OSSTF BUSS Statement of Solidarity with CUPE 1295 Regarding Custodial Service Reductions

Email from OSSTF BUSS – May 7th, 2026

OSSTF BUSS Statement of Solidarity with CUPE 1295 Regarding Custodial Service Reductions

Recently, Facilities Management at Brock announced changes to custodial services that will reduce cleaning in designated “low‑traffic” areas, including office spaces. OSSTF BUSS issues this statement to express solidarity with CUPE 1295 and its members in response to these changes.

The reduction of office cleaning from once per week to once per month does not address underlying staffing shortages. Required custodial work continues to accumulate, resulting in increased workload and physical demands when those spaces are eventually serviced.

Allowing dust, waste, and debris to accumulate for extended periods raises concerns related to sanitation and workplace hygiene. Many office and shared spaces continue to be used regularly by staff, faculty, students, and visitors. Reducing cleaning and sanitization schedules raises concerns regarding illness prevention, pest control, and overall health and safety standards. Extended intervals between cleaning also increase the risk of pest activity in offices and shared spaces

Reducing cleaning standards reverses improvements to workplace hygiene that were implemented in response to COVID‑19. The decision to reduce cleaning frequency departs from hygiene standards established during the COVID‑19 pandemic and raises questions about maintaining consistent workplace health protections.

These changes also raise questions regarding how cleaning responsibilities will be addressed between scheduled services. OSSTF BUSS maintains that support staff should not be assigned custodial duties or cleaning responsibilities that fall outside of their established job descriptions. The reassignment of bargaining‑unit work due to understaffing raises labour‑relations concerns and may result in grievances or other disputes.

This approach does not represent a sustainable long‑term solution. Delaying cleaning schedules increases future workload demands and may contribute to fatigue and workplace injuries among custodial staff, who are already managing increased workloads due to unfilled positions.

There are also broader impacts to the campus environment. Reduced cleaning frequency can contribute to sanitation issues that affect students, staff, faculty, and visitors. Custodial services play a critical role in maintaining health and safety across campus.

OSSTF BUSS notes that these changes are occurring alongside broader restructuring, layoffs, and ongoing cost‑containment measures. Vacant custodial positions continue to remain unfilled while service levels are reduced.

Additionally, inconsistencies in cleaning standards across different campus areas raise equity and health‑and‑safety concerns. Workplace health and safety standards should be applied consistently across campus, regardless of location or department.

OSSTF BUSS stands with CUPE 1295 in calling on Brock administration and Facilities Management to reconsider these service reductions and to prioritize adequate staffing levels and sustainable workloads. Custodial staff perform essential work that supports the health and safety of the entire campus community.

Staff and faculty are encouraged to raise concerns through their unions, management structures, and the Joint Health and Safety Committee.

Concerns may be directed to:

besafe@brocku.ca – Health & Safety
mquintana@brocku.ca – Associate Vice‑President, Facilities Management
vbrzozowski@brocku.ca – Director, Sustainability & Asset Management
jismailovic@brocku.ca – Manager, Custodial Services
custodial@brocku.ca – General Custodial Inquiries

CC:

vpinternal@d35‑brock.osstf.ca – Acting President, OSSTF BUSS
vmousseau@brocku.ca – Secretary, CUPE 1295

In Solidarity,

OSSTF Brock University Support Staff

Email from CUPE 1295 in Response to the notice from FM – May 5th, 2026

Dear Brock Community,

As I am sure, or hope, you have all heard by now, Brock has implemented, as of May 4^th, 2026, a change in the cleaning routines among the custodial staff.

In order to combat the severe staff shortage amongst the custodial department, Brock and Facilities Management have chosen to lessen the frequency of certain duties, as opposed to budgeting for and hiring more staff.

This means that for the foreseeable future, many offices across campus will be reduced from weekly cleaning, to once a month cleaning. Dusting, vacuuming, wiping desks and shelving and furniture will all be relegated to once a month, depending on the particulars of a routine.

We in CUPE 1295 do not find this to be an adequate solution to our staffing issues. Lessening the cleaning frequencies poses an increased risk of spreading infection and illness among the Brock community, and pushes day to day, and even week to week duties and disinfection procedures onto the office staff such as yourselves. This is not your job; its ours. And it is a job that we all took pride in doing and doing well. We do not want to leave a room untouched by cloth or cleaner for weeks at a time to let the dust and day to day dirt and use build up. We don’t want YOU to have to deal with that either.

