07/29/06 Cleaning Contract Talks Could Get Messy

Over the protests of local labor activists, the state awarded a nonunion company a lucrative $1.8 million contract to clean 15 state buildings.

Wauwatosa-based CleanPower, which currently cleans three state buildings, will now negotiate with the state a final two-year contract, based on the terms of the company's proposal. The pact can be extended annually for three years after that.

The Department of Administration notified CleanPower of the award Friday. The choice of CleanPower is controversial because it is not a union shop and it is the subject of complaints filed with the National Labor Relations Board. Service Employees International Union Local 1 says the company has stymied its efforts, more than two years in the running, to unionize the company's Madison workers.

SEIU organizer Leone Bicchieri said that the request for a proposal calls for the selected contractor to allow its workers to organize without any interference. On that basis alone, Bicchieri said, CleanPower should have been disqualified.

"CleanPower has shown anti-union videos in state buildings," he said. "CleanPower has circulated anti-union memos."

Jeffrey Packee, the company's president, maintains that his firm has not stood in the way of unionizing efforts and that most of his workers are not interested in being represented by a union.

Department of Administration spokesman Scott Larrivee said that, under the terms of the contract, CleanPower will be required to pay full-time workers a base salary of $9.45 an hour and that the company will use a majority of full-time staff.

Larrivee said the contract would save state taxpayers more than $1.3 million over the next five years by consolidating several cleaning contracts into one.

He said CleanPower critics should also be comforted by safeguards that will be written into the contract.

CleanPower's "proposal gives us strict monitoring terms to make sure that worker benefits and contract terms are enforced by the state, and we will not hesitate to take action if those terms are not being followed," Larrivee said.

He said that unions and other parties unhappy with the choice of CleanPower can appeal the decision.

Larrivee also noted that the state will create an advisory group that will help implement and oversee the contract.

Bicchieri said he is disappointed that documents detailing unfair labor practices by CleanPower never reached the committee making the contract decision. But Larrivee said unsolicited complaints, whether they are from a union or not, are not criteria for selection under the state procurement statutes and rules.

"Committee members, according to the procurement process, cannot look at any other factors outside of the selection criteria outlined in the request for proposals," Larrivee said.

Bicchieri said his organization is considering appealing the contract award.

He also said he'd consider sitting on the advisory committee if asked.

"I want to see if it is just to mollify people like us who are concerned or if it will actually have teeth in it," he said.

\ E-mail: jdavidoff@madison.com