Window Cleaning News

University of Sheffield get new window cleaners: With effect from 1st September 2011, the Universities window cleaning service provision for all Buildings on Campus will lie within the Campus Services Department. Following the Universities tendering process I am happy to announce that a cleaning company, namely Cinderella Ltd were successful in securing the contract. Cinderella Ltd was founded in 1993 and are the current holders of similar contracts with a variety of Universities, including some of those in the Russell Group. The agreed window cleaning schedule allows each internal window to be cleaned a minimum of once a year. External windows be cleaned twice a year with certain entrances and doors cleaned on a monthly basis. There is an adhoc provision whereas an extra clean can be arranged in the event of high profile occasions such as Graduation and Open Days. The cleaning methods available from Cinderella Ltd range greatly and are dictated by building/department use. The most commonly used will be reach and wash, the use of hydraulic platforms, abseiling and cradles along with traditional methods. This schedule is subject to change and following feedback and suggestions from staff, can be tailored to each building/department or to suit the needs of the business.

Cleaning company took franchise fees illegally, SJC rules: The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled yesterday that Coverall North America Inc. illegally collected franchise fees from a worker, clearing the way for hundreds of workers involved in a class-action lawsuit against the cleaning company to be awarded millions of dollars in damages. The ruling could have a significant impact on similar cases pending against five other cleaning companies in the state. The decision follows a US District Court of Massachusetts ruling in March of 2010 that found that Coverall had misclassified the workers, the majority of them immigrants, charging them thousands of dollars apiece in franchise fees to establish their own cleaning companies, but treating them like regular employees.

“It’s a perverse system in which the workers are paying to do the work,’’ said lawyer Shannon Liss-Riordan, who is representing the Coverall workers and hundreds of others suing Jani-King International Inc., Jan-Pro Franchising International Inc., System4 Commercial Cleaning, CleanNet USA, and Westborough-based All Pro Cleaning Systems. She is also involved in cases against cleaning companies in California and Pennsylvania.

The SJC ruling could lead those cleaning companies, which use the same franchising model Coverall does, to settle their cases, leave the state, or change the way they operate, Liss-Riordan said. “The commercial cleaning industry has been plagued by companies such as Coverall that make their money by profiting off of their own workers,’’ Liss-Riordan said. “The ruling will have huge ramifications on the commercial cleaning industry, as well as the trucking industry, adult entertainment industry, and other industries that exploit their workers by misclassifying them as independent contractors.’’

What is your necessary extravagance? Maybe you have a professional house cleaner, gardener or window-washer. Maybe you spend $4 a day on a cup of coffee from your favorite java joint. Or maybe you buy designer clothes, Sex-in-the-City caliber shoes or $100 jars of night-cream. Maybe you can afford these luxuries–or maybe not. But most of us splurge on our personal must-haves, no? Even if we’re on budget. And we should. We’re moms after all. Most of us put our families first and ourselves last. So scrimping elsewhere to allow for some personal pampering shows we’re taking care of ourselves, which makes us better moms.

Woman is saved from blazing room: Two men dramatically rescued a woman from a burning home in Scarborough. Ryan Burns, 27, and Jim Murphy, 58, both leapt into action after they saw smoke pouring out of a top-floor window in Northstead Flats, Long Walk, Northstead. They had to kick down a door. Mr Burns, who lives nearby, went to get a set of ladders, which he uses for his window cleaning job, and he and Mr Murphy climbed through an open window adjacent to the burning flat. After battling their way through smoke, they found the resident. Mr Burns said: “After we kicked the door down, we then found the woman.” The two men then assisted fire officers in carrying the woman to safety, before officers extinguished the fire.

Life in the tank - Jane Price -- armed with cucumbers, shrimp, peas and a toilet brush -- jumps in with both feet. The Mansfield woman has been volunteering at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium for 20 years, diving among sharks and rays to feed the animals and clean the glass at Discovery Reef. "I became certified in scuba diving 21 years ago specifically so I could dive at the zoo," Price said. "When Discovery Reef opened, I became one of the senior divers and helped train the others." Price dives into the 100,000-gallon saltwater tank to swim with 250 fish representing 23 species. The tank includes two white tip sharks, a nurse shark and a woebegone carpet shark.

By his own admission, artist Anthony Couri isn't an easy man to frighten. Once he took a job washing windows on skyscrapers just because he was afraid of heights. He became so good at his job that his boss offered him promotion. He used to be afraid of death, but decided to explore his feelings by collecting bleached bones he found out in the Colorado wilderness. Couri later assembled those bones into a three dimensional piece of art now on exhibit at Art Show on Jefferson, just across the street from the Civic Center. "One of my fears as a child was death, and I really conquered that fear," Couri said. "To many people it's shocking - that it's morbid. No, everyone dies. There are bones underneath, that's what carries us around. Just the dichotomy of life and death. I made the dead dance again in a different form. I created a new animal. He's alive again. It's not dead any more. It's not forbidden."

