A Second Look At Subcontracting

The cleaning industry tends to exist quietly in the background, until it does something controversial or illegal. The general media don’t often report about the janitor who keeps 1,000 people from getting sick by making sure their facility is sanitary; only when that janitor goes on strike or his boss breaks the law does the industry make the 11 o’clock news.

Take subcontracting, for instance. One of the few things the public knows about subcontracting is what it heard, late last year, when hundreds of undocumented workers, cleaning Wal-Mart stores, were rounded up as part of an immigration sting. Those cleaners were working, misclassified, as subcontractors.

The Wal-Mart case overshadowed the vast majority of subcontracting relationships, which are not only within the law, but also are mutually beneficial. Those partnerships are the centerpiece of assistant editor Dan Weltin’s cover story, “Sub-Plots”. We hope this story will encourage those of you soured on the subcontracting process to give it another thought.

Focusing on the positives in the cleaning industry (as well as the negatives, so we can learn from them) is a continuing part of the “image war” we discussed in the February issue. It’s clear that this is going to be an ongoing battle.