and rights of janitors, landscapers and other employees as a condition of keeping their contracts, the board decided in a split vote Tuesday.
Companies working for the county must abide by a new policy spelling out those rights, or their contacts will expire after the first year and the county will solicit competitive bids to fill them.
In a 4-1 vote, the board directed the contracting department to negotiate with current contractors to incorporate the new labor standards into existing contracts for janitorial, landscaping and security services, and authorized the agency to solicit bids for that work if an agreement can’t be reached. Supervisor Jim Desmond objected, saying new contracts would be too expensive.
The new county policy protects janitors, landscapers and security staff against wage theft, sexual harassment and other unfair work practices by county contractors, setting wage standards and creating a wage-theft fund to reimburse employees. But the policy, passed in December, doesn’t apply to contracts entered before that.
Read the complete story here.