The Guardian 14 June, 2006
International justice day
Every June 15, cleaners, security officers and other property service workers around the globe mark International Justice Day. The day was first celebrated in 1990 in the US as "Justice for Janitors Day" after cleaners who cleaned office buildings in Los Angeles were beaten by police during a peaceful demonstration against a multi-national cleaning company, ISS.
The incident provoked a public outcry in the US and abroad. Pressure from ISS cleaners who belonged to unions in other countries led ISS to agree to recognise the cleaners’ desire to form a union in Los Angeles. In remembrance of that day, cleaners and security workers take action every June 15 in cities around the world.
The Union Network International, a global union uniting more than 900 trade unions in 140 countries with a combined membership of over 15 million workers, is supporting unions in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, the UK, New Zealand, Australia and elsewhere, as they mark the day with actions.
In Germany, they are targeting the security company Power Security which employs more officers than any other security firm in the country. With Power leading the charge, security companies have kept wages for officers frozen for the past two years. Recently, Power fired an officer who’s been active in the campaign to turn dead-end security jobs into good jobs with a future.
The transnational cleaning company ISS is another target. Although it has signed a global agreement pledging to take a positive view towards unions, some of its frontline managers have yet to receive the message. In London and the Hague, where cleaners are organising for better pay and a union on the job, ISS managers are standing in the way.
Macquarie, nicknamed "the millionaires’ factory" is one of the largest and fastest-growing investment banks in the world. In New Zealand, child care workers and cleaners will be protesting outside the Macquarie-owned Hewlett Packard building at 4 Viaduct Harbour, Auckland demanding safe working conditions and a living wage.
There will also be protests around Australia.