Discussing unions in the construction industry often brings a variety of responses, especially when it comes to whether a cleaning company needs to be union-affiliated for specific sites.
Common Responses Include:
- Working after hours and on weekends as a workaround.
- The alternative of adhering to the Davis-Bacon Act, paying prevailing wages without necessarily being unionized.
- The necessity for some projects to hire only cleaning companies that are signatories to the laborers’ union.
In the realm of construction cleaning lead generation, our approach is straightforward: we respond to requests without soliciting work in specific areas, pricing according to the tasks at hand. Interestingly, a pattern emerges in requests for union-affiliated cleaning companies, with a notable concentration in Chicago, Illinois.
Top States for Union Cleaning Requests:
- Illinois, particularly Chicago, leads significantly.
- Following are California, New York, Pennsylvania, Missouri (especially in St. Louis and Kansas City), Massachusetts, Minnesota, Washington, Ohio, and New Jersey.
Within the Construction Clean Partners (CCP) Network, encountering jobs that mandate union cleaners prompts us to verify the union status before connecting a member. Currently, our network includes only one union member, based in Chicago.
Union-related jobs are also listed on CleanSnap, though it may not be immediately evident from the job location or contractor whether union cleaners are required. Without explicit listings of contractors who are labor union signatories, local insights become crucial in assessing the likelihood of a job being unionized. The decision to waive union requirements often hinges on the project’s cleaning scope, the remaining budget, and the contractor’s discretion.
However, waiving such requirements carries risks, primarily for the cleaner. For instance, if a cleaner begins work on a unionized site and is later discovered not to comply with union wage standards, they could be removed from the project. This not only disrupts the contractor’s operations but also places the cleaner’s compensation at risk.