But changes to the cleaning routines are not up to us as staff. They are up to Facilities Management, and higher up still. This is not just a CUPE1295 issue; this is a health and safety issue. Our voices, as we have learned, are not heard by FM, but perhaps yours could be. We as Unions need to stick up for each other and stand strong against the recent downswings coming our ways.

Our concerns that this is coming on the tails of the recent admin staff layoffs and “restructuring” are not unfounded. The KPMG recommendations that were given to Brock did reference changes to custodial duties, including, and not limited to outsourcing work to third parties. Once again, just as it was with our beloved admin staff, this is job loss and this is unacceptable.
We love our jobs, and we love the people that we clean for. The staff and faculty in our respective areas are always a welcome part of our days, and we take pride in the work we do for this community.

Our concern is two-fold: that this will have very short-term repercussions among the campus community in regard to health and safety, and that this is not going to be the first and only instance of cutting work in favour of hiding behind a lack of budget. There is a budget for high percent raises among the top earners of the university, but no budget for those down on the floor or behind the scenes?

This, coming on the tails of a massive global pandemic does not seem like a decision that was made with the health and safety of this campus in mind. Cleaning and sanitization is a priority to keep this community safe and healthy. We fail to see how reducing these frequencies are in alignment with that goal. Especially with the return to on-site office work increasing by the month. The summer is coming, and with that comes the increased risk of insect and critters alike as well. It will not do well for anyone to have fruit flies and ants making a home of their office because of a banana peel or coffee cup left for weeks. It’s little things, details about the day to day of your busy schedules that we have all come to know and understand as your custodians. Things that we take into account after being responsible for an area for so long. Things that management, who are not on the floor with us, do not know about or understand.

We, all of custodial services, apologize in advance on behalf of these changes to the cleaning frequency and how they will affect you all in the days and weeks to come. The sooner all of us across campus can rise and say this is not a good enough solution, the better chance there is to fix it and bring in the staff that we need to keep this campus clean and safe.

Thank you all.

In solidarity,

CUPE1295 Executive Team.

Email from FM to the General Brock Campus – May 4th, 2026

To the Brock Community,

This message is to inform faculty and staff of changes to our campus cleaning services on the Main Campus, effective May 4, 2026. These adjustments are being made to redistribute cleaning resources and better meet the demands of how our spaces are currently used, while continuing to provide high-quality services for our students, faculty and staff. Cleaning efforts will focus on essential tasks, including disinfection of high-touch surfaces, restocking washroom supplies, and maintaining high-traffic areas.

What is not changing?

High-traffic areas: Washrooms, classrooms, labs, and main entrances will continue to receive daily cleaning and disinfection.
Low-traffic area waste: Waste bins in low-traffic areas such as administrative hallways, and non-primary corridors will be serviced routinely.
Service response: Custodial services team will continue to respond to day-to-day issues such as spills, additional washroom cleaning, work requests, etc. (ext. 3508, custodial@brocku.ca).
Residence cleaning: No changes to current standard and cleaning frequency of student residence.
Events: No changes to custodial services booked for events.

What is changing?

Lower-traffic areas: Offices, administrative hallways, secondary stairwells and non-primary corridors will be cleaned on a reduced schedule. Waste will continue to be routinely removed.
Centralized waste and recycling: In between regular office cleaning, please place full bags of office area waste and recycling into the centralized bins located in common areas. Additional centralized bins will be added on campus where needed to aid convenient access. With the new cleaning frequency in administrative areas, food scraps should be removed from offices areas and placed into your department’s organics bin.

How can the Brock community help?

Thank you for your commitment to maintaining a healthy and safe campus environment by:

Helping to keep common spaces tidy.
Reducing waste by using reusable food containers and sorting your waste into the centralized waste stations (resources to follow).
Contacting custodial services if you need centralized bins or an organic bin in your area.
Practicing good hand hygiene.

Please continue to submit a service request to address spills or other urgent cleaning needs at custodial@brocku.ca or by calling ext. 3508. We appreciate your understanding as we implement these necessary changes and thank you for your partnership in keeping our campus a great place to work and study.

Please contact Jay Ismailovic, Manager, Custodial Services, directly at jismailovic@brocku.ca with any questions or concerns about these changes to cleaning frequencies.

This notification is being sent to limited people in each department and should be forwarded to those you feel will be affected.

Sincerely,

Mary Quintana
Associate Vice-President of Facilities Management

Additional Resources — Managing Waste on Campus

Brock University Waste Sorting Guides: Click here

Sustainable Development Goals at Brock: Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production

Helpful information from Brock News: