Stand Up and Win!
Property Services workers are janitors, security officers,
maintenance and custodial workers, stadium and arena workers, window cleaners,
and other workers who provide important services.
Approximately 250,000 SEIU property services workers nationwide clean,
maintain, and provide security for commercial office buildings, co-ops, and
apartment buildings, as well as public facilities like theaters, stadiums, and
airports.
SEIU was originally formed by janitors and chartered in 1921 as the “Building
Service Employees International Union” (BSEIU). BSEIU’s charter members were
mostly immigrants in Chicago working as flat and loft janitors –- toiling
12-hour days for $10 a week and the privilege of living with their families in
dark basement apartments. Chicago-based Local 1, the first local, is still thriving today.