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Crain's Detroit Business 
August 19, 2004

Janitors' union sues airport authority, company

Michael Strong The Service Employees International Union Local 3 filed a lawsuit Thursday in Wayne County Circuit Court against the Wayne County Airport Authority and Knight Facilities Management Inc.

The lawsuit seeks class-action status.

The Detroit-based local, which represents 83 janitors at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, claims the authority board accepted a bid from Knight to provide janitorial services for the L.C. Smith and Berry International terminals in spite of the fact Knight said it would not meet the authority's demand to pay prevailing union wages and benefits.

The suit seeks reimbursement for lost wages and benefits, which are already more than $500,000, according to Peter Hanrahan, Local 3 president. If the suit is decided in favor of the union, the authority could be responsible for any medical bills that would have been covered by authority's insurance company.

According to David Radtke, an attorney with Klimist, McKnight, Sale, McClow & Canzano P.C., the law firm representing the union, the previous seven contractors all met that demand. Additionally, two of the final three proposals accepted by the authority board also agreed to comply with the demand.

In spite of its stance on the wage and benefit demands, Knight was awarded the contract, violating the contract the union had with the authority. Knight, which is a nonunion company, offered jobs to the existing janitors at a lower wage and with no health benefits for 90 days, which the local asserts is a breach of contract. However, the employees declined the jobs and were laid off and replaced with nonunion employees.