The U’s findings primarily come from surveying SEIU members. The union is now promoting the research to strengthen its hand during another round of collective bargaining that is currently underway. But the research was a unique part of a contract agreement in 2016 between a host of cleaning companies and the Service Employees International Union Local No. Janitors are infrequently studied in the U.S. Overall, one study concludes: “The rate of injury was of particular concern, indicating the magnitude of the injury problem in this population.” Hyun Kim, a professor at the U who worked on the SEIU studies, said the research was meant to learn basic information about workload in for janitors in Minnesota and can help direct future research on how to reduce injuries. The research has also found that many in the profession don’t know how to report those injuries to file for workers’ compensation. Since 2018, the University of Minnesota has published a series of studies about janitors that say workers face worrying rates of injury, as well as sleep issues that increase the chances of getting hurt. New research shows Starkweather is hardly alone. “Every night I started with a lot of energy but when I get home I am not be able to sleep right away because I was so tired,” Starkweather, 43, said. Her heart would pound after eight hours of cleaning, and winding down to sleep was difficult. She would take out the garbage at roughly 1,000 cubicles, vacuum extensively, clean bathrooms, microwaves, break rooms and more. Elia Starkweather had trouble sleeping after working night shifts as a janitor in downtown Minneapolis for seven years.
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