9/11- beyond words: The 9/11 attacks may be impossible to quantify, but key words and figures help to explain their magnitude. 45 Feature films that were postponed or re-edited after the attacks. A Jackie Chan movie called Nosebleed, about a window-washer at the World Trade Centre who foils a terrorist plot, was cancelled. "The World Trade Centre is a living symbol of man's dedication to world peace... a representation of man's belief in humanity, his need for individual dignity, his beliefs in the cooperation of men and, through cooperation, his ability to find greatness." Minoru Yamasaki, architect of the twin towers, in a speech at the opening ceremony for the World Trade Centre in 1973.

Robert Stewart, who has turned Crown evidence against the alleged Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) commander and 13 other men facing paramilitary-linked charges, said Haddock directed the plan to kill Ulster Defence Association (UDA) boss Tommy English 11 years ago. “Haddock – he was running the whole thing,” Stewart told Belfast Crown Court. English, 40, was gunned down in his house in front of his wife and three young children just after 6pm on Halloween night in 2000 during a bloody feud between the UDA and UVF.The 14 face a litany of paramilitary charges, with most facing counts linked to the murder of English, in one of the largest trials in the North in decades. They all deny the charges. Stewart and his brother David Ian Stewart have both turned state’s evidence. The two window cleaners pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the murder and membership of the UVF and received a reduced sentence in return for their co-operation with the authorities in the case against the 14 accused.

More FISH awards - does everyone get one? Steve and Renee Brown, owners of Fish Window Cleaning, of Kalamazoo, received the Rising Star Award at the 11th annual Fish Window Cleaning Convention held July 28-30 in St. Louis. The award was given in recognition of the franchise’s outstanding sales, production, management and good neighbor relations with other franchisees during 2010. Also, the Browns’ franchise was one of seven franchises named to the Pinnacle Club for leading the organization in sales growth. The business has been in operation since September 2009.

For many, job loss led to reinvention: Greg Fletcher, a semiconductor technician/engineer for nearly 25 years, lost his job with Qimonda in eastern Henrico when the chipmaker went bankrupt and closed in 2009. "I tried for two years to find another job in my field with no luck," said Fletcher, 47. His father retired as an engineer, and Fletcher said he assumed he would do the same. Fletcher, father of four children, recently opened a window-cleaning franchise called Window Genie. "This has been a complete job and career change not only for me, but also my family. I went from working in clean-room environments … and working on high-tech equipment to climbing ladders and getting downright dirty." The experience has been emotionally, physically and financially draining, he said. "You learn quickly what things you can live without. "I try to keep a positive outlook and service my customers as I would want to be treated. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

ALPHARETTA, Ga. — The local owner of a national window cleaning company was awarded top seller during the 11th annual Fish Window Cleaning Convention. Jon Mittleman, owner of Fish Window Cleaning in Alpharetta received the top sales award and the Navigator Award in St. Louis, Mo., where the company is based. Mittleman added about 500 new customers during 2010. The Navigator Award was presented to Mittleman for his work with prospective new franchisees. Pictured: Jon Mittleman, owner of Fish Window Cleaning in Alpharetta.

Window Genie Window Cleaning Franchise Comes to Savannah, Georgia: Window Genie®, a national franchisor of window cleaning and other home services, has granted a new franchise territory to Benjamin Francis, who runs his franchise from his home office in Savannah, Georgia. Francis’ franchise services Savannah, Wilmington Island, Whitemarsh Island, Tybee Island, Skidaway Island, Isle of Hope, Thunderbolt, and Sandfly, Georgia, and surrounding areas. Francis, originally from the South Coast of England, is a yacht captain and engineer by trade, and spent 10 years at sea before moving to America a year and a half ago. He “met a girl from Georgia” on his travels whom he married, and moved to Savannah, Georgia. When he started looking for a job in the States, he thought it would be pretty difficult with no college degree to find a job at which he could move up the ladder. He considered starting a business, but admitted, “I was a pretty good candidate to becoming a statistic doing it on my own, so a franchise was a good middle ground.” He researched his options and decided that a Window Genie franchise would be the ideal way to reach his goal of being his own boss. “The potential is there. There is no glass ceiling. I become master of my own destiny.”

Villagers rally round popular character Skip: A community is rallying around one of its much-loved elderly residents to help him get better. The village of Kelvedon has seen people come and go but Skip the town crier, lollipop man, Scout leader, window cleaner, chorister, caretaker and proud holder of an MBE for his community work, has lived there for all 80 years of his life. Now the pensioner, who lives by himself and is in desperate need of a hip replacement, has to put his feet up while he waits for the operation. Just last month he fell out of bed and it took him 45 minutes to haul himself into the lounge to call his doctor, who rushed round at 3am to help him. Skip, whose real name is John Papworth, said: "I was quite scared. I just lay there until someone came. Those ten minutes felt like an hour."